One of the great Psalms of the Bible is Psalm 118. Several things make this Psalm exceptional. Psalm 118 talks about God’s steadfast love, it describes the Lord’s salvation, it is a Psalm that calls us to worship and give thanks, it is often quoted in the New Testament, and it is the Psalm the people sang when Jesus rode into Jerusalem a week before his death. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord (Psalm 118:26).” Psalm 118 also describes the everyday life of faith. In the Psalm, the writer goes from a place of fear to not just finding strength in the Lord, but the Lord, himself, is that strength. Faith proclaims in verse 24, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Every day is the day that is made by the Lord; therefore, every day, we live a life marked by that miracle of creation. Psalm 118 describes what it looks like to live this life of faith.
The Psalm itself has no clear markers as to who wrote it or when it was written. Most people think that it was written around the time of Ezra (500 BC), after the rebuilding of the second temple. The reason for this view is verses 22 and 23, which reads, “22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” After the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians in 586 BC, the rubble of stone from the destroyed temple was easy building material to pick through by the inhabitants of the land. People would come and steal the choicest stones for their own building projects. When the returning exiles started to rebuild the temple (around 516 BC), the only building material left on the temple mount would have been the rejected stones, as described in verse 22. I think this argument to date the Psalm to the time of Ezra is solid. But I like to think of this Psalm as written by King David (1000 BC).
If Psalm 118 were written by King David 1000 years before Jesus, that would make this Psalm purposefully prophetic, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It is also not hard for me to see David writing these verses to serve as a type of prophetic riddle. David himself was the runt of his family, left outside with the livestock when Samuel asked his father (Jesse) to see his sons. This little runt becomes a great king, and as a king, he sought to build a temple to the Lord. Again, he is rejected, the Lord tells him no, it is not for you to build, but the Lord goes on to tell David, I will build you a house that will endure forever. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” This is where my heart goes when I consider the origin of this Psalm. David writes it about him, but also about the One who is yet to come.
Like other Psalms of thanksgiving in the Bible, Psalm 118 follows a similar structure. Psalms of thanksgiving tend to begin with an introduction, then describe the hardship or misery being suffered, followed by an appeal to the Lord, and then a description of the Lord’s rescue, and ending with a giving of thanks or testimony. Psalm 118 can be outlined in the following way;
- Introduction: verses 1-4,
- Misery and Appeal: verses 5-13,
- The Rescue: verses 14-22,
- The Testimony: verses 23-29.
We do not know exactly what was happening to the writer of the Psalm. It seems from reading verses 5-13 that the writer was living in fear and hated by others. Amid the writer’s suffering, he cries out in faith, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes (Psalm 118:8-9).” Today, you may be experiencing great distress in your life. What are you to do? Cry out to the Lord. Crying out to the Lord is how you live in the strength of the Lord regardless of what distress or suffering you are going through. The heart of the Psalm is verse 14, which reads, “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” Notice though that the Lord did not BRING a salvation but IS the salvation. “He has become my salvation.” I find great prophetic mystery in that verse. I read verse 14 to be equal to that of the “Lord being my righteousness.” In other words, I have no strength on my own. Alone, there is no way for me to save myself. But the Lord does it for me. He, the Lord, becomes my strength, He is my joy, and he works a salvation for me that is found in Him alone.
Psalmist describes how the Lord rescued him in verses 15-22. Verse 17 declares, “I shall not die, but I shall live.” And then again, in verse 21, the psalmist says once again, “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.” This brings us to verse 24 of Psalm 118, the verse that teaches us what it looks like to live by faith every day. Verse 24-29 reads, “24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” What a testimony of praise and thanks.
The psalmist begins this praise by saying, “This is the day that the Lord has made (vs. 24).” Therefore, since today is a day that the Lord has made, the psalmist describes how each day ought to be lived. Paraphrasing verses 24-29, we can see how we are to live each day when lived through faith. Here is the life of faith lived each day;
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (verse 24)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us live in full dependence upon the Lord (verse 25)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made, let us celebrate the presence and active work of the Lord in our midst (verse 26)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us live in his truth and light that he has given us in his word (verse 27)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us draw near to God through the power of his sacrifice upon the cross (verse 27)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us give thanks and praise the Lord (verse 28)!
- Every day is a day the Lord has made; let us remember the goodness of God and his love that endures forever (verse 29)!
This is why we can give thanks today and every day. Amen.
Pastor Trent Eastman, August 12, 2020 – New Baptist Church
Concerning the Word of Life 