Psalm 36:5-10 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 36:5-10 on biblegateway.com
Verse 5Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Verse 6Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
Verse 7How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Verse 8They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
Verse 9For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
Verse 10O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Devotion
Gerhard Frost once pointed out that we tend to think of God’s righteousness in terms of a snow-capped mountain peak. It is majestic, pure, awesome and far beyond our reach. But Dr. Frost then goes on to say that perhaps an even better image for God’s righteousness is that of the stream of water running down from the snow-capped peak, down the side of the mountain and sustaining us in the parched valley below. The wonder of God’s righteousness is that he makes us righteous.
Today’s Psalm reminds us that God’s righteousness is like a mighty mountain. We need to know and proclaim the sheer glory, the holiness, the majesty of God. But perhaps even more incredible, this majestic God comes to us in the midst of our lives and our world. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, comes into the parchedness of our lives as Living Water. We drink deeply in the grace of this incredible God.
Prayer
Come Lord Jesus, into our lives and world. We thirst for your righteousness. In your grace, make us new. Amen.