Intro: There’s an old Latin phrase, Parvus Sed Potens, that means “small but mighty”. Today, we would say that little things mean a lot or “something small can have a big impact.”
This could be good or bad.
It could mean that someone is in need, they may be quarantined or sad and you stop by with a thoughtful gift. That’s a good thing.
Or it could be a little mistake makes a big difference. A couple of years ago, there was a snowstorm that lasted about a week and a group of social workers were asked to stay home for safety, but get as much work done as they were able to do. One worker wanted to show how faithful he was being to getting some work done, so he took a selfie of himself at his computer and posted it on Facebook.
A co-worker saw the picture and realized that he had been working on personal records of some clients and had accidentally taken a picture of his computer screen in the background with very personal information about a client that included some of their personal medical information along with a mental evaluation diagnosis.
Good news: He immediately deleted the post and
informed his employer about the mistake.
Bad news: He still lost his job for an ethics
violation.
Fortunately, looking at small things in God’s Word is a win/win for all of us. We get to look into lesser known pieces of the Bible and learn MIGHTY principles that will last us a lifetime. That sounds like a good deal to me.
For todays look at the Small But MIGHTY we’re going to turn to Psalm 117. It’s the shortest chapter in the Bible and only has 2 verses.
When I was a kid in grade school, we had a Sunday school teacher who challenged us to memorize 1 chapter in the Bible. I was going to memorize something in the New Testament until my buddy Matt Beach pointed out that we could memorize Psalm 117 in about 20 minutes and call it day. SWEET!
Little did I know that, when we went to quote it to the teacher, he was going to ask us, “Okay, now what does it mean?” AWWW, MAAAAN!
God has a way of wrapping up a LOT of value in small package and He put meaning in these Bible verses like Amie puts sugar on deserts. You put a little on the bottom, a lot on top and bake a WHOLE LOT into the middle.
Let me tell you, God bakes a whole lot of value in these songs of David.
Psalm 117:1-2 (KJV)
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
I don’t know if you have ever thought of this before, but each passage of the scripture was written with a context of what was happening during that day.
People who heard this song being played would have understood it within what was happening at that time.
The awesome thing about this is that not only can we look back into history and see what it would have meant to them, but we can also see what it has meant throughout history and what it means for us.
Look what v.2 says, “and the truth of the LORD
endureth for ever.”
What truth? What truth endures forever?
I. This chapter, then.
A. It’s undisputed that this chapter, this song is one that was written by David.
B. It is known by the title Laudate Dominum simply means the Praise/Honor the Lord Psalm
C. There are six chapters in Psalms that are recited on holy days and they are called Hallel, Psalms 113-118.
Hallel is Hebrew for praise. (Psalm 136 is called The Great Hallel.)
Hallel is recited on the first night of Passover (Pesach).
D. Part 1 is v. 1 and it’s a general call for everyone to Praise the LORD.
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
1. With so many people now calling for unity, it
would be nice if they could get unified on this.
2. It will never seize to amaze me that with all that
God has done for us that people still want to blame
Him for everything.
a. The govt. is God’s fault, the weather is God’s fault,
racism is God’s fault,
b. God has given us life and people want to do everything to thank Him for it.
c. If there is anything that we should be able to
come together on, it would be that we are made
by God, in His image and that He loves us.
d. Every nation in the world should be able to say,
Praise the LORD!
e. Who is more worthy of praise?
No one else, in all of history has been more loving, more kind, more patient, more merciful, more generous or more honest.
E. The second part is v2. which gives us two perfect reasons for praising the LORD and then ends with a repeat of PRAISE YE THE LORD.
1. 2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
2. David says that the whole world should be able to
praise the LORD for…
a. His great mercy toward us
Don’t miss this. Think about. He says that the whole
world should be grateful for God’s merciful kindness
toward who? Toward Israel.
-Why should we be praising God for His
mercy toward Israel?
- If God can have mercy toward a people who
have at times been childish, ruthless, stubborn
and rebellious, then He can be merciful to the
whole world.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (KJV)
6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God tells Israel that He didn’t choose them because they are the majority. Compared to other nations they would not win the popular vote. It’s not because they were bigger and it’s NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE BETTER.
Deuteronomy 9:4-6 (KJV)
4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
Think of it this way. Suppose I went downtown and
adopted a stray dog. I would get a dog that was hurt,
maybe had some disease, maybe even a little scared
and a little mean. That would get people’s attention.
BUT over the next year, they would know more
about me as they witnessed me take care of that dog,
clean it, give it medical attention, feed it well and
give it make sure it had everything it needed to grow
healthy.
After a year, they would see that dog transformed
into a tame, loving, healthy dog. It wouldn’t even
look like the same dog. It may still have some of the
same issues, so there is still work to do, but it will
happen.
God chose a man (Abraham) to make a great family.
That great family became a people of faith.
That people of faith became a nation.
Not the biggest nation.
It’s only a fraction of the size of other nations.
It wasn’t by nature the best, most godly nation.
They wandered into idolatry and rebellion
against God.
But they became a holy (set aside) people because the LORD set them aside. They became special because the LORD made them special.
Don’t you ever feel like a stray?
Don’t you ever feel like you’re not the brightest, the biggest, the best, the most of anything?
Don’t you ever feel like you’re on the outside of the party looking in?
Have you ever been the last one to be picked for a sport?
I sure have. I’ve never been picked first.
But if GOD says you matter, then you matter.
Who is going to argue with GOD?
If GOD says to you, “Bruce, I have chosen you to MAKE you special, then He makes you special.”
If GOD says, “Charles, I have chosen you to make you special, then you’re special.”
If God says, “__________________, I have chosen you to make you holy, then you are holy.”
THINK ABOUT IT!
The author of this song is saying…
“ O (emphatic) praise the Lord, ALL ye nations: praise him, all ye people
For His merciful kindness is great toward Israel
If God is willing to set aside this poor, hurting stray nation and call it holy and MAKE it holy, then what can He do with you?
Psalm 117:1-2 (KJV)
1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
If God says you are special, you’re special forever.
Because the truth of the lord endureth forever.
If God says you are holy, redeemed, saved, forgiven;
then you are holy, redeemed, saved, forgiven forever.
God does not pay idle compliments.
God is not fickle concerning His pronouncements.
If God pronounces you clean and forgiven, then no one has the right to say you are not, not even you.
If God professes that, because of your faith, you are worthy, then you are worthy forever and NO ONE, not even YOU has the right to say that you are unworthy.
And who is the author of this Psalm?
Someone who really knows what he’s talking about.
David wasn’t the tallest, the strongest, the best looking.
He was a shepherd. His own father didn’t see the potential.
God said, I’m going to make him a king and his throne will endure into eternity. God is, right now, in the process of fulfilling that promise.
David knows what it means for people to think you’re a failure, but still have God say, “I’m still with you. Let’s keep it going.”
David knows what it means to struggle with guilt and shame, but for God to pronounce him clean, a man after God’s own heart.
II. This song in history.
A. "It was spoken concerning Ananias and his followers when they came out of the furnace; but it also foretells the vocation of the Gentiles by the preaching of the Gospel."
B. Paul references it in Romans 15:11
Romans 15:10-12 (KJV)
10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
C. In 1780, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wrote a symphony that called Vesperae solennes. He composed it as an evening prayer and included Psalm 117 to remind people to give God praise at the end of the day.
You can hear it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X60OGd4co-Y
Berlin Philharmonic has a video on YouTube.
III. This song today.
A. We need to memorize this chapter.
1. Because there is a wicked, crooked, cruel world out there that wants to distract you from who GOD says you are.
You need to be reminded that even if the majority of people on the planet say one thing, but God says the opposite, God will always be right.
2. We need to memorize this chapter because our own sinful nature wants to convince us that we are nothing worthy for God to even consider, much less proclaim worthy or valuable.
It’s not always outside influences.
We need to realize that we also wrestle with our own self-demoralizing nature. It our own nature that says, “You’re wicked and you know it. What would God want to do with you?”
Psalm 119:11-12 (KJV)
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
You need to defend yourself against what the world says.
We need to defend ourselves against what our own sin says.
If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, God says you are…
forgiven
redeemed
a peculiar people
a treasured people
a holy people
a nation of priests
a people who are loved of God.
