Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 118:1-14 — A Prayer of Rejoicing in the Confidence of Faith—Psalm 118 was prayed regularly as part of the Passover celebration. It contains the call to rejoice and give thanks for the Lord’s salvation of His people. It has both a corporate and individual dimension to it. The basis for the congregation’s celebration and that of every individual Christian is mercy. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! Because His mercy endures forever.” The enduring mercy and faithfulness of the Lord is the only reason that Israel was redeemed from countless occasions of rebellion, and it is only the enduring mercy and grace of God that sustains and comforts us as individual Christians. So Psalm 118 begins with the call to the entire congregation of Israel to confess the mercy of God and then leads into a personal confession for every believer: “I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me…The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?… It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” The first half of the psalm concludes with comforting assertion: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” CP210516