Psalm 117

Psalm 117:1-2 "Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord."

This Psalm is the shortest chapter in the Bible. Not only that, it is also the middle chapter. The author is anonymous as with all the Hallelujah Psalms, but Paul the Apostle quotes from the first verse in Romans 15:11 to show that God's salvation is for all people. The chapter begins and ends with the same three words.... Praise the Lord. The answer as to why are the 23 words in between. Two reasons essentially. We praise Him for His great love toward us and for His faithfulness that endures forever. Why is this so important? It is really just about all you need to know.

Once we accept His love and discover that His love is eternal, we have all the information we need in order to trust Him, know Him, believe in Him, follow Him, worship Him and serve Him. I can make my decision to be a Christian solely on my understanding that He loves me and is faithful forever in that love. The fact that He paid the price for my sin and restores my broken relationship with God is a direct result of His faithful love. Of course He paid the price, He loves us. Of course He offers us salvation, because His amazing love lasts forever and He is faithful.

I think in addition to this shortest chapter of the Bible it is good to remember the shortest verse....."Jesus wept." When I consider that Jesus loves me to this degree forever, I am completely won over to Him. How can we possibly deny total commitment to Him knowing that He loves us, wept over us, made an eternal commitment to us and is faithful to that promise. The sincerity of Christ is irrefutable. He truly cares and has done everything possible to make a relationship with us. We must respond.

So today, respond to Him. Respond to His love, His compassion, His heartfelt commitment to us. Respond to His salvation and to His plan and faithfulness. Surrender to His love. Receive from Him today all that He has for you. I know that I have not experienced all that God has for me. I know that I have so much more to understand and to be in Him. We must make Him the most important thing. After all He did for us, how else could we respond? Start with a few hearty "Praise the Lords" and end with a few Praise the Lords too and then, in between, celebrate all that He has done for us. Jesus our Savior who is loving and faithful, who wept for us and cares enough to give His very own life so that we could live forever. Worth responding to, I think. What do you think?

In Him, Pastor Fred

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