Steadfast Love


Psalm 117
1Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!
2For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

What can one say about less than 30 words? In these two verses we find the shortest of the 150 Psalms. It is a “wrap-up” of the previous four psalms and so the conclusions are succinct. We’re here to praise the Lord – All of us! The reasons for that praise? His steadfast love and faithfulness. What more do we need?

These two verses celebrate the deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, and as such also remind us of our deliverance from the captivity to sin that was ended by the death and resurrection of the Messiah. Only the steadfast love of God would be willing to sacrifice so much for us. Because of the brevity of this psalm I wonder if these words shouldn’t be memorized. My mind swirls on “His steadfast love” and suddenly there are dozens of applications for that love in my own personal life. Not only did Jesus die to save me, He is also here with me through the Holy Spirit for each of the struggles I face each day. And some days seem to have more than others! I don’t think that we spend enough time pondering His steadfast love, for it you truly spend a moment just letting those words resonate through your spirit, you will be – at least for a bit – inside of His peace. What can harm you if you reside in that steadfast love? Nothing.

So the psalm is brief and so is the devotion – unless you give those words their due and truly meditate upon them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more