Elmhurst CRC

Sunday's Comin' #33 - Psalm 36:5-10

January 12, 2022 Caryn Rivadeneira Season 1 Episode 33
Elmhurst CRC
Sunday's Comin' #33 - Psalm 36:5-10
Show Notes Transcript

- with Caryn Rivadeneira, Director of Care

Caryn Rivadeneira  00:08

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose of the word of God. Today is Wednesday, January 12, and Sunday's Comin'. This is Caryn Rivadeneira and I serve as Director of Care and Worship Planning and I'll be reading Psalm 36:5-10 from the New Revised Standard Version. "Your steadfast love, oh Lord extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains. Your judgments are like the great deep. You save humans and animals alike, oh Lord, How precious is your steadfast love? Oh, God. All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life. In your light, we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you and your salvation to the upright of heart."

 Caryn Rivadeneira  01:02

 As this passage opens the psalmist gives us amazing pictures of God's character. God's love we read extends all the way to the heavens, God's faithfulness goes up up up to the clouds. God's righteousness is as big and strong as the mountains. And God's justice isn't just surface level. It runs deep. But there's another way I like to read this passage, one that isn't simply metaphorical. The other reading can tell us that God's love extends to the heavens and God's faithfulness floats to the clouds because the heavens and the clouds and the mountains and the depths for that matter are included. God's love and goodness aren't just for us humans here on earth, they extend it to the entire universe. While this may or may not have been the psalmist intended meaning, it certainly isn't far-fetched. Since in this passage, we also read that God saves people and animals alike. Now, American evangelicalism tells us that our faith is about Jesus and us that it's all about the personal relationship in personal salvation. Well, this is helpful and true on some levels. This is a very modern and very recent view. When we read the scriptures, we see again and again, that God's great rescue and restoration plan has never just been about any one person or even just about people. It's all about this whole world that God so loved. All it's to say, this passage invites us to consider God's character in some amazing ways. And perhaps next time we're looking at the clouds or catching sight of the stars and a cold winter night. We can not only remember how much God loves us, but how much God loves those stars in those clouds and everyone looking up at them.