Episode Details

Psalms 117 and 118: The Shortest Song and the Cornerstone

The Psalter hides its most audacious claim inside its shortest song. Psalm 117 — just two verses, barely a breath — calls every nation on earth to praise. Not Israel alone, but all peoples, because God's merciful kindness is great "toward us." It is an invitation so vast it ought to take volumes, and instead it takes seconds. Then Psalm 118 arrives like the morning after a long siege, all gratitude and defiance — "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." This is the psalm Jesus quoted on the road to the cross: the stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner. What every architect rejected, God made foundational. And tucked between the battle cries and the building metaphors is the line we have carved into so many ordinary mornings without quite hearing it: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Not a special day. Not a day when everything went right. This day — whichever one you happen to be standing in.

00:00 O Praise the Lord, All Nations
00:15 His Mercy Endureth Forever
00:30 I Called Upon the Lord in Distress
01:00 Better to Trust in the Lord
01:30 I Shall Not Die, But Live
02:00 The Stone the Builders Refused
02:20 This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made
02:40 Blessed Be He That Cometh