Praising God at Christmas with Psalm 117
It’s Christmas time again, one of my favourite times of year. I love the carols, the festivities, the food, and over the past few years I have grown to love the time of advent. I’ve been reflecting on the sermon series on 2 Kings and how often these sermons have been pointing us to Jesus. They’ve been reminding us Jesus was the only sinless person who could save us from our sins. It helps us remember the significance of Christmas, that this joyous time of year is to celebrate a joyous moment in history, the birth of our Saviour. As I reflect on this, I turn to Psalm 117, a fitting celebration of praise to God for what he did in sending Jesus.
Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
A few years ago, I used Lewis Larking’s book, Knowing Him By Name, to make an advent calendar with a Bible verse for each day containing a name of God. Every evening when my husband and I open it we use the name and verse to say prayers of praise to God. It’s a different kind of advent, but it helps us reflect on who God is and what he has done. He is EL– The Great God (Deuteronomy 10:17), The Living God (Jeremiah 10:10), The Maker of Heaven and Earth (Psalm 115:15), The King of Glory (Psalm 24:10), The Compassionate and Gracious God (Exodus 34:6). The advent calendar culminates on December 25th with the name and the reason we celebrate Christmas: Jesus.
The angel who visited Joseph said he was to give Jesus this name ‘because he will save his people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). As we read Psalm 117 and think of how great God’s love is towards us (v2), we can see it in the gift of salvation we were given through Jesus. We celebrate the coming of Jesus at Christmas because he is God’s son who came to save us from our sins and give us eternal life. The words of praise in this psalm were echoed by others in Matthew and Luke regarding Jesus’ birth. Mary ‘rejoices in God my Saviour’ (Luke 1:47), the angels gave glory to God and praised him (Luke 2:13-14), the wise men worshipped him (Matt 2:11) and Simeon praised God saying, ‘For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel’ (Luke 2:28-32).
This Christmas as we sing carols and come together to worship God, may we be reminded to praise him for all he has done for us. May we give thanks that Jesus came to earth so that we could be saved. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.
God bless,
Selina Fyfe
