Author: PGC Administrator

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Psalm 117

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Lord’s Faithfulness Endures Forever

117      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!

Reflection

• This shortest of all the psalms focuses attention on the importance of praising God for two of His most wonderful qualities, namely: his loyal love and his faithfulness.
• Here the psalmist celebrates a truth of which the prophets often spoke. God is the savior not only of Israel, but of the world. In Christ, the vision of this psalm has been fulfilled. All the nations, all peoples, praise and extol the Lord for the salvation Jesus has won.
• Recount your experience and knowledge of God’s love and faithfulness. Draw close to Him in praise and thanksgiving and tell Him how grateful you are for all His blessings in your life.

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+116

Psalm 116

English Standard Version (ESV)

I Love the Lord

116      I love the Lord, because he has heard

  my voice and my pleas for mercy.

2          Because he inclined his ear to me,
  therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

3          The snares of death encompassed me;
  the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
  I suffered distress and anguish.

4          Then I called on the name of the Lord:
  “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

5          Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
  our God is merciful.

6          The Lord preserves the simple;
  when I was brought low, he saved me.

7          Return, O my soul, to your rest;
  for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8          For you have delivered my soul from death,
  my eyes from tears,
  my feet from stumbling;

9          I will walk before the Lord
  in the land of the living.

10        I believed, even when I spoke:
  “I am greatly afflicted”;

11        I said in my alarm,
  “All mankind are liars.”

12        What shall I render to the Lord
  for all his benefits to me?

13        I will lift up the cup of salvation
  and call on the name of the Lord,

14        I will pay my vows to the Lord
  in the presence of all his people.

15        Precious in the sight of the Lord
  is the death of his saints.

16        O Lord, I am your servant;
  I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
  You have loosed my bonds.

17        I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
  and call on the name of the Lord.

18        I will pay my vows to the Lord
  in the presence of all his people,

19        in the courts of the house of the Lord,
  in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Reflection

• The psalmist gave thanks to God for delivering him from imminent death and for lengthening his life. He promised to praise God in the temple for these blessings.
• This is a hymn of individual thanksgiving, and it is also messianic. This is a good psalm to read when you need to recommit yourself to serving God.
• Recall a time when you did call on God and he answered you and showed you great and mighty things. What was this experience like for you? What “sacrifice of thanksgiving” could you give to God?

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.

Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+115

Psalm 115

English Standard Version (ESV)

To Your Name Give Glory

115      Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

                for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2          Why should the nations say,
  “Where is their God?”

3          Our God is in the heavens;
  he does all that he pleases.

4          Their idols are silver and gold,
  the work of human hands.

5          They have mouths, but do not speak;
  eyes, but do not see.

6          They have ears, but do not hear;
  noses, but do not smell.

7          They have hands, but do not feel;
  feet, but do not walk;
  and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8          Those who make them become like them;
  so do all who trust in them.

9          O Israel, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

10        O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

11        You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

12        The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
  he will bless the house of Israel;
  he will bless the house of Aaron;

13        he will bless those who fear the Lord,
  both the small and the great.

14        May the Lord give you increase,
  you and your children!

15        May you be blessed by the Lord,
  who made heaven and earth!

16        The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,
  but the earth he has given to the children of man.

17        The dead do not praise the Lord,
  nor do any who go down into silence.

18        But we will bless the Lord
  from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!

Reflection

• This is a hymn sung by the whole community, rejoicing in its solidarity as a people of the Lord. We are taught to give glory to God, and not to ourselves (v 1); and not to idols (vv 2-8). We must give glory to God by trusting in him, in his promise and blessing (vv 9-15); and by blessing him (vv 16-18). 
• Passover recalls events which set the God of Israel apart from the deities of all nations. Pagans scoff because God cannot be seen, yet their idols of silver and gold are inanimate lumps. Therefore, God’s people cry out together:

O Israel, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
  He is their help and their shield.

• What are some modern idols? Christian idols? In what sense do you become what you worship? Are there any ideas, things, people that you trust more readily than God?
• Consider how vastly superior God is to all idols. Ask God to help you forsake the idols in your life.

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.