URC Daily Devotion Sunday 16 March 2025

How good God is to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.
Yet my feet came close to stumbling,
my steps had almost slipped
for I was filled with envy of the proud
when I saw how the wicked prosper.
 
For them there are no pains;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
They do not share in human sorrows;
they are not stricken like others.
 
So they wear their pride like a necklace,
they clothe themselves with violence.
Their hearts overflow with malice,
their minds seethe with plots.
 
They scoff; they speak with malice;
from on high they plan oppression.
They have set their mouths in the heavens
and their tongues dictate to the earth.
 
So the people turn to follow them
and drink in all their words.
They say: “How can God know?
Does the Most High take any notice?”
Look at them, such are the wicked,
but untroubled, they grow in wealth.
 
How useless to keep my heart pure
and wash my hands in innocence,
when I was stricken all day long,
suffered punishment day after day.
 
Then I said: “If I should speak like that,
I should betray all my ancestors.”
 
I strove to fathom this problem,
too hard for my mind to understand,
until I pierced the mysteries of God
and understood what becomes of the wicked.
 
How slippery the paths on which you set them;
you make them slide to destruction.
How suddenly they come to their ruin,
wiped out, destroyed by terrors.
Like a dream one wakes from, O Lord,
when you wake you dismiss them as phantoms.
 
And so when my heart grew embittered
and when I was cut to the quick,
I was stupid and did not understand,
no better than a beast in your sight.
 
Yet I was always in your presence;
you were holding me by my right hand.
You will guide me by your counsel
and so you will lead me to glory.
 
What else have I in heaven but you?
Apart from you I want nothing on earth.
My body and my heart faint for joy;
God is my possession for ever.
 
All those who abandon you shall perish;
you will destroy all those who are faithless.
To be near God is my happiness.
I have made the Lord God my refuge.
I will tell of your works
at the gates of the city of Zion.
 
Reflection
 
Ancestors and gates – these are the two words that stand out for me in this psalm.  Oh I can recognise the frequent journey of the heart being described: from the gravitational pull of envy of the easy lives of others, and the disturbing reality of the worldly success of those whose seem to lack any moral compass – that drags me towards despair and giving up on trying to be faithful; to the recognition that whatever else is happening in my life, seeking after God, and a sense of being lovingly held, is ultimately all I have that matters, so how could I throw that away?  What intrigues me is the turning point for the psalmist (ancestors) and the destination (gates).
 
Ancestors. The psalmist is arrested by the striking thought that if they give in to how the world appears to work they will be betraying all their ancestors.  The perspective of being part of a line, a living tradition, that stretches back out of sight and forwards beyond the horizon – that changes everything.  It shifts the reading of events from surface to deep, the understanding of time from now to always.  We are not individuals but members of an eternal family that extends beyond blood and relational bond to encompass every child of God of every generation.  A family tree with wide spreading roots and branches.  Not only are we called to tend the flames of faith those before us have nurtured, but also to enable the next generations to light new fires of hope and love.  We are called to be good ancestors.  So we can’t give up.  No felling the tree.
 
Gates.  A way into the city of God.  A place where people are greeted, welcomed, invited in.  Like the school gate, a place where news is shared and community is built.  Jesus proclaimed himself to be ‘the gate’, our way in, and protector from all that might seek to steal and destroy (like envy).  So that’s where we should be – at the gates, sharing our stories of all God has done, is doing and will do.
 
Prayer
 
O God, my feet seem to be on slippery ground far too often.
Help me not to betray my ancestors, past and future,
But rather to remember the deeper truths of your presence.
For what else have I but you?
To be near God is my happiness.
So I will tell of your works
at the gates of the city of God.
Amen