{"id":18688,"date":"2022-02-13T12:42:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T12:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotionsunday-13-february-2022"},"modified":"2022-02-13T12:42:38","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T12:42:38","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-sunday-13-february-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-sunday-13-february-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Sunday 13 February 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psalm 79<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember not, O God,
the sins of long ago;
in tender mercy visit us,
distressed and humbled low.<\/p>\n

2 O Lord, our Saviour, help,
and glorify your name;
deliver us from all our sins
and take away our shame.<\/p>\n

3 Then, safe within your fold,
we will exalt your name;
our thankful hearts with songs of joy
your goodness will proclaim.<\/p>\n

Public Domain
You can hear a verse of this Psalm sung to the tune, Gorton, here:
https:\/\/hymnary.org\/media\/fetch\/152759<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

How natural to want to turn to God in our distress and ask for forgiveness. We know God will lift us up when we are low and in need. <\/p>\n

How natural, once we are saved, to want to give thanks to God. We know God is worthy of our praise.<\/p>\n

How natural to forget to offer that same chance of forgiveness to others! We know, or we think we know, they are much more guilty than we are.
 
It\u2019s interesting that to create this sung version of Psalm 79 the writer has omitted the first part of the Psalm \u2013 where the Psalmist asks God to \u2018pour out wrath\u2019 on the nations that have defiled Jerusalem \u2013 in order to focus on the forgiveness the people of God want for themselves. What a very natural human reaction, wanting punishment for someone else\u2019s wrong-doing, but leniency for ourselves. What a challenge for us poor humans to hear Jesus telling us to pray \u2018forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us\u2019.
 
And yet, if we truly grasp the forgiveness God offers \u2013 not a cheap grace that simple forgets or wipes over our sins, but costly, amazing grace that wrestles with sin, suffering  and death and overcomes it \u2013 we can be filled with a love, joy and praise that flows out of us to all those who need it. So as we sing this Psalm may God lift us up and fill us with grace so that we may reach out to others to lift them up, too, by God\u2019s mercy.
 
Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

God of endless grace,
pour out your mercy on us, we pray.
Lift us up from sin and despair and shame.
Help us to praise you with freed hearts.
But help us to know that your grace is for all.
Make us channels of the grace that knows no limits
able to pray and live as Jesus teaches us.
That all your children may know life and peace
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 79 Remember not, O God,the sins of long ago;in tender mercy visit us,distressed and humbled low. 2 O Lord, our Saviour, help,and glorify your name;deliver us from all our sinsand take away our shame. 3 Then, safe within your fold,we will exalt your name;our thankful hearts with songs of joyyour goodness will proclaim. Public … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Sunday 13 February 2022”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}