Hunkered Down Devotion

Psalm 147:2-6 (Voice)
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.

Even in these strange days, life moves pretty fast.  It is easy, at least in our family, to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life and miss little details here and there.  We have felt that particularly clearly this week as we have struggled to make sure all of our ‘ducks are in a row’ for the start of school next week.

There are just so many things going on, so many details to attend to, so much information to process that, honestly, it is a bit overwhelming.  When I start to succumb to that feeling of being overwhelmed, I look to passages like this one from Psalms, to remind me of God’s presence and God’s power.

Verse four says that God counts ‘all the stars within His hands, carefully fixing their number and giving them names.’  This gives me incredible comfort.  I may have trouble keeping four kid’s school schedules straight, but God knows the name of every star in the sky.  There isn’t a detail that is too small for God’s attention.  

And if God pays attention to the stars, countless as they seem to be, we can be sure that God is paying attention to us.  Other passages in scripture remind us, similarly, that God knows the number of hairs on our heads, that is how closely he pays attention to us.  

This ability to know and hold all of this knowledge and information is why verse five begins by proclaiming that ‘Our Lord is great.  Nothing is impossible with his overwhelming power.’  God’s power and greatness goes beyond simply knowing the stars, us, or the hairs on our heads, God is able to do things we cannot fathom.  Nothing is impossible for God.  

Equally important as God’s greatness, is his goodness.  And that is the focus of the second half of verse five:  He is loving, compassionate, and wise beyond all measure.  God’s greatness is perfectly paired with his goodness.  God wants what is best for us, knows what is best for us and is able to bring what is best for us into reality.  

The good news of this truth is that is means I don’t have to keep all the details straight and have everything under control.  I simply have to trust in the God that does, and turn my heart and my life over to him.
 
Sharing God’s Love,
Chip  

Prayer: You are good, and you are great, Lord.  You know the stars in the vast universe and you know each of us as well.  Help us to rest and trust in you.  Amen.