Psalm 22:25-31 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 22:25-31 on biblegateway.com
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 greatest day in my life, beamed Ed Lowe, "was when I was chosen to be the first resident to move to the new Winnebago County Nursing Home. I felt like I was in heaven."
The manager told me she had chosen Ed to move in first so he could be at the door to welcome the new residents. "Ed," she said, "is the most cheerful and positive resident we have. Isn't that strange? How does one explain how this crippled, utterly destitute man, who lost his only family when his mother died, be the most positive and thankful person in our home?"
Ed was nearly blind, but with thick glasses and a magnifying glass, he managed to read the paper every day. I was always greeted with a smile. Without fail he would say, "Pastor, I cannot walk or sit up straight, but I thank God that I have these hands."
Ed, like the Psalmist and his Lord, was well acquainted with pain and suffering, but he could also say in the words of our lesson, "The poor shall eat and be satisfied, those who seek him shall praise the Lord."
Prayer
Suffering Savior, teach us to be more like your disciple, Ed. Amen