Psalms 117:1

This is the opening verse of Psalm 117, the shortest psalm — and the shortest chapter — in the entire Bible. It was written within ancient Israel, a people who understood themselves to be in a unique covenant relationship with God. What makes this verse remarkable is its audience: it doesn't call just Israel to worship — it calls all nations and all peoples. In the ancient world, each nation typically had its own gods, so this invitation is radically inclusive. The word "extol" means to praise highly, to lift up with great honor.

God, your welcome is wider than I've imagined — wider than my church, my culture, my comfortable circle. Stretch me. Help me see the people around me the way you do: all of them belonging, all of them invited. Give me the courage to actually live like that's true. Amen.

Here's what's surprising about this verse: it was written by a Jewish poet, in a culture where national and religious identity were deeply intertwined — and yet it throws the doors open to every nation on earth. Two verses total, and Psalm 117 is somehow both the most concise and one of the most globally ambitious poems in Scripture. The invitation doesn't say "come learn our language first" or "become like us." It says: wherever you're from, whatever your people look like, whatever your history — you are included in this call. That has a way of quietly confronting the versions of faith that become tribal — that feel most at home when everyone in the room looks, votes, and worships the same way. God's reach, this psalm insists, is wider than any one culture's expression of him. Who in your life feels like they're on the outside of faith spaces? And what would it look like for you to extend the same wide welcome this tiny psalm does?