Thoughts for the Day

I will sing of your steadfast love,
O Lord, for ever.....

Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance;
they exult in your name all day long,
and extol your righteousness.
For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favour our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the Lord.

(Church in Wales lectionary, from New Revised Standard version)

Thoughts

Many of us have been finding it difficult to celebrate recently with a virtual lock-down Christmas and New Year, and although vaccines for the Covid virus are available, we may have to wait a while to receive it. In the mean-time the death-toll rises around the world.

Psalm 89 reminds us that God has our back - that He is always with us. The psalm is likely about a festival. The 'festal shout' would be a trumpet to herald the presence of God who was the real King of Israel. It reminds me of the shout that occurred in the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey. I was only six, living in Germany, but I remember that amazing shout that went up, as I watched it on a tiny black and white screen.

God is our King - sing your heart out, or shout today - celebrate that God loves you, and whatever the future holds He is there in the midst of it all.

Lord God,
may we never forget to
to sing or shout of Your love;
may we not get bogged down
in day-to-day events
so that we forget to celebrate
Your love for us.
Amen.