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Psalm 118

This psalm was composed for a royal coronation and for a national  celebration as the new king ascended to his throne. So there would be a great crowd of people, and they would be celebrating God's enduring mercy to preserve Israel and to give her a new king. 

The celebration is summarized in both first and last stanzas as the people sing, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever!"  So the people praise again the gracious God Who is high and lifted up, yet near and merciful in all the affairs of life for He is the King of kings and Lord of lords!

Because a king was expected to lead the people in war, the song is divided into specific aspects of the king's leadership on a battlefield. The first and most effective leadership he can provide in war is prayer.  So the new king sings, "I called on the Lord in distress." So the people are reminded that God, not the earthly king, is the One Who can reach down into the heat of battle and turn events toward victory.

Continuing with battleground terminology, the king goes on to say, "The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place."  From the viewpoint of the king and his soldier's, a "broad place" was far better than a tight corner that allowed no manuverability.  Such an advantage didn't win the battle, but it provided the opportunity.  The sum of such opportunities added up to victory.  They would still have to fight, but God could arrange the circumstances!  Because of the need for such help, the king and all the warriors learn that "it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.  It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."  Only the Lord could and would reach down into the heat of battle and arrange the circumstances – the earthly king wouldn't be able to do that.

The second aspect of the king's leadership on the battlefield is found in circumstances of great danger.  Here the king finds himself in an apparently hopeless situation.  He's surrounded by a violent enemy as one might be surrounded by a swarm of angry bees too numerous to count.  The enemy is mounting a ferocious attack. The Lord's warrior-king, though, fights with confidence, knowing that it's the Lord's battle - that God is with him.  So, though circumstances seem perilous, he's God's warrior, and he knows he can't lose.  He sings, "The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation!"  With such confidence he fights hard even in the seemingly hopeless situation, and the Lord gives him victory!  That's the kind of leadership the people need!

Having thus experienced the Lord's help in battle, the king rejoices that he will "not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord!"  Of course He'll still have to learn humility through difficulty - even great difficulty - but he will not be given over to death because the Lord Himself will sustain him.

The final scene, then, is one in which the new king, though despised by many, is nevertheless preparing to enter the palace to sit on the royal throne.  It's reminiscent of God's promises to David to set him upon the throne, a promise whose fulfillment came despite many great and perilous circumstances. So as he sings here, he says he was "the stone which the builders rejected," but he has, through the Lord's salvation, become "the chief cornerstone!"

All these instances of God's nearness and mercy finally result not only in rejoicing, but in even more prayer.  Because his God is One Whose "mercy endures forever," the new king, along with the worshipful throng therefore sings, "Save now (Hosanna), I pray, O Lord! O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity!"  God has been near and merciful in perilous times, so it's appropriate to ask His help for the future as well.

Such thoughts lead to the closing benediction upon the new king.  The celebrants sing, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  We have blessed you from the house of the Lord!" The response of the king is to shout joyfully, "Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar!  You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You!" Then his final words in this psalm sum it all up. He sings, "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever!"

This psalm is quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ – the greater Son of David - concerning Himself.  He is "the stone which the builders rejected," but He has "become the cornerstone (the King of kings)!"  He was sustained through many perilous trials and finally through the greatest of them all, the Cross, and He rose from the dead to ascend His throne!  We need to remember that His victory is our own victory in all the affairs of life!  He is our assurance of FINAL victory over death, the grave, and hell itself!