Daily Dose of the Word of God - Psalm 118

Justin Paul-Lawrence, Executive Director

Transcript

JPL  0:06  

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. I’m Justin Paul Lawrence. It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.  It’s April 24th. Each Friday we listen to the voice of the Psalms, which teach us to pray and point us to Jesus. Today’s passage is various verses from Psalm 118.

JPL 0:25  

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. I will not die but live,     and will proclaim what the Lord has done. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

JPL 1:02  

Lord has always struck me as a rather distant term for God in the psalms. I suppose I really do sometimes use it as a way to address God when I pray. But I never tell anyone that I go to church and worship Lord. Maybe The Lord. As in Praise the Lord. Or PTL, as my parents would say as shorthand, decades before texting was a thing. But Lord is really LORD, or Yahweh, YHWH or Yod, Hey, Vav, Hey. The I am who I am that Moses is greeted by in the burning bush. And that’s our God, our trinitarian god, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three in one that we confess in the creeds and that is shot through all of the Bible in really mysterious and oblique ways. The rock that follows the Israelites through the desert or the three strangers that come to visit Abraham.  So I want to read the psalm again, this time substituting more familiar names for God for the unfamiliar Lord. So here goes: 

JPL  2:34  

Give thanks to Jesus Christ, for he is good;  his love endures forever. When hard pressed, I cried to the Jesus; he brought me into a spacious place. Christ is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. I will not die but live,     and will proclaim what Jesus has done. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; God has done this,     and it is marvelous in our eyes. Jesus has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

JPL  2:52  

Kind of changes it, doesn’t it. It echoes with the way that I praise and thank God in a much more resonant way.   Even the parts that don’t have a name change take on particular significance. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” is one example - and this is cited by Christ directly in Matthew and also by Peter in Acts.   For me today, I’m particularly struck by “When hard pressed, I cried to Jesus; he brought me into a spacious place.” Again and again, Jesus has taken me from a posture of being closed in on myself, feeling put down or hardpressed, and has plucked me out and put me on a wider plane, a new city, a new church, a spacious place. And I’m so thankful.  As you approach worship this Sunday, spend some time with Psalm 118. Look for Jesus in the praise, and let him speak words of comfort to your soul.

JPL  3:50  

Jesus, your love endures forever. Jesus, you bring us out of hard places. Christ, you are my hope and my salvation. Even today, Jesus, place yourself at the cornerstone of our lives and build beautiful temples to your glory. Amen