Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
The idea: Live with the psalm for the week: read it daily or at least a few times during the week; share any insights, revelations, words of challenge or comfort you receive; share your thoughts with others - either here or Sunday morning during our time of sharing praises and concerns during worship.
Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Praise the Lord!
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
4 comments:
To me, this psalm speaks of God's great power over all of creation, as well as the whole range of God's traits (for lack of a better word): compassion, justice, righteousness, power. I love this last part - "His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love." God is not so impressed with our outward "performace" as our inward "devotion".
Pain dulls the mind and weighs down the body and soul, and God can seem so far away. But God never loses track of the details of my life and is always eager to give me strength, abiding love, a healing hand, and blessings along my healing journey. Sometimes my brokeness is a loving tool that draws me closer to God, but other times he seems so out of reach. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. So, with God's healing arms around me, my loving family and a host friends that God put in my life...the healing has already begun.
This past Sunday we went to worship with my mom at her church - a Catholic church. I was a little anxious beforehand wondering if I would get something wrong - or not understand stuff. But as it turned out there were two songs we sang that were a "blast from the past" and that I truly delighted in hearing and singing. So even in a "foreign land" I found myself able to say with the psalmist: "how good it is to sing praises to our God"
Beth,
Makes me think of Pentecost - Catholic...Protestant...doesn't matter, right? God is still God anywhere and everywhere. Glad you enjoyed your "blast". We should all be able to say we had a blast in church!
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