05/04/2026
Lent Day 47: Psalm 118 – My heart skips a beat for the concrete king
This Easter Sunday, as we celebrate the risen Christ, we’ll be reflecting on Psalm 118 – a joyful psalm that celebrates God’s goodness.
Read Psalm 118.1–23, NIV UK
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures for ever.
Let Israel say:
‘His love endures for ever.’
Let the house of Aaron say:
‘His love endures for ever.’
Let those who fear the LORD say:
‘His love endures for ever.’
When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD;
he brought me into a spacious place.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in humans.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my defence;
he has become my salvation.
Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;
the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’
I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the LORD has done this,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.
Read the whole of Psalm 118
Further reading: Acts 4 and Matthew 7
Reflect
One of my first jobs was on a building site. I was a fresh-faced first year university student doing a summer job a stone’s throw from my house. I’d roll out of bed, spend about 30 minutes putting on my steel toe capped boots and the rest of my day tidying – throwing broken breeze blocks into skips, shifting insulation into half-built houses, followed by incessant itching after shifting insulation into half-built houses.
Psalm 118 opens with a communal call to worship: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures for ever.’
I love the poetic structure here. The psalmist invites us into a posture of worship, while stirring our hearts for why we should. In one verse there’s a call to worship: ‘Give thanks to the LORD’, followed by the reason why: ‘for he is good’, followed by how he’s good: ‘his love endures for ever’.
And as we read on, we come to verse 22: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’
It rings beatitude bells from Matthew 7 for me, with Jesus sharing what it’s like when you listen to his words and do them – you’re like the wise bloke building on firm foundations, not the foolish bloke who builds his castle on the sand, so be the wise guy!
But it’s even more precious than that – it’s another messianic Easter egg and Jesus’ disciple Peter, whose name means ‘rock’, picks up on it too.
In Acts 4, Pete and John find themselves getting quizzed by Annas the high priest for a healing they had a hand in. Tensions must have been high since this was probably a matter of weeks after Jesus’ resurrection. ‘On what grounds did this healing take place?’ (Dai’s paraphrase of verse 7).
On the grounds of Jesus, replies Pete, then in verse 11 he lifts Psalm 118.22 off the proverbial page and gives them the good news, that it was Jesus all along.
‘Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone”.’
Respond
This Resurrection Sunday, we give thanks that Jesus is the cornerstone. While sometimes our faith may be rocked like Peter’s was, we take heart, for our faith is in something unshakeable. We take heart that though it’s Friday, Sunday’s coming. The hole in the rock where the boulder blocked the entrance was empty. Thank you Jesus, for you are the rock of our salvation!
Author – Dai Woolridge
