Living life after Easter naturally leads to praising the Lord, and this Psalm invites us into just that! Psalm 117 may be short but it sure is packed full of goodness. Let’s read it again, shall we? This is the Message version:
Praise God, everybody!
Applaud God, all people!
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah!
Preparing to write about this Psalm this morning, I have been reflecting on all the ways I have seen God’s love and faithfulness play out in my life recently, and I wanted to share one of these with you.
A little over a month ago, I was admitted to the hospital and stayed there 2 nights. It wasn’t planned, so it was quite the shock when I realized I wasn’t going home that night to be with Oliver. The moment when I felt like I lacked no control was when Eric’s parents, who were watching Oliver, let us know that the milk supply that I had grown over the 7 months of Oliver’s life was almost gone. I was pretty upset, to say it lightly. But I couldn’t do anything about it. Long story short, the Lord showed up and loved me so well in this moment. Not prompted at all, I got a text from a very new friend who said she had a lot of extra milk that she wanted to give me. I heard God telling me that he was the one in control and that I could trust him to take care of Oliver. What an amazing God we serve!
This past week has been a little calmer (thankfully!), and God is still loving me, even in these days that may seem mundane. He’s still loving me, even when I can’t see it. He is still faithful no matter what comes my way. It’s easy to say, “Hallelujah!” when you hear a story like this one of mine from a month ago. But it’s a little harder to say when the highlight of my day is finishing the mound of dishes that’s been piling up. But this Psalm has been a reminder to me that God is worth praising in every moment.
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)
Praying for you, Christ City Church, to see God’s love and faithfulness this week. Sin, guilt and death has been conquered for each of you. Hallelujah!
- Bethany P.