Psalm 118

14 

V1 and 29 says
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

Ezra 3:10

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood[d] in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

“For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”[e]

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

At the time of Ezra , David was not the king, but he left an ordinance of how to worship. and even after 3 generations after David, and 70 years of captivity, still the people worshipped God according to the ordinance of a godly man.

I am amazed by their obedience to David's ordinance.

The psalmist ordinance is this, Every praise and worship to God should mention about the Goodness of God. Mercy of God. Talk about his Mercy

When we sing songs, we sing about his good , mercy.

Every time you sing these songs, you are also compelled to show that mercy to others. Its easy to sing about God's mercy and but only when you show that mercy to others you are acknowledging Gods mercy towards you otherwise its just a lip service.

Be merciful just as your Father in heaven is merciful.

Strength and Song

V14

The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.

Strength and Song

Strength - is required when you are doing a task. We need strength when we face a challenge. We need strength when you are facing a battle.

Psalmist says God is my strength. For every challenge the psalmist faces, his strength is from God.

At the same time, the Psalmist also says - God is my song.

Song - When do we sing a song. When there is love a song comes out. when there is joy that you cannot contains the song comes out. 

V15 and 16 says the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. Some people houses if you go, you won't see joy, there is always a complain of some problem. there is always weeping.  If you start worshipping God and rejoicing, the problems go away, but instead they keep on singing about the problems.

We are seeing Psalmist mentioning two different aspects.

Strength and Song
One is for a battle and One is for Joy.

Strength and song looks like do not go together. but God made both of them together and said this is marriage.

For some people  - God is only strength. When a time of song comes, they look to the world, they sing with the world. We see in the book of Judges, in the lives of israelites, whenever the face a battle with philistines, then they come running to God and say God you are my strength. And after they win the war they worship idols and they did what the rest of the world does.

For some people - God is only song. They sing and worship nicely, but when time of battle comes they look to the help of the world.

A true believer says - God is my strength and God is my song.
Throughout the wilderness, God is the strength of Israelites, but was not a song for them, so it did not result in Salvation.



V 19.
Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter.

This should be our desire.
God open to me the gates of righteousness.i will go through them.

Many times, we look for crooked ways, especially when it comes to money, or dealing with people.
have you ever gone in a flight trying to hide the expensive things so that you can avoid tax after hearing the sermon about  give unto ceasar what is ceaser's.
Have you ever cooked up your taxes to get more tax returns?
Have you tried crooked paths to get your earning.
God open the gates of righteousness , i will go through them. I will praise the Lord.