Psalm 117: The Faithful Love of God
Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible. It is as powerful as it is brief. It is also worth noting that Psalms is the largest book in the Bible and Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Psalms is actually the book at the very center, or middle, of the Bible. This tells us that praising God is huge and should be at the center of our lives. Let’s take a look at the small, but mighty, chapter of Psalm 117.
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. Psalm 117:1-2 (New International Version, NIV)
From this book, we see that we are to praise the Lord, first of all, for His great love. The following chapter, Psalm 118, says that God’s love endures forever. We also read that God is love (I John 4:8) and He is everlasting. That means that He will always love us- throughout all the endless ages, throughout all eternities of eternities. That’s a LONG TIME! God’s love is greater than anyone or anything. The Greater One, God, Who is love, lives in us. Isn’t that amazing?
Secondly, we are to praise God for He is faithful. He is loyal, dependable, trustworthy, and reliable. You can count on God! Like His love, His faithfulness endures forever. God is always faithful and never changes. That is His character; it is who He is. In the same way that His love is unconditional and cannot be earned, His faithfulness cannot be deserved. He will be faithful to always love us no matter what we do. We can reject His love, yet God will love us even when we don’t love Him. He is faithful- always the same. We can trust Him and His love. Because He is unchanging, we can trust His faithfulness.
The Lord God will always love us. He is always faithful to us. Therefore, we praise God based on who He is. He is the personification of faithful love. This Psalm begins and ends with praise for His love and faithfulness. I encourage you to begin and end your day with praise. In all your beginnings, praise God, and in all your endings. At the beginnings and endings of the seasons of your life, give Him praise because His faithful love endures forever and will accompany you throughout your life and the life to come. He is love and He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. From start to finish and everywhere in-between, give Him praise. Everything begins and ends with God, so give Him praise at all times. His faithful love goes on forever, so Praise The Lord!
