Friday Devotional:
Psalm 116:1-9
"Have mercy on us." How many times have you prayed these words? I've done so in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the Uvalde school shooting; war in Ukraine and elsewhere; wildfires in California, Canada, and beyond.
People hurt one another, Creation cries out at our unfaithfulness in stewarding it. We get into messes every day and ask God for help. One disaster upon another may cause us to lose faith. Yet Psalm 116 reminds us God is merciful.
Mercy arrives in the hands of healers who tend to sick and wounded bodies. Mercy comes through firefighters and disaster recovery workers. Mercy shows up in lives spared, refugees given new life in a foreign land, the grieving, and the cross. We thank God, who is at work in this mess, offering fresh mercy in the form of the cross, the sunrise, and the promise of new life in heaven.
Meanwhile, God calls us to be Christlike infacing tragedy, to embody mercy in a hurting world desperate for healing.
Have mercy on me, O God. Have mercy on us. Stir up our hearts so we might embody your mercy in a hurting world. Amen.
An excerpt from Christ in Our Home
If you would like a copy of Christ in Our Home please contact the church office: 805-983-0612
|