URC Daily Devotion 11 September 2022

Psalm 108

My heart is firmly fixed;
to God my song I raise.
Awake, O harp, in joyful strains;
awake, my soul, to praise.

Among the nations, LORD,
to you my song will rise.
Your faithfulness outshines the heavens,
your mercies reach the skies.

How great your love, O LORD:
we praise your matchless worth.
Your glory be exalted high
and cover all the earth.

Stretch forth your mighty hand
in answer to our prayer,
and let your own beloved ones
your great salvation share.

God speaks: “”All lands are mine,
to serve me and obey;
my people and their foes will serve
my glory day by day.””

O who will lead us on
in triumph on this day?
LORD, why do you reject your own
and turn your face away?

An army’s help is vain;
to God for help we plead.
With God we shall do valiantly;
with God we shall succeed.

Words 1987 CRC Publications / Faith Alive Christian Resources
You can hear this sung here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7QyWNClxz4

Reflection

There are parts of the Church which seem to be in a permanent state of ecstatic praise and worship of God.  Internet TV has enabled us to share in the most uplifting and exuberant of services from around God’s world. It seems from the outside as though it takes up a great deal of energy and it is easy enough to tap into that when we allow the Spirit to inhabit our thoughts and emotions to the full. 

There are other parts of the Church which seem to achieve a high level of mystic contemplation on a daily basis. Here the signature will be deep deep silence and a sense, to outsiders unfathomable, of awe, connection, and wonder in worship of a mysterious, yet incarnational, God. This too we can access through the wonders of technology. 

In between these two extremes (and others) we all place ourselves where we are most comfortable when we join a church and come to worship together the God we know in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is not advocating pick and mix Christianity –  it is observing that home is where the heart is and no more so than in worship. 

Wherever we are on life‘s journey and wherever we are on the Church spectrum, we all need regular reminders of the basis of our life of faith and service.  This Psalm acts as a useful prompt to each and every one of us.  God is the focus, the stimulus, and the destination.  It even acknowledges those times when we feel cut off from God or question everything we have come to believe and love.  Wherever we start, God will lead us on – God knows where. 

This Psalm grounds us and brings us safe home secure in the knowledge that God’s ‘faithfulness outshines the heavens’ and God’s ‘mercies reach the skies’ whatever may happen. ‘With God we will do valiantly’ just about sums it up. 

Prayer

God who sets us on a journey
To discover, dream and grow,
Lead us as you led your people
In the desert long ago;
journey inward, journey outward
Stir the spirit, stretch the mind,
love for God and self and neighbour
Marks the way that Christ defined.

Joy Dine (1937 – 2001) 
© Revd Mervyn Dine. Used by permission