Jeremiah 9:17-11:17; Colossians 1:24-2:5
Psalm 117 is the shortest Psalm in the Bible, and it reveals that length is not the measure that transmits verbal authority. Sometimes, short is sweet, and an economy of words can communicate meaning better than a profusion of grandiloquent discourse. Such is the case here. This Psalm is a call to “all peoples” – both individuals and nations – to fulfill their personal and national responsibility to “praise and extol the LORD” (verse 1). As my youngest granddaughter would say, “It’s that simple.” Why do we have this responsibility, and from where did it come? God endowed us with this responsibility simply because we are His living creatures – He made us, and He owns us. His “love toward us is great, and His faithfulness endures forever” (verses 1-2). God extends His personal care over His entire creation, and whether we accept this truth or not, everything that God is and does flows out of His heart of love and care for His entire creation – period. It’s that simple. Because God is both faithful and immutable, His love and care for us will never change. How many people in our world today completely overlook, ignore, or deny this simple responsibility? Psalm 117 reminds us to take seriously our responsibility to praise God every day, everywhere, and for everything.
In yesterday’s readings of Jeremiah (cf., 7:30-9:16), Jeremiah envisioned the Valley of Slaughter and the desolation for Judah’s sin. We saw his weeping – “a fountain of tears” (verse 9:1 and 9:10) – over the “heap of ruins” that was Jerusalem and “the towns laid waste in Judah” (verse 9:11). The prophet asked, “Why has this land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?” (verse 9:12). In today’s reading – Jeremiah 9:17-11:17 – we see once again Judah’s idolatry and its consequences. God told the people, “Do not learn the ways of the nations” (verse 10:1). The nations were “given over to cutting down a tree, shaping its wood with a chisel, adorning it with silver and gold, fastening it … and then worshiping it” (verses 3-4). But God indicated that such idolatry was no more meaningful or useful than a “scarecrow in a melon patch that could not speak or walk” (verse 5). Compare such a god to the God of Psalm 117. As a result, God promised them “a disaster from which they could not escape” (cf., 11:11). In fact, God told Jeremiah not even “to pray for this people” (verse 14). These people were reprobates who completely overlooked, ignored, and denied their simple responsibility taught in Psalm 117. What a tragedy!
In another short but powerful passage for today – Colossians 1:24-29 – we read about Paul’s labor of love and his energetic struggle to present the saints at Colossae and all believers [everywhere] to be “perfect in Christ” (verses 28-29). This reading is especially important because it reveals “the mystery” that God, in His sovereign right and will, has “kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints” (verse 26). Today, of course, we recognize that mystery as the church – God’s provision to include the Gentiles in His eternal plan – and “to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you – the hope of glory” (verse 27). I can think of no greater reason to apply the truth of Psalm 117. “It’s that simple.”
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