Psalm 22:23–31 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 22:23–31 on biblegateway.com
Verse 23You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
Verse 24For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.
Verse 25From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
Verse 26The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!
Verse 27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
Verse 28For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
Verse 29To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.
Verse 30Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,
Verse 31and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.
Devotion
The Great Law of the Haudenosaunee from the Iroquois states, “We must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” For many of us mired in myopic self-preservation or urgent financial anxieties for our families, it is much easier to choose expedient economic gain at the expense of our earth’s health and well-being. How do we think about all our relations (past, present, and future) when making our daily decisions to ensure that we are responding faithfully to the “afflictions of the afflicted”? How do we fashion our lives to reflect God’s economy in which “the poor will be satisfied”? As we proclaim God’s deliverance to a people not yet born, we too are delivered. As we attempt to bless future generations with God’s abundance, we too are blessed. In that moment, we are both proclaimers and receivers of God’s good news. In that moment, we become both the ancient offspring and future ancestors shouting out together, “God has done it!”
Prayer
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my Sacred Space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in Balance with the passing of each glorious Sun.
—Lakota prayer