November 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Psalm 147:

¹Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
²The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
³He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
⁴He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
⁵Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
⁶The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
⁷Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
⁸Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
⁹He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
¹⁰He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.
¹¹The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
¹²Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.
¹³For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.
¹⁴He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
¹⁵He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
¹⁶He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
¹⁷He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
¹⁸He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
¹⁹He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
²⁰He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.

Devotional

How good God is! He not only blesses his children; but "he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." He causes the "earth to yield her increase." "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou giveth them their meat in due season. Thou openeth thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing."

God also bestows untold spiritual blessings upon his children. He forgives all their iniquities; He heals all their diseases. "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." And this mercy "of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." All these blessings, temporal and spiritual, we owe to Christ our Redeemer.

O God, let people praise Thee,
Let all the nations sing;
For earth in rich abundance
To us her fruit shall bring.
The Lord our God shall bless us,
Our God shall blessing send,
And all the earth shall fear him
To its remotest end.

Prayer

Our Father, we thank Thee for Thine infinite love in Christ Jesus, and for all the blessings that come to us through him. May we as a nation humble ourselves before Thee, and be grateful for the boundless favors which we have received. And may not only we as a nation be thankful, O God, but let the peoples praise Thee: let all the peoples praise Thee, and may all the ends of the earth fear Thee. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Matt. 5:4, 5; Ps. 67:6; 14:15, 16; 103:3; 4:11, 12; 103:17, 18.

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