Universal Praise Series

If you think Psalm 117 is a short chapter, you are right, for it is the

shortest in all the Bible. But it is twice as long in English as it is in the

original Hebrew. It is 33 words in English, but only 17 in the Hebrew.

And it is another of the many paradoxes of the Bible, for small as it is,

it deals with the largest subject in the Bible. All the people's of the

world, more even than the United Nations, for it is absolutely

universal. It also deals with the universal love of God and His

everlasting faithfulness. So as small as it is, it is a door that leads us

into a Cathedral of praise that is infinite.

I must confess that I have never given it a lot of thought, for it is so

short that it seems irrelevant, but we need to see that it is like a

modern day chorus. It is very short compared to a hymn, yet, it can

be a powerful tool for praise. Length does not mean strength.

William Graham Scroggie wrote, "Here, indeed, is a gem, likely to be

overlooked because of its minuteness." It is clearly overlooked, for

there are many commentaries and books of sermons on the Psalms

that just skip Psa. 117, for it seems to small to bother with. The

assumption is that it cannot be very important if there are only two

verses. The Psalm before it has 19 verses, and the Psalm after it has

29 verses. So the theory seems to be that more is better, and so a

measly 17 words cannot be very significant.

How God must laugh at us, like we do the little child, who goes for

the big nickel and leaves the little dime unclaimed. Most Christians

will go through life and never once claim this little gem as a precious

part of God's Word. The Interpreter's Bible says, this little Psalm

exhibits ideas that are among the loftiest of the Old Testament." The

basis for world missions is found in this little chorus.

Do you think it is mere coincidence that Psa. 117, 118, and 119 are

all located together? Psa. 117 is very small, Psa. 118 is medium size,

and 119 is the longest in the Bible. The shortest and the longest

chapters of the Bible are separated by an average size chapter:

Small, medium, and large, in that order. The very structure of the

Bible has a message. God uses all sizes for His glory. The size of a

song, or anything else, is not an issue. The issue is, does it help us

worship God in spirit and in truth? The child, the teen, and the adult

are all tools that can be used for God's glory. The small church, the

medium size church, and the large church are all part of God's plan.

Size does not matter to God, for His Word is composed of songs of all

sizes, and we want to see how even the smallest of them can convey a

big and vital message.

I. THE UNIVERSAL INVITATION TO PRAISE v. 1.

This Psalm seems to be going the wrong way on a one way street.

All around it the Psalms are focused on Israel. Psa. 116 ends with a

focus on God's chosen people, and the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

Psa. 118 is also a narrow focus on Israel with the nations as enemies.

In verse 10 we read, "All the nations surrounded me, but in the name

of the Lord I cut them off." The theme is about Israel as the object of

God's salvation.

Now we come to Psa. 117, and it makes me think of an amusing

incident that happened in New York City during a transportation

strike. Certain heavily traveled streets were made one-way.

Madison Ave. was one of these, and a man who was not in full

possession of his faculties was stopped by an officer when he was

caught going the wrong way. "Where are you going," the officer

asked? The befuddled man responded, "I don't know, but I must be

late, everybody else is coming back."

This is the feeling you get in reading Psa. 117, and trying to fit it

into the context of the Jewish hymnal. It is going against the grain,

and swimming up stream. There is no hint of Jewish exclusiveness

here at all. It is so totally inclusive that universal is the only

appropriate word. From the temple in Jerusalem, the very heart of

Judaism, this universal invitation goes out to all the world to praise

Jehovah, because the God of the Jews is equally the God of all people

,and He loves them just as He does the Jews. This is radical theology