God's sovereignty is a creative and sustaining power over the universe. He loves all of His creation. However, out of the many nations in the world, God chose Israel to be His chosen nation. Israel's election was to show how much God loves all nations. If Israel, who often broke covenants with Him, is still loved by Him, then God must love all nations. Through Israel, God's universal love for all nations was channeled.
That's what we can appreciate in the psalmist's verse of praise in this reading. Psalm 117 is very short, but it is a straightforward invitation for the whole nation to exalt Him on the basis of God's love and faithfulness that is revealed forever. Furthermore, in Psalm 118:1-12, the psalmist seems to invite the set of nations to see what God has done for Israel. Although they were crushed by various pressures and even the nations surrounded Israel, the power of God delivered the Israelites from their siege. The attack was broken by the power of God.
Then instead of being the attackers and besiegers of Israel, the nations were invited to glorify God who helped Israel and created the universe. From God alone comes strength and help even in the midst of impossible situations. God's love and protection are always greater than any crisis we face. All of God's creation and all the nations should give praise to Him.
If God's love for all nations and all creation is so great, then we should always have the strength to go through life with all its crises. In fact, the universality of God's love should enable us to see the good that He does in others. Then we can live in hope based on the good that God has done and is always doing.
