Sunday, August 27, 2023

Theme:

God loves all of humanity and that love is witnessed through us. How we use God’s blessings to bless others is how the world knows God’s love.

Reflections:

Our reading for today starts with the universal nature of God. It identifies God as one who is “merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love”. God’s love is for everyone including creation. There is no divide between God’s love for humanity and creation. Verse 14 begins to change focus to those who struggle. A Psalm of hope that God’s love for everyone especially includes the oppressed, the hungry and the poor. God will feed and care for every living thin in creation.

Verses 8, 9, and 14-17 focus on God’s universal nature and love for all things but verse 17 is a hinge that begins to change the tone of the Psalm. In verse 18-20, God does not change but the Psalmist qualifies God’s love. The Psalmist adds requirements for God’s blessings. Notice the language in verse 18, the Lord is close to all WHO CALL ON THE LORD.  Verse 19, the Lord grants the desires of those WHO FEAR THR LORD. Verse 20, the Lord protects those WHO LOVE THE LORD. Suddenly God’s universal love for all comes with conditions. This creates some confusion. The Lord loves all but you must do something to receive the Lord’s love. This is not grace as we know it. God’s love all unconditionally, but this Psalm indicates God loves all only if you do something in return.

The Lord indeed loves all people. Nothing is out of the reach of the Lord’s love. We are all blessed by the Lord. But it requires us to acknowledge the Lord’s love in order to fully appreciate the love. The Lord loves us all, but we cannot fully appreciate and know the Lord’s love until we fully accept that the Lord loves us all. And this becomes evident when we CALL on the Lord, when we FEAR the Lord, and when LOVE the Lord. (Note FEAR in this context is a form of adoration for the Lord)

The one way the world knows the Lord loves us all is when we use the Lord’s blessing to us to bless others. God’s blessings were to be shared with the world as a witness to the one God. As we CALL on the Lord. As we FEAR the Lord. As we LOVE the lord, we will become witnesses of God’s love for all people. We take these blessings of love and we share them with the world so all of the world will know God’s love.

Questions:

1. How does the Psalmist describe God? Spend a few minutes and describe God through the Psalmist eyes.
2. Note in verse 18, things seem to change about the nature of God. What is different? How would you describe the God of verses 8,9, 14-17 as compared to God in verses 18-20?
3. If God loves all people as the Psalmist claims, how do we reconcile all the poverty we witness in the world?
4. How have you been blessed by God? How do you share those blessings?
5. How do you witness God’s love in the world? How do you share God’s love? How do you use God’s blessings as tool for the world and not just for yourself?