We Are To Worship God

Psalms 117 may be only two verses long but it carries the weight of the world – 1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. 2For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.

Trivial Pursuit Answers

• It is the shortest Psalm.
• It is the shortest chapter in the Bible.
• It is the center chapter of the Bible.
• It has 589 chapters before it and 589 chapters after it.
• It is an imperatival (expressing a command in a forceful and confident way) Psalm.
• It captures in a nutshell the heart of scripture: Because of God’s great love and faithfulness shown to all, we are called from every nation and people group to praise the Lord.
• It is part of the 6 Psalms, 113-118, known as the “Egyptian Hallel” Psalms which are sung during the Jewish Passover Meal. — Psalms 113 and 114 would have been sung before the memorial meal — Psalms 115-118 would have been sung after the meal. — Jesus and His disciples would have sung these Psalms the night they celebrated the Passover, just before His betrayal and arrest (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).

 

More Than Trivial Pursuit

• Although as we can see – Psalm 117 adds a lot of fun to a night of trivial pursuit – it also packs as we learned last week an incredible punch.
• It shows us God’s redemptive love to all the nations.
• It affirms the promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 – The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. ² “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God's love for us is so much bigger than we can imagine and He wants us to receive it. Click To Tweet

Paul Emphasis to Importance of Psalm 117

Paul, strings four Old Testament scriptures together, in Romans 15:8-12 (Psalm 117 is one of them) to demonstrate that God’s plan is for the nations to glorify Him: “⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed ⁹ and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.” (2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49) ¹⁰ Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.” (Deut. 32:43) ¹¹ And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him. (Psalm 117:1) ¹² And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.””(Isaiah 11:10).

Because we study the Bible to help us become the best people we can be — and part of that includes us ENJOYING our lives here is a little more trivia:

 

Bonus Trivial Pursuit Answers

• Psalms 120-136 is called the “Great hallel”
• Psalms 117 follows the command/reason pattern – We are told what to do in verse 1 and why to do it in verse 2.
• The Psalm opens and closes with the same phrase– “praise the Lord” or “hallelujah.”
• It’s a call for all people everywhere to praise and brag on the Lord because of His merciful love and faithfulness. – There is indeed “No God like our God!”
• It shows us there is a time for short hymns, short prayers, and short messages. (Which implies there is a time for long or medium hymns, prayers, and messages).

 

Conclusion

. The Psalm is about way more than trivial pursuit answers.

. In fact we see it’s prophetic conclusion in Revelation 7:9-10 – “⁹ After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.””

 

. Back to Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

. 1 Peter 3:15 – “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

. Romans 5:1-11

 

We are able to have so much hope inside of us because of Who God is and what Jesus has done for us and we are more than able with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to boldly sing the praises of God – and to share the hope that lies within us with other.

 

God does not want any to perish – however, each one of us must make our own choice.

God does not want any to perish - however, we must make the personal choice to follow Him. Click To Tweet

Let’s look for the opportunities to share the hope that lies in us.

Share in the comments below how you were able to share you’re story to encourage someone else.