“Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!” (Psalm 36:10)
I woke up tired this morning but dutifully did my devotion. I’ve read Psalm 36 countless times but this morning, aha! Verse 10 jumped out at me. “If the Holy Spirit comes to you in the midst of such thoughts and begins to preach to your heart rich, illuminating thoughts, give him the opportunity. Be quiet and listen to him who can do much better than you. Pay close attention and take not of what he says. Thus you will discover, as David says, ‘wonderful things in the law of the God (Psalm 119:18)” (Martin Luther, “A Simple Way to Pray).
“Continue your steadfast love to those who know you.” Continue. Don’t we all need endurance? Would God have done all He’s done for you, not to bring you through these days between your birth and your heavenly homegoing? “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).
Lord, continue “your righteousness to the upright of heart.” That’s me, that’s you. Upright of heart? My heart is still diseased with sin, but God’s continuing grace and forgiveness transplants a clean heart and renews a right spirit within you (Psalm 51:10). “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress” (Lutheran Service Book 563:1).
A great thing about the leisurely reading of the Bible is experiencing the Word working on you. You really feel it. I’ve found that when my energies are low, as they are today, it’s prime time to linger over the Psalms. “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalm 94:19). Whatever your duties today, whatever your energy, the Word of Christ gives grace sufficient for this day.
“Help me henceforth, O God of grace, / Help me on each occasion,
Help me in each and ev’ry place, / Help me thro’ Jesus’ Passion;
Help me in life and death, O God, / Help me thro’ Jesus’ dying blood;
Help me as Thou hast helped me!” (The Lutheran Hymnal, 33:3)
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