Psalm 117 - God's Faithfulness and Truth Endures Forever

Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter of the Bible with a wonderful and encouraging message for all the world. The very first verse gives every person in the world hope that there is a way of salvation and that there is something to live for! We were created to worship the one and true God! We should live to praise Him. Psalm 117 is of course a psalm in the Jewish hymn book written primarily for the Jewish nation. But this verse, that is quoted in Romans 15:11, assures us that the Gospel is for the Gentiles too. And also, that all the people groups of the world are to praise Jehovah. The psalm opens and closes with "praise the Lord," for praising the Lord ought to be a mark of every believer today as it was of the new Christians in the early church (Acts 2:47). The first "praise" translates the familiar Hebrew word hallel which gives us "hallelujah—praise the Lord." The second "praise" is shavah, which means "to boast, to extol and laud." When we praise the Lord, we not only tell Him of His greatness, but we also "brag on Him" to those who hear our songs. Worship and praise are the highest occupations to which we can dedicate our voices, the activities that will occupy us for all eternity! As I said yesterday, a worshiping people will be a witnessing people. As we are on the eve of a new year, let me take a minute to encourage you to investigate and find a frontier unreached people group in the world with little or no access to the Gospel, and then surrender yourself to take at least a minute each day to pray for that group of people. A good place to find this information is the on website of the Joshua Project https://joshuaproject.net/.  This site will not only give you information on the 4,851 Frontier People Groups that make up a fourth (2,008,541,000) of the world’s population of 8 billion people, but it will also inform you how to pray for them. In verse 2a, we are reminded we can always depend on God's great love. Have we forgotten that "it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed" (Lam. 3:22)? We have been saved by grace, not by our good works (Eph. 2:8-9), and were it not for God's merciful lovingkindness, we would still be in darkness and death. How unfortunate that some of the Jewish leaders became proud of being God's chosen people and began to look down upon others. They even called the Gentiles "dogs." But God's people today are often guilty of the same sin. "His merciful kindness is great toward us" (v. 2a) so we have nothing to boast about. "Not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:9). If we are humble before the Lord, He can use us to reach others, but if we are proud, He will reject us. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). We are saved by grace, and we live by grace, depending wholly on the Lord's generosity in Jesus Christ. A proud church is a weak church. To enjoy the praise of men is to lose the blessing of God. In verse 2b we are encouraged to rest on the divine assurance of God’s truth and faithfulness. Yes, God's people are saved by faith and live by faith, but our faith would mean nothing were it not for His faithfulness that "endures forever." The word translated "truth" or "faithfulness" means in Hebrew "to be firm, to be unshakable." God's character cannot change, and His promises will not change, so why are we fretting about the feelings within us and the circumstances around us? Why do we hesitate to obey Him when He abounds in faithfulness (Ex. 34:6)? If God calls us to do something, He is faithful to help us do it (1 Thess. 5:24). To rely on our faith is to put faith in faith, but to rely on God's faithfulness is to put faith in the Lord. Our assurance is in the Word of God and the God of the Word. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He will never change! As we prepare for next year why not surrender your heart and life to trust and obey Him every day! God bless!