Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
the right hand of the LORD exalts,
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
(ESV)
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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!
(ESV)
—Psalm 118:14-17, 19-29
by: Dorothy Noel.
What a wonderful song of thankfulness and celebration we find in this psalm. God is truly our strength and might, providing salvation for the righteous! This reminds me of all God has done in the past and will do in the future. It also tells us what we can do in response, both now and in the future: rejoice, enter, and give thanks. I love the repeated affirmations in verse 28: “You are my God.” Our thankfulness acknowledges God’s lordship and omnipotence in our lives and in the world around us.
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