Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness
Reminiscent of Hezekiah's written prayer in Isaiah 38, which I have just read this morning.
1-4 I love the LORD, because he answered my prayer when I was about to die.
5-7 Gracious, righteous, and merciful is our God; he saved me when I was low.
8-11 You delivered my soul from death; I walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
12-19 How shall I repay him? I will call on his name; I will pay my vows; I will offer to you a thanksgiving of sacrifice.
15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones." This familiar verse seems strange in the midst of a psalm that is thanksgiving for recovery from death. The immediate context is affirming a sense of service to God, a sense of giving one's life over to him. In life or death, the faithful are God's precious ones.
Psalm 117
Universal Call to Worship
1-2
Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!This is so short it can be quoted in its entirety here. It would be easy to memorize and repeat often as a reminder of our motivation for praising God: His faithfulness and love for his people.
Psalm 118
A Song of Victory
1-4 Let Israel, the house of Aaron and all who fear God say, "His steadfast love endures forever."
5-9 The LORD answered me in my distress. "With the LORD on my side I do not fear. What can mortals do to me?" New Testament writers echo this affirmation of courage: Paul, in Romans 8:31, declares: "If God is for us, who is against us?" And the writer of Hebrews in 13:6: "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
10-14 The nations "surrounded me like bees...in the name of the LORD I cut them off." He is my strength, my might, my salvation.
15-18 The right hand of the LORD is valiant; he "has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death."
19-20 Open the gates of righteousness so I can enter in.
21-25 Two familiar verses in this passage: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." Here David is probably referring to himself, but it is prophetic of Christ, quoted in Acts 4:8 and 1 Peter 2:6. The other has been put into a familiar song: "This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
26-27 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD. Quoted by the people at Christ's triumphal entry (Matthew 21:9).
28-29 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you (also put to music in a recent hymnal)."O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, and his steadfast love endures forever."
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