Encouraging Words From the Psalms

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

extol him, all you peoples.

For great is his love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the Lord

endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

—Psalm 117

Whenever I read Psalm 117, I think: Is this all there is? There has to be more to this psalm. Maybe someone interrupted the author as he was writing, so he left it on his desk while he dealt with more important matters. Maybe a scribe came in, saw it, and, thinking the author finished the psalm, took the two verses and published them.

There had to be more—especially as wordy as the next two psalms are.

Often, we think there needs to be more content in our prayers and praise. We think we need to make lengthy prayers to pontificate our praise so that God can hear and know the sincerity of our words. We think we need to make long-winded speeches and turn our prayers into sermons, reminding others of God’s grace and mercy.

Psalm 117 reminds us that it’s okay to have short prayers. It’s okay to praise God with short verses.

Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who were praying. The Pharisee’s prayer was long-winded, and he talked more about his own glory than God’s. He pointed out the sins of others while praising his own self-righteousness.

The tax collector, guilt-ridden from sin, couldn’t even look up. He didn’t feel worthy of coming before God, or that God should hear his prayer. Yet, in a deep and humble faith, he cried, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Which of the two did God hear?

We go through seasons of good and not-so-good situations. We go through times when we can stand firm and shout out God’s praises, not caring who hears them. We also go through seasons where we can barely stand—times when we can only hang our head and cry out to God to forgive us, because we know our sin.

When you find yourselves in those weary seasons, know that God hears your short, whispered prayers offered from a humble heart, just as much as he hears those loud and lengthy praises shouted from the mountaintop.

He hears your prayers.

He has already forgiven you.

He loves you still.

He will always love you.