Daily Devotion – December 29, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

Psalm 147:12-20
147:12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
147:13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
147:14 He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
147:15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
147:16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
147:17 He hurls down hail like crumbs– who can stand before his cold?
147:18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
147:19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
147:20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

We think sometimes of the Old Testament as the story of the power of a Creator God, and the relationship of this all-powerful God with the people of Israel. We think of the New Testament often as the story of Jesus and how he kindly lived and generously died to serve all people. Going from the Old Testament to the New, we enlarge our picture of the Creator God into the Redeemer, the loving One who serves the people he loves so much.

But look at Psalm 147 – it reminds us that the Creator God adores humans. God was in love with the Children of Israel so much that no task of service to them was forgotten. Look what God does here:
Strengthens the gates
Blesses children
Grants peace
Fills them with finest wheat
Gives snow and scatters frost
Hurls down hail –
And all this by simply sending out God’s Word.

This declaring of the Word as the actor of all this action is really important, especially when we read John Chapter 1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.”

And this portrait of God being “Your God, O Zion” means that God was dedicated to the flourishing of Israel. It sounds much the same as when the butler in an estate like Downton Abbey made sure that everything that happened made the great house and the people in it flourish and be seen to flourish.

The idea that God is a loving servant is not new to the New Testament. It is part of the character of the God we know from the very beginning of Creation – God wants his earth, all his creatures, and especially the people he has chosen to be with, all to flourish, be fruitful, and make the earth a loving and serving place. Is that the kind of God we have been thinking about? Is that the kind of God we praise? Is that the God we should wake up praising every morning? What if we tried praising that God for a few moments each day for the coming week? Out of gratitude?

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for the psalms in the Bible that teach us how to praise the God who made us and wants us to flourish. Help us to remember to praise you each day. Amen.