We ask God to make the Scripture fresh, encouraging, and convicting to us as we sit under its ministry.
From Psalm 145
Gracious God, in order for us to faithfully transmit our testimony of your goodness to the next generation, we need you to speak your Word freshly to our hearts today. In order to bring forth praise from our mouths and from our lives, we need you to fill our imaginations with all that is promised to us, and all that has been fulfilled among us, according to your Word. As we lift up our eyes to you, and as we open our hands to you, show us your generosity and feed us by the bread from your storehouses of grace. Indeed, nourish us with your most satisfying and delicious Word himself, our dear Lord Jesus Christ, as we feed upon him now. In his name: Amen.
Psalm 145
A psalm of praise. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.
We reflect on the Psalm of the Day and use it to examine our hearts and minds, leading us to confession of our sin. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 145 as we reflect on it together.
Our Psalm of the Day is about the call on God’s people to observe the marvels of God, to sense the kindness and compassion of God toward every creature, and to extend the knowledge of God’s marvelous works and his compassionate heart to geographically across the face of the earth, and generationally down through the ages.
To respond to this call from God requires the humility of attentiveness to what he has done and is doing. To respond requires the humility of receptivity, as we place ourselves within God’s tender care and especially at his mercy—trusting that he is indeed compassionate. To respond then requires that we adopt the same compassionate posture toward others, which alone can motivate us to speak forth, and live forth, the compassion of our God into the experience of our neighbor, who needs the Lord as we ourselves do.
Are we attentive? Do we marvel at his deeds? At his compassion? Have we become compassionate? Have we conveyed the kindness and compassion of our God to our neighbor? Or are we too proud, self-absorbed, and self-righteous to enter into the Father’s family business of extending his compassion and extolling his wonders?
Let us confess our sins together.
Take a moment to reflect and to confess your sins silently before the Lord.
Gracious God and Father, we confess that our eyes are quick to look after our own needs, and slow to take in the wonders of your hands. We repent, for our mouths are quick to criticize others, but slow to recount your compassionate deeds of mercy in Christ Jesus, and slow to convey your compassionate heart to our neighbor. Forgive us for our hardness of heart. Soften our hearts by your Spirit’s conviction, that we as your church might become the soil in which your grace can grow and the fruit of kindness can be manifest. For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of our neighbor, who needs him as we do, we pray: Amen.
People of God, the psalmist declares that the Lord is good to all, and has compassion on all that he has made. But the psalmist says that the Lord specifically is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in love toward those who seek his forgiveness and humbly call upon him. Upon this, your confession, I announce to you the pardon of your sins, through Jesus Christ, whose every impulse was always to declare his Father’s words and works, and whose very mission was to convey the Father’s heart of forgiveness and compassion; his slowness to anger; his richness of love. In his coming, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and present intercession, we are assured that the heart of God is soft toward we who humbly confess our hard hearts and seek the soft-heartedness of Jesus. Go, and live soft-hearted, compassionate, wonder-telling lives, empowered by the Spirit for proclamation and kindness. Amen!
Ruth Pfister, organ
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be:
World without end! Amen! Amen!