Friday, April 2, 2010

Great Lovingkindness & Eternal Truth - Psalm 117

"Praise the LORD, all nations;
Laud Him, all peoples!
For His lovingkindness is
great towards us,
and the truth of the LORD
is everlasting.
Praise the LORD!"

27 words. 3 sentences. Here is the shortest chapter in all of the Bible - but in its brevity it packs a punch.

Here the nations are called to praise the LORD. All the nations and all the people are exhorted to render to the LORD for all His benefits - ALL! The duty of praise is all-encompasing and all-involving. It is a universal and un-predjudicial duty and at some point every knee WILL bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Rom 14:11, Ph 2:10).

As David so often does, the command to praise is given and the reason for praise is explained. All the nations and all the peoples are to praise the Lord BECAUSE "His lovingkindness is great towards us, and the truth of the LORD is everlasting."

We worship because of who He is and because of what He does. We worship because He is worthy. We worship as a grand reaction to His glorious actions. Our God is a God of great lovingkindness and of eternal truth. Are those things in and of themselves not enough to move us to "praise the LORD?!"

Old Pastor Henry writes: "The unsearchable riches of gospel-grace [are expressed in verse 2] and are to be the matter of our praise. In the gospel those celebrated attributes of God, His mercy and His truth, shine most brightly in themselves and most comfortably on us. God's mercy is the fountain of all our comforts and His truth the foundation of all our hopes, and therefore we must praise the Lord."

David begins this succint Psalm with "Praise the LORD!" He gives us the reason - "for His lovingkindness is great towards us, and the truth of the LORD is everlasting." He ends right where he began - "Praise the LORD!"

God's great lovingkindness and eternal truth are a never failing spring that should fill our hearts to overflowing praise. Are you a recipient of that lavish love? Are you a testimony of that tried truth? Then "praise the LORD" with me!

Praising,
Lori

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