Let the Whole Earth Praise Him!

Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles!

Laud Him, all you peoples!

For His merciful kindness is great toward us,

And the truth of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD!—Psalm 117

I am glad I took the time last night and spent a few minutes reading and rereading this Psalm.   Considering its length that wasn’t difficult.  It has the distinction of being the shortest Psalm, the shortest chapter in the Bible and it is also the middle chapter of the Bible.  What struck me first was that the Psalmist was exhorting the Gentiles to praise the Lord.  A bit out of place in the Old Testament.  I looked further and found that Paul quotes this Psalm in Romans 15 to show that God’s plan has always been to bring both Jew and Gentile into his kingdom.  Paul also quotes from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:43, 2 Samuel and Isaiah in this chapter of Romans to prove God’s plan to the Jews from their own Scriptures.

Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:

“For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,

And sing to Your name.”

10 And again he says:

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”

11 And again:

“Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles!

Laud Him, all you peoples!”

12 And again, Isaiah says:

“There shall be a root of Jesse;

And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,

In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”—Romans 15:8-12

As I read this Psalm again this morning knowing more of its background, my thoughts went back to Genesis...to the very beginning before the fall...to Adam and Eve and then forward to Abraham and the covenant God made with him.  Our God is the God of Abraham and in his seed all the nations shall be blessed.  God keeps His promises!  My heart filled with praise.  

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.—2 Corinthians 1:20-22

Truly, His merciful kindness is great toward us!  He is kind to us, as his masterpieces (thinking Ephesians 2) and also merciful to us as sinners.  His truth endures forever.  He has kept his covenant promise to Abraham. 

I end with a quote from Matthew Henry which is beautiful and perfect here...

“God's mercy is the fountain of all our comforts and his truth the foundation of all our hopes, and therefore for both we must praise the Lord.”