Whether it’s a Haiku poem with its 17 syllables or Twitter with its 140 characters, there’s a discipline about brevity that focuses the mind.
Psalm 117 doesn’t go quite that far – in the NRSV it’s 30 words, 40 syllables and 170 characters, of which three are exclamation marks.
Praise the LORD, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
It’s about as concise as a complete, Biblical call to worship can get, though. In 30 words we’ve got who we are to praise (the LORD), who is to do the praising (everybody) and why we are to praise (because he loves us faithfully).
I’m not going to say any more – but please read that psalm over a few times. And answer it with your own praise.
Nick Watson 