Welcome to part 4 of Psalm 118! Today we explore the last section to this truly beautiful Psalm. Psalm 118:25-29 read:
Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 118:25, “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!” This verse brings reference to the New Testament when Jesus arrived on a donkey and all the people cried out “Hosanna.” The word ‘hosanna,’ in the Hebrew language comes from the word, ‘save.’ At the coming of Jesus, people wanted redemption because they believed Him to be the Messiah. Just because we live in a more modern time than what it looked like in the bible does not change our need for salvation. Our prayer should always be for salvation, for ourselves and for others who desperately need His grace.
Psalm 118:26, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.” Much like people were crying out for salvation in verse 25, they cry out blessings over Him in this verse. The people had been waiting on this Messiah and even though some did not believe, others knew He did indeed come in the name of the Lord. Blessing was bestowed to Him from the people in hopes to express their thanks for His coming.
Psalm 118:27, “The Lord is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” The people continue to rejoice in God’s goodness and honor the Lord with a celebration.
Psalm 118:28, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you.” This verse resembles the words of Moses in Exodus 15:2, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my Father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
Psalm 118:29, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” Just like that, Psalm 118 closes in the same fashion it opened. A reminder to us when we rise up in the morning and lay down in the evening, our day long prayer of thanksgiving should be lifted up to Him because His love endures forever.
What has this Psalm meant to you?
As we close, I am reminded of the full circle of emotions felt from start to finish of this Psalm; Praise, distress, salvation and victory. I will continue to turn to this Psalm when I face trials or when I need a simple reminder that God is on my side and He will always fight for me. Remember, God is always fighting for you, in fact, the war has already been won. Do not fall prey to the lies of the world which doubt the strength of our Lord. He is our strength, our song and our salvation. We should never fear, but praise and expectably wait on all He can do in your life.