Hunkered Down Devotion

Psalm 147:1-6 (Voice)
1 Praise the Eternal!  It is good to sing praises to our God, for praise is beautiful and pleasant.  2 The Eternal, Architect of earth, is building Jerusalem, finding the lost, gathering Israel’s outcasts.
3 He binds their wounds, heals the sorrows of their hearts.
4 He counts all the stars within His hands, carefully fixing their number and giving them names.  5 Our Lord is great. Nothing is impossible with His overwhelming power.  
He is loving, compassionate, and wise beyond all measure.
6 The Eternal will lift up the lowly but throw down the wicked to the earth.

As a pastor I spend a lot of time looking at the details and the depth of meaning in scripture. That is, obviously, a good thing.  I strongly believe that it is our responsibility as followers of Jesus to always be seeing to ‘work out our salvation, with great fear and trembling’.  What that charge from Philippians 2 means is that we are never supposed to stop working in our efforts to learn and grow and understand more about our faith, our God, and God’s call on our lives.
 
At the same time, sometimes it is good and important to stop for a moment, take a step back and make sure that you are not missing the forest for the trees.  I truly love to uncover nuggets of insight and depth in the details of scripture, but as I read this Psalm this morning, it occurred to me how important it is that we never lose sight of the big picture of our faith.  

Our God, the creator of the universe and everything in it cares about us.  That is the big picture that we can’t ever miss as we sort through the details.  Psalm 147 reminds us that God is the God of those with wounds to heal, sorrows to comfort, and those that are laid low.  

Psalm 147 tells us that God hung the stars, counts and names them.  That the Lord is great, so great that there is nothing that is impossible with his overwhelming power.  This overwhelmingly powerful God is also good.  Our God is good, loving, compassionate and wise.

No matter if we are reaching out to Jesus for the first time or nurturing a faith that has been growing our whole lives, we must remember that our good is both good and great.  That there is nothing impossible for our God and all that we know, see, and experience is the work of his hands, and yet, and yet, he cares for us.  He makes time for us.  The all-powerful God, creator of the universe has made time for you and desires, more than anything else, to be in relationship with you and care for you.  

Sharing God’s Love, 
Chip  

Prayer:    Lord, thank you for being both great and good.  Help us remember your love and care for us. Amen.