Text: Psalm 36:5-12
Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, And Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the workers of iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise.
Devotion
The Lord’s mercy is His undeserved goodness toward us, that instead of punishment and wrath we enjoy pure goodness. David praises it as glorious in itself and precious to his heart. “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!” “Precious,” of high value, we must consider the life and blood of God’s Son. Such is the Lord’s mercy, nothing can be compared with it. Not thousands of worlds full of all the glories that can be created, weigh anything compared to it. That God loves us and is good to us – could that be sold for any price? That’s what David thinks of when he uses the word: “precious.” “Your rich, immeasurable mercy, my God, is dearer to me than the most precious jewels and is worth more to my heart than heaven and earth. It is precious in itself and precious to me!” I hope that you also know God’s mercy and put a value on it. It is a sad blindness and a terrible depravity to regard God’s mercy lightly.
I can’t say this enough: it is an “evil eye” that does not see this sun, that does not regard its glory. When God’s Spirit enlightens us, we understand that without it we would be the most wretched of all creatures, abandoned to temporal and eternal misery, without peace, given to hate one another and to be trod under foot by the devil. We understand that it is God’s mercy in Christ that gives us all good things, and we say with David: “Your mercy, O God, is so inexpressibly precious! It is better than life and more glorious than heaven!” But we feel that we do not regard it according to its full worth. From the boundless sea of the Divinity we take only a few drops. Our weak soul can bear only a dark glimpse of the sunshine of love.
Closing Prayer
God, keep Your mercy toward those who know You, and Your righteousness toward the upright of heart. Amen.
Hymn
Since, then, neither change nor coldness
In my Father’s love can be,
Lo! I lift my hands with boldness,
As Thy child I come to Thee.
Grant me grace, O God, I pray Thee,
That I may with all my might,
All my lifetime, day and night,
Love and trust Thee and obey Thee
And, when this brief life is o’er,
Praise and love Thee evermore.
Gerhardt: I will sing my Maker’s praises L 459:11 ELH 448:6 tr. Composite;
tune: Sollt ich meinem Gott