¹Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all peoples! ²For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!

This shortest chapter in the Book of Psalms (only two verses) is a golden nugget, not to be passed over because of its brevity. The longest is Psalm 119, logging in at 176 verses, which extolls a love for the Law of God in its many hues and nuances. Psalm 117, on the other hand, encapsulates a concise description of the Lord (Yahweh), with His central characteristics: His lovingkindness and His truth (also translated as “faithfulness”). Simple praise can often capture the soul’s yearnings and incite our meditation on God to simmer into the full flavor of adoration.

Looking initially at the second verse, we note it is directed to God’s covenant people, Israel. As with all the psalms, it is written in the context of God’s chosen people, “us.” His plan has always been to reach the world with redemption and blessing through Israel, the descendants of Abraham; they are to showcase God to the world, what He is like, and how He acts.

Verse 1 addresses “all nations … all peoples.” Israel was always to remember that their existence was never just about their survival and prosperity. God made that clear to Abraham, the seminal ancestor:

“I [God] will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen. 12:2–3)

The Lord’s strategy for redeeming the fallen world from the curse incurred by Adam and Eve was to make Abraham’s descendants into a recognizable and influential nation through whom God would reach the world. The apostle Paul quotes this psalm in the NT to make the point that God’s redemption extends to Jews and non-Jews alike because of Jesus Christ (see Rom. 15:11), a testament to God’s wisdom and love for all His creation. We read in the Gospel of John that Jesus came as God in the flesh, “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), paralleling this psalm’s “lovingkindness and truth” (vs. 2). The Lord Jesus Christ, who was descended from Abraham and was representative of the entire chosen people, is the fulfillment of God’s seeking and saving all who come to Him in faith; He is true to His promise to Abraham to bless the whole world. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Lord, with the psalmist, I cannot hold back and I proclaim to You, “Praise the Lord!”