"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).

This does not mean that God is happy when His servants die, nor is it any kind of veiled approval of sacrificing life. The sense is similar to the way we honor those who have died in military service. They are precious to us because of what they gave their lives for.

God was pleased when Jesus voluntarily offered up His life for sinners. When we suffer or die for the Lord, He is pleased.

Friends, whether by life or by death, whether in ease or in suffering, whether in riches or in poverty, let us serve the Lord. None of it is in vain when it is done for Him.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Psalm 116:15 is often read at funerals, and the comment's clarification is helpful. The Hebrew word translated "precious" (yaqar) means costly or highly valued — the same word used of precious stones. The sense is that the deaths of God's people are not cheap or insignificant in His sight; He does not lose track of them or let them pass unnoticed. The psalm as a whole is a thanksgiving by someone who nearly died and was delivered: "The snares of death encompassed me... then I called on the name of the Lord" (116:3–4). Read in that context, verse 15 assures the reader that God values the lives of His servants too much to spend them carelessly.

Paul expressed the same confidence about his own death: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," and his desire was "to depart and be with Christ" (Philippians 1:21, 23). And Revelation pronounces a blessing on "the dead who die in the Lord" are blessed, resting from their labors (14:13). The comment's conclusion holds for both living and dying: nothing done for the Lord is wasted (1 Corinthians 15:58).

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone"; this is the Lord's doing, marvelous in our eyes; "This is the day that the Lord has made" (a paraphrase of Psalm 118:22–24).

In Psalm 118 the psalmist gives praise and thanks to God for His covenant faithfulness and for deliverance from his enemies. Both Jesus and Peter cite verses 22–23 as referring to the rejection and exaltation of the Messiah (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11).

Jesus Christ was the stone that the religious leaders — the builders — rejected. Yet this rejected stone became the cornerstone of God's salvation for His people. God Himself accomplished this wonderful work. As Peter declared, "there is salvation in no one else," for no other name under heaven is given by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

The psalmist looks forward to this God-accomplished salvation and declares, "This is the day that the Lord has made"; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

The day is the day of God's salvation. God has "made" it by providing the cornerstone, the central and essential piece, so that salvation comes effectively to His people. In this every believer can rejoice and be glad.

Friends, we sometimes cite Psalm 118:24 as if every day, especially Sunday, is "the day the Lord has made" and therefore a cause for celebration. While it is true that God has made all our days, this verse is not simply a general call to praise God for every ordinary day. The "this" in "this is the day" refers to the day of God's salvation in the Messiah, who was rejected by people but exalted by God. As the saints of old looked forward to the day of Christ, we look back to Him, and together we rejoice in the Lord who has accomplished such a marvelous salvation. Perhaps there is also a prophetic look forward to Christ's second coming (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). Whatever the specific reference, when we rejoice in "the day," above all else we are rejoicing in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Psalm 118 has a special place in Jewish worship as the final psalm of the Hallel (Psalms 113–118), sung at Passover. That means it was very likely the hymn Jesus and His disciples sang at the Last Supper before going out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30). On the night of His betrayal, Jesus would have sung, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…" The crowds had also shouted words from this psalm as He entered Jerusalem days earlier: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (118:25–26; Matthew 21:9).

The comment's contextual reading of 118:24 is well supported. The "day" follows immediately from the stone's rejection and exaltation, and many interpreters understand it as the day of God's saving act. Many Christians also see no harm in the common devotional use of the verse for each new day, since every day of a believer's life belongs to the era of salvation the verse celebrates. The comment's key point is the right emphasis either way: the joy of the day is rooted not in circumstances but in the rejected and exalted Christ.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good"; His steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say it; let the house of Aaron say it; let those who fear the Lord say it: "His steadfast love endures forever" (a paraphrase of Psalm 118:1–4).

The word translated here as "steadfast love" (or "lovingkindness") is the highly theological Hebrew term chesed. It is variously rendered in our English Bibles as "kindness," "faithfulness," "mercy," "goodness," "loyalty," and "steadfast love." While all these words capture part of the sense, they fall short of expressing perhaps its most important aspect: that God is faithful to keep the covenant promises He made to His people.

Why is this important to understand? It shows us that the term is no mere sentiment that anyone can name and claim. Understood properly, I believe the term is reserved for God's chosen people, and more specifically the elect among God's people: Abraham but not his father Terah, Isaac but not his half-brother Ishmael, Jacob but not his twin brother Esau.

Christians enter into God's chesed through Jesus Christ. We are adopted into the promises of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul writes that we Gentiles, once called "the uncircumcision," were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world; but now in Christ Jesus we who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (a paraphrase of Ephesians 2:11–13).

As precious as it is to be grafted into God's promises to Abraham, it is even more precious to recognize our inclusion in the New Covenant promises realized through the blood of Christ, whereby we have received both forgiveness of our sins and the imputed righteousness of God.

This is why we give thanks to the Lord. This is why we can shout of His goodness. This is why the church can join Israel's chorus and sing, "His steadfast love endures forever!" We have been included among God's elect, to whom He has made precious promises that He will faithfully carry out into eternity: He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (a paraphrase of Philippians 1:6).

Do you know Him, through whom we have these promises? Then praise the Lord!

AI-Expanded Reflection

The comment is right that chesed is deeply tied to covenant — it is the loyal love God shows within the relationship He has established, and it is the word God uses of Himself at Sinai: "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands" (Exodus 34:6–7). Scholars often describe it as love that goes beyond what obligation requires.

It is worth adding that the Psalms also speak of God's chesed in a wider frame. "The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord" (Psalm 33:5); "The Lord is good to all," and His mercy is over all He has made (Psalm 145:9). Psalm 136 repeats "his steadfast love endures forever" after each act of creation — the heavens, the sun, the moon and stars — before it turns to Israel's history. Interpreters in the Reformed tradition, like the comment, often emphasize chesed's special covenantal sense for God's people; others emphasize its extension to all creation. Both readings have support, and they need not compete: God's general kindness to all creation and His particular covenant love for His people are both celebrated in the same psalms.

Psalm 118 was also the psalm Jesus and His disciples likely sang at the end of the Passover meal before going to Gethsemane (Matthew 26:30; it concludes the Hallel, Psalms 113–118). "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (118:22) was on His mind that week (Matthew 21:42).

"I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done" (Psalm 118:17). Jesus applied this same truth to us. When Lazarus died, Jesus told Martha that He Himself is the resurrection and the life — that whoever believes in Him will live even after death, and whoever lives by believing in Him will never truly die, asking her directly if she believed this (a paraphrase of John 11:25–26). As believers, we too "will not die but live" eternally, and we too "will proclaim what the LORD has done." Let's live for righteousness, since Christ has conquered death — He bore our sins in His own body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds we've been healed (a paraphrase of 1 Peter 2:24). Praise the Lord, and proclaim to the world what He's done!

AI-Expanded Reflection

The specific question Jesus asks Martha — "do you believe this?" — is worth noting as more pointed than it first appears, since He asks it immediately after making one of the most sweeping claims in the entire Gospel of John, that belief in Him overcomes death itself. Martha's answer isn't a philosophical argument or a full grasp of resurrection theology; she simply affirms that she believes Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God (John 11:27), without necessarily understanding everything Jesus just said. That pattern — genuine faith preceding full understanding, rather than waiting for it — fits this comment's own application of Psalm 118:17 well: proclaiming what the LORD has done doesn't require first having every theological question resolved.

Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to God's own name be the glory, because of His love and faithfulness (a paraphrase of Psalm 115:1). That should be our attitude too. We easily fall into a trap of entitlement as we serve the Lord — which is part of why I'm uncomfortable using the word "sacrifice" to describe what we do at church. That word should really be reserved for Christ's own redemptive work on our behalf. What we do, we do out of love that we already owe Him — His love and faithfulness endure forever!

AI-Expanded Reflection

The distinction this comment draws — between our service and Christ's actual sacrifice — is worth extending, since Scripture itself does occasionally use sacrificial language for believers' own actions, describing praise, generosity, and even bodies offered to God as a kind of sacrifice (Hebrews 13:15–16; Romans 12:1). The difference this comment is really pointing at isn't whether the word "sacrifice" can ever apply to believers, but what kind of sacrifice is in view: Christ's was substitutionary and redemptive, accomplishing something we couldn't accomplish ourselves, while any sacrifice believers offer afterward is responsive gratitude, not payment. Keeping that distinction clear is exactly what guards against the "entitlement" this comment names — the moment service starts to feel like it's earning something, it's slipped from grateful response back into the very transaction Christ's sacrifice already settled.

John 11 has Jesus weeping over the death of Lazarus. I have a hard time fully accepting the reason usually given for this. Psalm 116 says God cares when one of His people dies. I've heard that God isn't in need of anything, so when we turn from Him, it's we who are hurt, since we miss out on Him — not the other way around.

Knowing He could raise the dead, and knowing the eternal outcome, why would He still weep? But here, He explicitly seems to "care," even though a resurrection is coming eventually. Why, though — does He ache because we miss out? Does He care for His own name's sake? Does He care because our suffering takes us further from His sanctifying work? Is it more that He's interested in the outcome, the way a police officer is interested in crime, or a redeemer in rescuing someone, or a righteous witness in seeing wrong made right? I can't imagine His grief would be identical to ours.

Yujin responds... Great thoughts, brother Fernando. Here's something I shared with someone at church who puzzled over the same passage, particularly John 11:35, "Jesus wept." It's the shortest verse in the English Bible, and its brevity might suggest nothing more than ordinary grief over losing a friend. But there's more going on. Jesus already knew, four days earlier, that He was going to raise Lazarus. So what's the real reason for His tears? I believe He wept over their unbelief, the same reason He wept over Jerusalem later (Luke 19:41–44). In Luke 23:27–29, women weep as Jesus carries His cross, and He tells them not to weep for Him, but for the fate awaiting unbelievers instead.

John 11:33 says Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" — a phrase that translates a Greek expression literally meaning something closer to "snorting with anger." Jesus was indignant, even frustrated, with His friends and disciples, who still weren't fully convinced that He was "the life." We know this because, praying before raising Lazarus, He says He knew the Father always heard Him, but said it aloud for the benefit of the crowd, so they might believe the Father had sent Him (a paraphrase of John 11:42). He wept over their unbelief — His weeping wasn't mere sentimentality.

By contrast, we often weep because of our own unbelief — we don't fully grasp the power and love God applies to every situation, and so we weep out of sympathy for others, or pity for ourselves. That's exactly why Jesus gave us His Word and sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, promising that everything belonging to the Father is His, and the Spirit would take what's His and make it known to us (a paraphrase of John 16:15). As we grow in faith and understanding of what belongs to Him, and as we're conformed to His image, God's purposes become our own, and we come to see more clearly that His works are perfect. Let's strive to be like Jesus even in our emotions — weeping, as He did, over the unbelief that separates people from God.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Whatever the precise mixture of grief and indignation in Jesus's tears, it's worth noting He doesn't hold Mary and Martha's grief itself against them at all — He asks where they've laid Lazarus, and the text says simply, "Jesus wept" (John 11:34–35), immediately after Mary weeps at His feet (John 11:32–33). Whatever frustration was present toward unbelief in general, Jesus's response to these two specific grieving sisters is to weep alongside them, not to lecture them for their sorrow. That distinction may matter for anyone in genuine grief today, wondering whether their own tears are somehow a failure of faith: Jesus's own example suggests weeping with those who weep and trusting God's larger purposes aren't in tension with each other — He does both, in the very same scene, without one canceling out the other.

Psalm 115 begins with what ought to be the Christian's mantra: not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give the glory (a paraphrase of verse 1). This echoes Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that whether we eat, drink, or do anything else, we should do it all for God's glory (a paraphrase). And at the end of time, all creation will echo similar words — worthiness, honor, glory, and power belonging to the One who sits on the throne, forever and ever (a paraphrase of Revelation 5:13). Following the context of each of these references, you'll notice they all arise from acknowledging God's authority and power over His creation. As the psalmist writes elsewhere, the earth belongs to the LORD, and everything in it (a paraphrase of Psalm 24:1, which Paul himself quotes in 1 Corinthians 10:26). In Revelation 4, the twenty-four elders praise God specifically as Creator, declaring that all things were created and exist by His will (a paraphrase of Revelation 4:11). So here in the psalm, we read that God is in the heavens and does whatever He pleases (v. 3), and that He is the Maker of heaven and earth (v. 15). God is to be glorified because He alone is Creator God.

The psalmist contrasts God with the gods people make for themselves. His ridicule isn't just aimed at idols with mouths that can't speak, eyes that can't see, ears that can't hear, noses that can't smell, hands that can't feel, feet that can't walk — it's aimed primarily at "the nations" (v. 2) who made them to be worshiped in the first place. These nations, and all creation, are themselves God's workmanship — and they can speak, see, hear, smell, feel, and walk. Yet they choose to make and worship something less than what God actually made them to be. The psalmist exposes this folly, concluding that those who make idols become like them, as does everyone who trusts in them (a paraphrase of v. 8). Idol-worshipers become like idols because they have eyes that seem unable to see truth, and ears that refuse to hear it. God pronounces this same judgment on unbelievers through Isaiah — ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving (a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:9) — and Jesus would later use nearly identical language to indict the religious rulers and unbelievers of His own day (cf. Mark 4:12). Recall the psalmist opens this psalm giving God glory for His lovingkindness and truth (v. 1); the nations have seen but not perceived, heard but not understood that same truth, and so withhold from God the glory He's due.

The psalmist closes with exhortations to trust the LORD, fear the LORD, and praise the LORD (cf. vv. 10, 11, 13, 18).

This psalmist's reflection on God hasn't changed for Christians today. Could we sometimes be guilty of seeing without perceiving, hearing without understanding, when we offer God mere lip service, or participate in church formalities while neglecting to actually live out His priorities? James writes that just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (a paraphrase of James 2:26). As distant as the ancient world's idols may seem to us, what place do our own homes, cars, businesses, money, and hobbies occupy in our lives? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that no one can serve two masters, God and mammon (a paraphrase of Matthew 6:24, ASV), with "mammon" representing anything of worldly value. Yet how busy so many of us stay pursuing what the world values, rather than what God values.

AI-Expanded Reflection

Two small corrections worth noting on citations here: the closing doxology about praise, honor, glory, and power belonging to "him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb" together is actually Revelation 5:13, not 4:13 — chapter 4 has the elders praising the One on the throne alone, before the Lamb is even introduced in chapter 5. And "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" is originally Psalm 24:1, which Paul later quotes in 1 Corinthians 10:26 — not 1 Corinthians 4:25, a verse which doesn't actually contain this line. Both corrections aside, the comment's larger point stands well: whether in the Psalms, the Prophets, or Revelation's closing vision, Scripture consistently roots God's claim to glory in the same single fact — that He alone is Creator, and everything else, idols very much included, is simply His workmanship misapplied.