Today’s devotion is Psalm 117, which is the shortest Psalm, as well as the shortest chapter in the Bible. Everyone is instructed three times, within these two verses, to Praise the LORD. Praise is a part of worship and prayer, a time of communing or connecting with God. The Bible guides us through many different expressions of praise, but each expression directly gives God the honor, glory, and recognition that He deserves as the most high, powerful, faithful, and true loving Creator of our lives.
As I read through these two verses, I kept thinking that this is truly the highest example of “less being more”. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Well, our brother Matthew taught us this Truth just prior to teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, he said, “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (7:11-12) So, we must have grateful hearts and praise God for His enduring faithfulness to us. As His kids, our love for others should mirror His unfailing love for us, so we must use our two ears to listen better to our neighbor, and our one mouth must be used to be more loving like Jesus is to us.
Psalm 117 NLT
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.
2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful;
the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your unfailing love. Help us, Lord, to use our spiritual ears to be better listeners to others, and when things that are not of Your Spirit come out of our mouths, please forgive us Lord. We praise Your Holy Name, Jesus, and we want to be more and more like You, so please shed those things that are not of You off from each of us. We ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.