A Short Reminder

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

- Psalm 117

This is the shortest psalm in the Bible but the reader can still be benefited greatly by it. Note the simple command given by the psalmist. Sometimes we miss the simplicity of a verse because we read through it too quickly. Sometimes we miss the meaning of a verse because of the presuppositions we have and sometimes we miss it because of our New Testament mentality. When reading this psalm we must remember that the Israelites were the exclusive people of God at the time of the writing. Yet, the command is not to the Israelites (alone) but to all people. It is directed to all nations to praise the Lord.

How often do we have the mentality that salvation is for us- that we are the exclusive people of God and that others are not bound by the commands of God? The second verse reemphasizes this by using the inclusive term “us”. The danger for us today is that we may fall into the same mentality as the Israelites. That God is our God and ours alone is something that we should not hold on to. He is the God of all peoples and His praises will be sung by all as emphasized in Philippians 2:9-11.

So what can we learn from this psalm? We need to be on guard not to adopt the attitude of the other brother in the parable of the prodigal son. There is no person who is so far fallen that they are beyond the grace of God. Because of this, we should be more encouraged to proclaim His glory to all the nations in the hope that some will come to recognize the steadfast love that He has for us. Praise the Lord!