Today I led devotionals for the Missions Conference Workday. Here it is:
Ps 117
117 Praise the Lord, all nations!Extol him, all peoples!2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! ESV
This Psalm is the shortest chapter in the Bible, but that doesn’t make it any less important. It is only two chapters away from the longest, yet is contains endless truth.
The Psalmist starts out by giving a command, a command to worship. It is not merely a suggestion, but a command.
The command is followed by the purpose of the command. We praise God because of his steadfast love and His faithfulness. The Psalmist could have put an endless possibility of things here, but he chose to put in how great God’s love and faithfulness is. When that’s chosen over things like creation and existence, it highlights how much he loves us.
And again he follows up with the command to praise the Lord, so praise Him!
The Ballast 