Psalm 118: The poet's and the reader's shared resonance in praising and experiencing God

 Verse 18: The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

Verse 22: The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The poet is grateful for the victory God granted when he relied on Him. However, the poet did not always seek refuge in God. He too could not escape God's discipline. He became as insignificant as the stone rejected by the builders. But that was not his last experience of God. Becoming the cornerstone is the ultimate divine experience that forms the basis for his gratitude and praise. Let's spread the wings of imagination. Will the poet's experience of God be confined to his own experiences? If so, the Scriptures would lose their purpose and goal. The poet's experience must expand into a universal experience of God. Thus, a sense of empathy must arise between the poet and those who read his hymns. The transformation of an abandoned stone-like individual into the cornerstone, no matter how numerous, like the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore, God can bestow the miracle of creating cornerstones. The reader's following of the poet's praise universalizes the experience of God. A miracle is happening.