Tag: Psalm 118

Podcast Episode: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

Podcast Episode: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

Pip: There is a genre of writing that takes an ancient promise, traces it through three thousand years of Scripture, and lands it in your inbox on a Tuesday. cj writes that genre, and writes it well.

Mara: This episode follows one sustained meditation — on trust, obedience, and what Psalm 118 actually asks of the people who lean on it. Let’s start with that promise and what comes attached to it.

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118

Pip: The phrase “He will never fail you or abandon you” gets repeated in Christian circles often enough to lose its edges. This post is interested in restoring those edges — asking what the promise actually includes, and what it assumes about the one receiving it.

Mara: Psalm 118 opens the argument, and the post quotes it at length. Here is the spine of it: “From my being hemmed in I called on Yah; He answered and gave me more room. With Adonai on my side, I fear nothing — what can human beings do to me?”

Pip: That image of being hemmed in and then given room is doing real work. It is not a promise that the pressure disappears — it is a promise that the space expands. The stakes are different from what the comfort-poster version implies.

Mara: The post traces that promise backward through Deuteronomy, where Moses charges Joshua before the crossing: “Adonai — it is He who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.” But the post is careful to note what immediately follows in Joshua’s own commissioning.

Pip: Right — and here is where the post sharpens. The promise in Joshua comes bundled with an instruction: follow the Torah, do not turn from it left or right, keep it on your lips and meditate on it day and night. The assurance and the obedience are not separable.

Mara: That is the post’s central move. It defines righteousness directly from Scripture as obedience to the instruction of Elohim, and argues that the new covenant does not dissolve that obligation — it internalizes it. Matthew 5 is quoted: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to bring to fullness.”

Pip: The name change from Hoshea to Yahoshua — Salvation to Yah is Salvation — gets its own moment here, and it earns it. The argument is that redemption is encoded in the name before the story is told.

Mara: The post closes with Hebrews 13, which loops the Psalm back to the present: “God Himself has said, ‘I will never fail you or abandon you.’ Therefore, we say with confidence, ‘Adonai is my helper; I will not be afraid.'” The promise is ancient, the application is immediate, and the obedience is the condition that holds it together.

Pip: Trust and obey — the post ends with exactly those words. Not as a cliché, but as a conclusion the whole reading earns.

Mara: What stays with me is that the promise and the instruction travel together — you cannot lift one out without the other flattening.

Pip: Ancient text, Tuesday morning, same hemmed-in feeling, same offered room. More of that next time.

Read the whole post here: He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He Will Never Fail You: Trust, Obedience, and Psalm 118 Hope

He will never fail you or abandon you. He, is God, and His promises are true.

Give thanks to Adonai, for He is good, for His grace endures forever.
Now let Israel say, “His grace endures forever.”
Now let the house of Aaron say, “His grace endures forever.”
Now let those who fear Adonai say, “His grace endures forever.”

From my being hemmed in I called on Yah; He answered and gave me more room.
With Adonai on my side, I fear nothing – what can human beings do to me?
With Adonai on my side as my help, I will look with triumph at those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in Adonai than to trust in human beings;
better to take refuge in Adonai than to put one’s trust in princes.

The nations all surrounded me; in the name of Adonai I cut them down.
They surrounded me on every side in the name of Adonai I cut them down.
They surrounded me like bees but were extinguished [as quickly] as fire in thorns;
in the name of Adonai I cut them down.

You pushed me hard to make me fall, but Adonai helped me.
Yah is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.
Psalm 118:1-14

As the world steps more and more into uncertainty let me remind us; those of us who call on the name of Yahoshua Messiah (Jesus), who seek the Father by way of His Son; we CAN rest in His promise that He will never fail us or abandon us. Psalm 118 is a great reminder of this and it begins by reminding us that we need to GIVE THANKS to Adonai, for HE IS GOOD, for HIS GRACE ENDURES FOREVER.

This understanding goes back, way – way back. We see it present through out Genesis and throughout the succession of leadership. Moses said to Joshua, “Be strong, be bold, for you are going with this people into the land Adonai promised to their ancestors He would give them. You will be the one causing them to inherit it. But Adonai – it is He who will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, so don’t be afraid or downhearted.” Deuteronomy 31:7-8

This is the message many Christians love to repeat, and it is true. However, each time this promise is given there is a reminder, just as Elohim tells Joshua; “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will neither fail you nor abandon you. Be strong, be bold; for you will cause this people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers I would give them. Only be strong and very bold in taking care TO FOLLOW ALL THE TORAH (Instruction) which Moses My servant ordered you to follow; do not turn from it either to the right or the left; then you will succeed wherever you go. Yes, keep this book of the Instruction (Torah) on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed. Haven’t I ordered you, ‘Be strong, be bold?’ So don’t be afraid or downhearted, because Adonai your Elohim is with you wherever you go.” So He tells you and i.

Psalm 118 continues:
The sound of rejoicing and victory
is heard in the tents of the righteous:
“Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!
Adonai’s right hand is raised in triumph!
Adonai’s right hand struck powerfully!”

I will not die; no, I will live and proclaim the great deeds of Yah!
Yah disciplined me severely, but did not hand me over to death.

Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter them and thank Yah.
This is the gate of Adonai; the righteous can enter it.
I am thanking You because You answered me; You became my Salvation.

The very rock that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone!
This has come from Adonai, and in our eyes it is amazing.
This is the day Adonai has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad.
Psalm 118:15-24

A few things to point out here as this Psalm is so rich in content. Joshua son of Nun, was originally named Hoshea, that was his birth name. Names have meaning and significance throughout Scripture and cultures for that matter. Hoshea, means ‘Salvation’. When Hoshea’s name was changed it was changed to Yahoshua, meaning, YAH is Salvation. This is significant in that it is the story of redemption told in a single name. Man cannot save themselves, we need a savior. Yah is our salvation. This name of course would come back into play, as Yahoshua son of Nun led the Israelites into the promised land so Yahoshua the Son of Elohim, leads His people into the Kingdom.

Righteous or righteousness as defined by Scripture means; one who is obedient to the instruction of Elohim. Another way to say it, ‘those things commanded by Elohim to be obeyed by man’. This didn’t change under the new covenant as the new covenant is simply the ‘old’ covenant written on our hearts. It is written there by the Holy Spirit, through the finishing work of Yahoshua, Yah’s Salvation, the Word made flesh as John writes in his gospel recording.

Yahoshua does not diminish the responsibility for obedience. He made several references to the ongoing need to walk according to the commands of Elohim. Matthew records Messiah saying: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah (Instructions of Elohim) or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to bring to fullness. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a dot or a stroke will pass from the Torah – not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these commandments and teaches others to do will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

Yahoshua Messiah also said:

“But why do you call Me ‘Adonai, Adonai,’ and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46

“If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever.  That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

Remember that Yahoshua is the WORD made flesh, He is the Torah, He is the written instruction and He is commanding us to obey. Not without help, He is providing the Holy Spirit who not only writes the instruction on our hearts but also enables us to live obedient lives IF we listen, for He doesn’t force obedience, He encourages it. Even more of His own He demands it.

Some say it is too hard to keep the commands of Elohim. Yet, we read in His word that His Word is not too cumbersome. Who is telling the truth, man or God? There is only one right answer, “Let God be true, even if every man is a liar.” Psalm 118 concludes:

Please, Adonai! Save us! Please, Adonai! Rescue us!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai. We bless you from the house of Adonai.

Adonai is God, and He gives us light. Join the pilgrim festival with branches all the way to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I thank You. You are my God; I exalt You.
Give thanks to Adonai; for He is good, for His grace endures forever.
Psalm 118:25-29

The writer of Hebrews records this in the thirteenth chapter beginning with verse five; “Keep your lives from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God Himself has said, ‘I will never fail you or abandon you.’ Therefore, we say with confidence, ‘Adonai is my HELPER; I will NOT be afraid – what can a human being do to me?'”

By God’s grace He has made away for salvation through His Son Yahoshua. Yah is Salvation, for all those who call upon the Name of Adonai Yahoshua Messiah. The very Word made flesh, who like the finger of Elohim, wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, so too He writes the Commandments of God on our hearts. Who then shall we fear? We trust only in the God of Heaven, by faith in Messiah Yahoshua, guided by the Holy Spirit – the promised HELPER.

Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Yahoshua, than to trust and obey.

You are loved,
cj