Weekly Devotion

May 26 2020

Monday, May 25 -- It’s the shortest Psalm in the Bible, yet one worth reflecting upon. It is
Psalm 117. It reads this way in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible:

“Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!”

There certainly continues to be a lot of anxiety and stress surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is still uncertainty about if we’ll ever get back to normal. And my guess is that we will
never go back to what we once knew as ‘normal’, yet rather we will adjust to a new sense of
what normal is in our lives. The storms last night didn’t lessen any stress that is going on in our
own lives.

Yet listen to the Psalmist…Praise the Lord…for great is his steadfast love toward us and the
faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

What we are enduring at the moment will pass us by. We won’t be where we are forever.
Starbucks and Restaurants will open back up. Our favorite stores to shop in will be back. The
places we love to go, and the people with whom we love to go, will be there when the crisis of
this pandemic is through.

Yet for now, we must rely on the Lord to guide us and help us through. So, let’s do what the
Psalmist invites us to do…praise God…extol God…and remember that in the midst of it all,
God’s faithfulness endures forever…and God will get us through this time of uncertainty.
Prayer: Lord, help us…guide us…and help us to remember to always give you thanks and praise.
Amen.


Tuesday, May 26 -- In Pauls’ Letter to the Colossians, he writes this in Chapter 1, verses 9-12
“Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking
God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough
understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master,
making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how
God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it
out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God
gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father
who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.”
This is from Eugene Peterson’s The Message version of the Bible.

We know that we are in it for the long haul. We persevere. We do the work – the mission – that
God has set us apart to do. Even though we face times where we wonder if we’ll make it
through, we keep on going. This current pandemic has certainly stretched us. Yet I continue to
hear and witness stories – your stories – about how we continue to care for folks with great
care and compassion. Keep it up. And thank you for all you are doing.

Winston Churchill said “Never, never, never, never give up.” Or to put it another way from one
of my favorite movies – in Galaxy Quest, Commander Taggart often says “Never Give Up, Never
Surrender!”

It is my hope and prayer that we will never give up taking care of one another. It is my hope and
prayer that you are taking care of yourself.

I continue to pray that God will give us all minds and spirits attuned to what God wants us to
do. I know that we sometimes wonder from where the strength will come to continue on. It is
God who gives us that strength, and it is God who will carry us through. I give thanks to God for
each and every one of you. Never give up doing what it is that God has gifted us to do. Live
Well!

Prayer: As we continue to pray for one another, God, remind us that you are ever-present with
us. Help us to be attuned to who you would have us to be, and to do what you would have us to
do. Amen.