READING: Psalms 111-118
“Praise the Lord, all nations!”
Psalm 117:1
As I write this devotion, I am thinking about the needs of the nations of the world. I’ve been in places where people still sacrifice animals or offer fruit to false gods. I’ve talked with people whose entire culture generally denies the reality of a personal God. I’ve also walked with people who are striving to do such good works that they will outweigh their bad—wrongly thinking that approach would gain them entrance to heaven. Then, I’m aware that more than 3 billion people have little or no access to the gospel. My heart grieves as I think of these stories.
For that reason, Psalm 117 is my prayer today: “Praise the Lord, all nations!Glorify him, all peoples!For his faithful love to us is great;the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.Hallelujah!” (Psa. 117:1-2). It’s just two verses (the shortest chapter in the Bible), but it speaks clearly of God’s plan. The Hebrews were to be a light to the nations, and they were to sing of His love. The world would hear of His undying faithfulness to His people, and they, too, would honor Him. The bookends of this psalm—“Praise the Lord”—would then echo among the nations.
Today, we as God’s church are given this responsibility and privilege to praise Him among the nations. We know that truth, but I’m not convinced we recognize the joy missionaries and others experience when peoples among the world learn of Jesus and trust God with their lives. There’s nothing quite like a non-believer turning to Christ and following Him, even when doing so could be costly. Truly, all we can do then is praise Him when that happens!
ACTION STEPS:
- Pray for missionaries who are serving among the nations today.
- Work on memorizing Psalm 117 this week.
PRAYER: “May You be praised, Lord, among the nations!”
TOMORROW'S READING: 1 Kings 1-2