Psalm 145: 8-9, 14-21 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 145: 8-9, 14-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 8The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Verse 9The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
Verse 14The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
Verse 15The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
Verse 16You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
Verse 17The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
Verse 18The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Verse 19He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them.
Verse 20The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
Verse 21My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Devotion
This psalm has a number of unique qualities. It is the only psalm introduced as “Praise.” Many believe it to be the original ending of the book of Psalms. It’s an acrostic psalm: each of its 21 lines begins with the subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Talmud boasts that whoever repeats this psalm three times a day will be “a child of the world to come.” The psalm proclaims the totality of God’s kingship by repeating the word “every/all” 16 times. A portion of the psalm even found its way into the Lenten Verse of the LBW. But what is most important about this psalm is its content. It unabashedly proclaims both the frailty of human flesh and God’s relentless compassion toward all of us dying in that flesh. The psalmist says it aptly, “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Prayer
God of grace, all that we are not, you are. Your strength is greater than our weakness; your healing is cure enough for our brokenness. Thank you for your undying love. Amen.