Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Dr Joseph Wood, Principal and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let all Israel repeat:
“His faithful love endures forever.”
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
15 Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.
The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
16 The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph.
The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things!
17 I will not die; instead, I will live
to tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not let me die.
19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
and I will go in and thank the Lord.
20 These gates lead to the presence of the Lord,
and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer
and giving me victory!
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is wonderful to see.
24 This is the day the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Devotional Thought
Years ago, I attended a church where nearly every week the congregation would read a responsive Psalm together. Most of the time this would only take a minute or two, and the level of engagement remained high throughout. Occasionally, however, there would be a Psalm of great length which did not always see the congregation participate with persistent enthusiasm. To say it another way: sometimes the Psalm was so long the people got tired of repeating the same phrase over and over and over. Psalm 118 is one of those Psalms.
It begins by giving direction to the congregation: ‘Let all Israel repeat: His faithful love endures forever.’ As the leader completes a verse, the congregation responds: ‘His faithful love endures forever.’ This goes on for verse, after verse, after verse. I remember being in that congregation and hearing the volume and speed of the response get lower and slower: ‘His…faithful…love…endures…forever…’. And just when we thought everyone was ready to give up, the last verse appeared on the screen and somehow, we got a burst of energy and said loudly: ‘His faithful love endures forever!’
When I read this Psalm and think about that experience it causes me to reflect on the people of God who were waiting for the Messiah to arrive. After hearing prophet after prophet offer words of lamentation and hope, God appears to go quiet for nearly 400 years. I wonder what that time was like for God’s people. Generations would have come and gone. No word from the Lord. No appearance of a Messiah. But in the midst of this time of quiet, I am sure a repeated phrase would have been heard: ‘His faithful love endures forever’. This phrase brought hope to the people as the looked forward to the promised King. Faithful people being reminded of God’s faithful love. And I imagine, on Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, that Psalm would have been sung with more energy and volume than ever before! ‘His faithful love endures forever!’ God’s promised Messiah arrived. God was no longer quiet. ‘This is the Day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!’ Thanks be to God for his faithful love truly endures forever.
Prayer
God our Father, we thank you for your faithful love. As we begin this Holy Week with songs of praise and shouts of ‘Hosanna’, may we reflect on the fulfilment of your promise. You never leave us or forsake us. We give thanks for Jesus, our messiah, the promised King and we look forward to all this week has for us. In His name we pray, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Rev. Joseph Wood, PhD
Principal and Senior Lecturer in Theology and Church History, Nazarene Theological College