Christ Church Daily Devotion Jan 24 2024

In this Daily Devotion, we read from Psalm 147, which praises God for His goodness and power. The psalm reflects the hope of a post-exiled and suffering community who find comfort in God's unfailing love. Dr. McCann explains that the power behind the universe also cares for us personally. The suggested worship option is to read Psalm 147:1-11 again and pray Isaac Watt's words. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for January 24th, 2024. Today we will be reading from Psalms, chapter 147, verses 1 through 11. Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant and fitting to praise Him! The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power! His understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with grateful praise. Make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds. He supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse nor His delight in the legs of the warrior. The Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. Psalms 146 through 150 are the final set of psalms and each one begins and ends with Hallelujah and or Praise the Lord. The psalms reflect an honest post-exiled and suffering community who can still sing praises unto God because they have found their hope in the unfailing steadfast love of God. I like the reflections Dr. J. Clinton McCann Jr. has written in the New Interpreter's Bible Commentary. At the heart of our biblical faith is the deep conviction that the power that has created and strewn the stars into their courses is the same power that, or better who, heals the brokenhearted, lifts up the downtrodden, and declares a personal life-giving word to Israel. In short, our trust, indeed our only hope, is that the power behind the universe has a personal face that is turned toward us in steadfast love. Dr. McCann continues, and Psalm 147 articulates the incarnation of God's word as we read in John 1, 1, and also 14. Our hope, too, is found in the unfailing steadfast love of God. Your personal worship option today is, read Psalm 147, verse 1 through 11 again. Remember, when God has healed your broken heart, bound up your wounds, and encouraged you when you were discouraged, let the last stanza of Isaac Watt's word from 1719 be your prayer today. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home. Amen.