God's First Love!


Psalm 117

1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
    extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  
Praise the Lord.
While this is one of the shortest psalms, it doesn't mean there isn't a lot of meat in it.

 “Martin Luther devoted thirty-six pages to this psalm, expounding it in four important categories: (1) prophecy (the Gentiles will participate in gospel blessings), (2) revelation (the kingdom of Christ is not earthly and temporal but rather heavenly and eternal), (3) instruction (we are saved by faith alone and not by works, wisdom, or holiness), and (4) admonition (we should praise God for such a great salvation).”

 I also think there is also beauty in its simplicity.  The theme, as with many psalms, is praise.  And the object of praise is "the Lord", also called "Yahweh".  This is the holy name of God to the Jewish people.

 As Luther mentions, this psalm calls for praise from "all people".  All people who are created in God's image are made to worship.  While we are prone to worship ourselves or other idols, God's desire is that all people would worship Him. In fact, most of the allusions to what we will be doing in heaven is worshipping God and His Son, the Lamb.  As the popular song goes, "One day every every tongue will confess you are God, but still the greatest treasure belongs to those who gladly choose you now!"  

 This psalm also instructs as to why we should worship.  We worship because of God's great love for us.  The bible teaches that we did not love God, but He loved us first.  We all remember our "first love", but God's first love has always been us.  Secondly, God is faithful forever.  God's faithfulness is not just when we are good, but is there even when we have been unfaithful. How could we put a price tag on how great a this gift that God's mercy endures forever?  In heaven a good deal of our praise of God will be for how God has been to us inspite of what He knows of us!  That's what makes Christianity different from every other religion.  Our God is a God of grace and mercy!   

   

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