Psalm 147:12-20 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 147:12-20 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
Verse 13For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
Verse 14He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
Verse 15He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
Verse 16He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
Verse 17He hurls down hail like crumbs- who can stand before his cold?
Verse 18He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
Verse 19He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
Verse 20He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
Lives filled with praise toward God are lives bent on becoming more fully alive. St. Irenaeus, a second century bishop, is credited for saying, “The glory of God is a person fully alive.”
Why is this? There are several reasons.
Praise delivers me from myself by reminding me again and again that I am not the center of the universe.
Praise fosters within me an attitude of gratitude. Psalm 147 rehearses before our eyes, God’s amazing extravagance. What better response than THANK YOU, GOD!
Praise moves my gratitude to a life of generosity. God is the most generous of all. We become more Christ-like as we practice the joy of giving and sharing with others.
Praise brings serenity to my soul. As I focus on this “power greater than myself,” I realize I’m not in control. I’m not in charge of this universe, and that’s OK.
Praise re-anchors me in the reality of who I am and whose I am. I’m among the beloved. I’m a child of the king.
Thank God, we have someone to praise!
Prayer
Gracious Lord, grant us the supreme grace this day to trust, surrender and relinquish all, so that we might receive what you have in store for us and respond with gratitude. Amen.