Psalm 118 - Rejected

Read: Psalm 118 vs 1-29

Have you ever heard a song and before you know the words are going round in your heard? When this happens it’s often not the whole song but one or two lines that seem to stick with you and that you find yourself singing over and over.

In the book of Psalms there’s a line that gets repeated time and again, and it’s found five times in today’s Psalm, Psalm 118:

‘Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, His love endures forever.’ (vs 1,2,3,4,29)

It’s not only in this Psalm that this line is found. It also appears in Psalms 100, 106, 107, 117, and in Psalm 136 (26 times!). Christians are to be people who give thanks. 1 Thesalonians 5:18 tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. We don’t give thanks for all circumstances, because some circumstances are just tough and not good. However we can give thanks in all circumstances, because of who God is. This is why we give thanks, and He does not change. In a chapter in the book of Hebrews that speaks about security in tough times we read these words:

‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’

It is the unchanging reality of who Jesus is, in a fast changing and unpredictable world, that gives us grounds for giving thanks. The Psalms describe a world that is often full of hazards and where many threats and discouragements come our way. It is in such a world that we give thanks for God’s goodness. The cross tells us that God is good, and that He will hold nothing back to work for our ultimate good (Romans 8:32). The cross however also speaks to us of God’s love. It was because God ‘so loved the world, that he gave His only Son’ (John 3:16) and in love Jesus allowed Himself to rejected that he could save us (Psalm 118 vs 22). 

When hard pressed (vs 5), when threatened by those around us (vs 6), when surrounded by trouble (vs 10), when we are about to fall (vs 13), here are words which Psalm 118 puts in our heads:

‘Give thanks to the LORD for He is good;

His love endures forever.’ (vs 29)