Scripture Daily

Context No. 1932 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 118:1-16: in context

1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. 2Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever. 3Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever. 4Now let those who fear the LORD say that his loving kindness endures forever. 5Out of my distress, I called on the LORD. The LORD answered me with freedom. 6The LORD is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7The LORD is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me. 8It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to put confidence in man. 9It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to put confidence in princes. 10All the nations surrounded me, but in the LORD’s name I cut them off. 11They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the LORD’s name I indeed cut them off. 12They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In the LORD’s name I cut them off. 13You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but the LORD helped me. 14The LORD is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. 15The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 16The right hand of the LORD is exalted! The right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”

This psalm of thanksgiving calls again and again on the refrain that God's loving kindness endures forever. Out of distress the psalmist called on the LORD, who answered him with freedom; the LORD is on his side, so he will not fear. Better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. Nations surrounded him, but in the LORD's name he prevailed. And at the heart of his praise comes a line drawn from the song of Moses at the sea: the LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

The line worth holding is the psalmist's declaration: the LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Notice that God is both his strength and his song. God is his strength, the one who upholds him in trouble, who answers his cry and gives him power to stand against what surrounds him. But God is also his song, the source of his joy, the theme of his praise, the one in whom he rejoices. God is not only the strength that helps us in trouble but the song that gladdens our hearts; not only our power but our joy. This is worth pausing over, because we can think of God chiefly as our helper in difficulty, the strength we turn to when we are in trouble, and forget that he is also meant to be our song, our joy, the one in whom we delight and about whom we sing. God is both. In the day of distress, he is our strength, upholding us; and always, he is our song, the source and object of our joy. The one who is our strength in trouble is also the one who becomes our salvation and our gladness, so that the same God we lean on in difficulty is the God we rejoice in and sing about. This is the fullness of what God is to his people: not merely a resource we draw on when we are weak, but the joy and song of our hearts. The LORD is my strength and my song, the psalmist says; he has become my salvation. And to know God as both, as the strength that upholds us and the song that gladdens us, is to know him fully, not only as the helper we turn to in trouble but as the joy in whom we delight. May he be to us both our strength in the hard day and our song always, the one we lean on and the one we rejoice in, our power and our gladness, who has become our salvation.

Do I know God chiefly as my strength in trouble, the resource I turn to when I am weak, and forget that he is also meant to be my song, my joy, the one in whom I delight and about whom I sing, and can I know him fully as both, the strength that upholds me and the song that gladdens me, who has become my salvation?

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