Scripture: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 (NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL: As I sit down to write a devotional here in a library in Baltimore, I wonder what I will do for the rest of my life. What do I have to give the world that the other 200 people in this building haven’t already given? Over and again I come up short, thinking I have no place to go, nothing else to learn; that my peers have all done it better, or else I would have a job just like they do. I wonder what God has in store for me if everyone around me seems to already live the life I want for myself.
But in this economy, maybe what I want has to change.
Whether we are unable to build the family life we have always wanted, find that dream house or work up the rungs of success, we go through disappointment every day of our lives. But God is there to show us unfailing love, to heal and rescue us, to give us reason for joy.
Sitting here in the library, I can find many little things that make me happy and remind me of the brilliance of life. I see people holding doors, sharing a kind word and attending to needs of others; a beautiful landscape of people with goals and dreams. It reminds me not to worry about the future but to be thankful for what I have already been given. God has a place for each one of these people — friend, classmate, library associate and student — and all move together in a scene of God’s creativity. This is a reminder to us that God provides everyday for our needs. We are all held together in God’s hands, and for that, we have reason to be thankful.
Let us give thanks, for the LORD has been wonderful to us by God’s unfailing love.
Scripture: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 (NRSV)
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble
3and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
17Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
18they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
20he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.
21Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.
22And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.