Psalm 118:1

Psalm 118:1

Give thanks to the Lord

The opening verses of this Psalm reveal few clues as to what is about to unfold.  The Psalm starts with acknowledgements of God’s enduring love for all His people and it’s only at verse 5 that there is a dramatic change of direction; then we get a true flavour of what is really in the heart of the writer. Many believe that this was written by one of Judah’s kings and that it may well celebrate the end of a particularly hard series of conflicts with surrounding nations working together to defeat Israel. A Psalm for today then? It becomes clearer, as the writer writes his song, that it is probably the thoughts of the king himself, who is encouraging his people to praise the Lord for deliverance and victory.

This is the last Psalm in the Hallel (Psalm 113-118) and may therefore have been sung by Jesus and His disciples before they left the upper room at Passover and thus shortly before His arrest! 

 

V1        The Psalm starts with the usual call to praise and thank the Lord. It would be easy to just pass on and regard these simple words as familiar ground. But I think we need to stop and ponder them afresh. There is nothing better than having hearts that are full of gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done. Every church service ought to start in this manner and every time of private devotion and fellowship as well. We only have to open our ears or our eyes and look around and, unless our circumstances are particularly dire, there should be reason to give thanks to the Lord. Even if we are not surrounded by natural beauty and evidence of God’s provision, we can look inside ourselves and be grateful for that fact that we are loved! The Lord is good, and His love endures for ever. The use of the word “endures” in Hebrew is “Ethan” and it suggests patience, longevity and steadfastness regardless of what may happen. Our God will always be there for us, in every way He is good, and His love for us will never end. Good reasons to give thanks then? Whatever this Psalm is about to teach us, let’s begin by thanking Him for all that He is and all that He has done. 

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