Psalm 149 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 149 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Verse 2Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Verse 3Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
Verse 4For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
Verse 5Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
Verse 6Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
Verse 7to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
Verse 8to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,
Verse 9to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the Lord!
Devotion
When you look in the mirror do you like who you see? Do you think people like who they see when they see you? How do you think God sees you? In our culture we have been trained to look at things critically—to find the cracks in things so we can attend to them. This critical view is also turned inward as we are trained to be hypercritical of ourselves, always fixating on the ways we are not enough.
In this psalm we are given a glimpse of how God sees us. God adores us, sings for joy over us, and longs to dance with us! The Divine is completely head over heels in love with us, and invites us to see ourselves in that same way. This psalm invites us to change the hypercritical negative voice in our heads to the voice of the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God!
Prayer
Loving God, help me to see myself as you do. Help me to love myself as you love me. Help me to share that love daily. Amen.
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