Devotion • November 30
Today's Scripture
Psalm 93
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.
The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the Lord!
Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore. (NRSV)
Reflection
On the eve of the first Sunday in Advent, today’s short psalm bridges our liturgical emphasis from last Sunday, Reign of Christ (also known as “Christ the King”) Sunday. Our tradition honors Reign of Christ in recognition of Jesus as divine ruler of a kingdom “not of this world” but of the realm of God.
We celebrate in Christ’s kingship the qualities glorified of God the creator in Psalm 93: strong, immovable, everlasting, inspirational, majestic, trustworthy, holy. As we encounter this passage from the Hebrew scriptures in the context of our Christian faith, we are meant to find assurance in Jesus as one who compels creation to testify to his manifold power and glory, as even “the floods lift up their roaring!”
Indeed, Christ contains multitudes. Today, he appears as our strong help, our divine monarch, and ruler of the cosmos. Tomorrow, we will hear whispers of his coming as a tiny, delicate baby born of a teenager seeking asylum with her husband from state persecution. Jesus holds at once the very essence of God’s omnipotence and the vulnerability of the human condition; his capacity in and of itself speaks to an other-worldly realm that defines, and defies, all expectation.
Prayer
Holy God, when the very floods that testify to your majesty are the waters that can drown whole communities; when the earthly powers that are meant to protect us are the ones from which we seek shelter; when the struggles of this world become too much to bear, grant us comfort and courage in the power of your steadfast love and a foretaste of your kingdom in our own space and time. Amen.
Written by Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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