And The Winner Is ...

Here are the Psalms that our youth nominated for the Wesley Award for Best Psalm:

Wes nominated Psalm 117:
 Praise the LORD, all you nations;
   extol him, all you peoples.
  For great is his love toward us,
   and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
   Praise the LORD.
Why? Because it's the shortest - only two verses long ;-)

Jake went the other direction, nominating Psalm 119, the longest of the psalms.  It has 176 verses and is broken into 22 separate sections - one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Angela nominated Psalm 121, which begins:
¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

Paige nominateed Psalm 23, which is perhaps the best known psalm.  Here it is in the King James Version:
¹The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
 ²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
 ³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
 ⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
 ⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
 ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

And our winner, nominated by both Alex and Adrienne, is Psalm 136:
 ¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
            His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
            His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
            His love endures forever.
 ⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
            His love endures forever.
⁵ who by his understanding made the heavens,
            His love endures forever.
⁶ who spread out the earth upon the waters,
            His love endures forever.
⁷ who made the great lights—
            His love endures forever.
⁸ the sun to govern the day,
            His love endures forever.
⁹ the moon and stars to govern the night;
            His love endures forever.
 ¹⁰ to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
            His love endures forever.
¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them
            His love endures forever.
¹² with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
            His love endures forever.
 ¹³ to him who divided the Red Sea asunder
            His love endures forever.
¹⁴ and brought Israel through the midst of it,
            His love endures forever.
¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
            His love endures forever.
 ¹⁶ to him who led his people through the wilderness;
            His love endures forever.
 ¹⁷ to him who struck down great kings,
            His love endures forever.
¹⁸ and killed mighty kings—
            His love endures forever.
¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites
            His love endures forever.
²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—
            His love endures forever.
²¹ and gave their land as an inheritance,
            His love endures forever.
²² an inheritance to his servant Israel.
            His love endures forever.
 ²³ He remembered us in our low estate
            His love endures forever.
²⁴ and freed us from our enemies.
            His love endures forever.
²⁵ He gives food to every creature.
            His love endures forever.
 ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven.
            His love endures forever.

God's love truly does endure forever! Congratulations to Psalm 136, the first-ever winner of the Wesley Award for Best Psalm!

Now, for our next award category:  On Sunday, March 11 we will be voting for Best Proverb.  So, leave a comment and suggest your favorite verses from the Old Testament's Book of Proverbs.  There's lots of wisdom to be found there!  We want to hear from you!