The Unshakable Refrain Text: Psalm 118:1-4
Introduction: The Bedrock of Reality
We live in a world that is constantly shifting, a world of sand. Political loyalties change, economic forecasts are a joke, cultural standards dissolve like sugar in hot water, and even our own personal feelings are notoriously unreliable from one hour to the next. Our modern world is built on the assumption that there is no solid ground, that everything is relative, fluid, and ultimately meaningless. We are told to find our own truth, as though truth were something you could manufacture in your garage.
Into this gelatinous mess, the Word of God speaks a word of granite. It sets before us a reality that does not shift, a truth that does not bend, and a loyalty that does not break. This reality is the central fact of the universe, and it is this: the lovingkindness of Yahweh endures forever. Psalm 118 is what the church sings when it plants its feet on this rock. This is not a psalm for the timid. Martin Luther said this was his favorite psalm, and you can see why. It is a psalm of high triumph in the midst of great battles. It is a processional hymn, likely sung as the king and the people of Israel went up to the Temple to worship after a great victory. It is a corporate shout of defiance against the chaos of the world, and it culminates in one of the most glorious prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ in all the Old Testament, the stone which the builders rejected.
But before we get to the cornerstone, we must first understand the foundation. And the foundation is laid here, in these first four verses. We are not given a philosophical argument. We are given a liturgical command. We are commanded to join a choir, a choir that spans all of history, and to sing the one song that will outlast the stars. This is not a song of wishful thinking. It is a declaration of cosmic fact. This is the drumbeat of redemptive history.
The Text
Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness endures forever.
Oh let Israel say,
"His lovingkindness endures forever."
Oh let the house of Aaron say,
"His lovingkindness endures forever."
Oh let those who fear Yahweh say,
"His lovingkindness endures forever."
(Psalm 118:1-4 LSB)
The Unprovoked Command and the Unending Reason (v. 1)
The psalm opens with a fundamental command, the baseline duty of all creation.
"Give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good; For His lovingkindness endures forever." (Psalm 118:1)
The first thing to notice is that gratitude is not presented as an emotional option for when you are feeling particularly blessed. It is a command. "Give thanks." This is the proper, fitting, and only sane response to the way the world actually is. To be ungrateful is to be out of touch with reality. Ingratitude is a form of insanity. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that the root of paganism, the beginning of the slide into idolatry and every form of depravity, was that "although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks" (Rom. 1:21). Gratitude is the first line of defense against apostasy.
And why are we to give thanks? The psalmist gives two interlocking reasons. First, "for He is good." This is not to say that God sometimes does good things. It is to say that His very nature is goodness. He is the standard of good. Anything else in the universe that we might call "good," a good meal, a good book, a good friend, is good only in a derivative and secondary sense. It is good because it reflects, in some small, creaturely way, the ultimate and absolute goodness of God Himself. He is not just good; He is the definition of good.
The second reason flows from the first. Because He is good, His "lovingkindness endures forever." This word, lovingkindness, is the Hebrew word hesed. It is one of the most important words in the Old Testament, and it is notoriously difficult to translate with a single English word. It means covenant loyalty, steadfast love, unfailing mercy, faithful kindness. It is God's determined, stubborn, unbreakable commitment to His people, not because they deserve it, but because He swore an oath. His hesed is the glue that holds the universe together. And notice the timeline: it endures forever. It does not have an expiration date. It does not fluctuate with your obedience. It is not strong one day and weak the next. From eternity past to eternity future, God's covenant loyalty to His people is a fixed point. This is the bedrock. This is the refrain that the rest of the psalm will hammer home.
The Expanding Choir (v. 2-4)
The next three verses are a call to worship. The choirmaster summons three groups to pick up the refrain and declare this central truth to the world.
"Oh let Israel say, 'His lovingkindness endures forever.' Oh let the house of Aaron say, 'His lovingkindness endures forever.' Oh let those who fear Yahweh say, 'His lovingkindness endures forever.'" (Psalm 118:2-4 LSB)
This is how truth is to be handled. It is not a private opinion to be cherished in the quiet of your own heart. It is a public proclamation to be shouted from the rooftops. God's hesed is not a secret. It is a banner to be unfurled. The psalmist builds the testimony in three expanding circles.
First, "Oh let Israel say." This is the nation of the covenant. These are the people God rescued from Egypt, to whom He gave the law, with whom He made the covenants of promise. They, of all people, have seen the hesed of God in their history. They have seen His faithfulness in the face of their persistent unfaithfulness. For Israel to be silent would be the height of cosmic amnesia. This call extends to the new covenant Israel, the Church. We are the nation, the people of God, grafted into the olive tree. We must be the first to say it, to testify to the God who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Second, "Oh let the house of Aaron say." This is the priesthood. These are the men who served in the Tabernacle and the Temple, who stood closest to the blazing holiness of God. They handled the sacrifices that pointed to the coming sacrifice. They saw day in and day out how God made a way for sinful men to approach a holy God through blood. They, more than anyone, understood that the only reason they were not consumed was because of God's hesed. They lead the people in worship because they have a unique perspective on the mercy that holds back the judgment we deserve. This call now falls to us, the royal priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9). We who have been given access into the holy of holies through the blood of Jesus must lead the chorus.
Third, "Oh let those who fear Yahweh say." This circle expands to include everyone. This is the great invitation. It breaks down all ethnic and ceremonial barriers. Who is invited to join this eternal chorus? Anyone who fears Yahweh. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. It is the proper orientation of a creature before his Creator. It is not the cowering dread of a slave before a tyrant, but the reverent, trembling awe of a child before a great and good Father. It includes the Gentile, the outsider, the one who was far off but has been brought near. If you have bowed the knee to the one true God, if you have acknowledged Him as Lord, then this is your song. You are not just permitted to sing it; you are summoned to sing it. This is your new identity. You are one who says, "His lovingkindness endures forever."
Our Unending Song
These four verses are the warm up. They are the tuning of the instruments before the great concert begins. But they are also the theme of the entire concert. Everything that follows in this psalm, the psalmist's deliverance from distress, his victory over the nations, and the triumph of the rejected stone, is an illustration of this one, central, glorious truth: His hesed endures forever.
This is why we sing the psalms. They teach us how to speak the truth about God, and they drill that truth into us through repetition. In a world of lies, we need the truth repeated. In a world of emotional instability, we need an unchanging anchor. In a world of broken promises, we need to be reminded of God's unbreakable covenant loyalty.
This is our public testimony. This is our battle cry. When the nations surround us like bees, what do we say? "His lovingkindness endures forever." When we are pushed violently so that we are about to fall, what is our confidence? "His lovingkindness endures forever." When we look at the state of our culture and are tempted to despair, what is the truth we must speak to ourselves and to one another? "His lovingkindness endures forever."
And this lovingkindness has a face and a name. The ultimate expression of God's hesed is the giving of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word made flesh, the goodness of God embodied. He is the covenant promise of God fulfilled. When God wanted to show us, once and for all, what His steadfast love looked like, He sent Jesus to the cross. That is the final, unanswerable proof that His lovingkindness endures forever. And so, we give thanks. We join the choir of Israel, the priests, and all who fear God, and we sing the song that will never end.