Weekly Devotional 8th of August, 2025
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 8th of August, 2025
We will continue our series on hearing God through the Psalms by examining Psalm 147, the author is assumed to be David.
Psalm 147:2-5 – “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. 5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”
V1-2 -The place God has chosen for His people now has walls and gates, symbolising their safety and security. This again reflects God’s heart for all the righteous and that, under the New Covenant, the Church, though it may not always be in a flourishing condition, is ever safe and secure. God will miraculously watch over and guard it. It has been betrothed to Christ as His bride and, like the universe, is a work of God’s infinitely profound and rich understanding.
In the New Covenant, we see that He gathers His people through Christ Jesus, who becomes our Lord and Saviour for all eternity. He rescues us from our bondage to the world and gently heals the wounds caused by our sins. This restoration is made possible through His atoning work of bearing our burdens on the cross and paying the heavy price that these sins incurred.
V3-4 – To be acquainted with the woes of humanity and to bring relief to it is an easy and small matter to Him who knows the number of stars in all the universe (Genesis 15:5) and has named them all.
The fact that He does this reveals a precious truth to God’s people: how much the Almighty Creator loves His creation. If God cares for the stars this much, how much more does He care for humans, the crown of His creation, whom He made in His image and for whom He gave His only Son?
The power and greatness that God extends to the created order are small in comparison to the depth of His love for His people (Isaiah 40:27 28). He is the Divine Helper who lifts up or sustains the meek and those who have been humbled by affliction or suffering (Isaiah 40:29–31). These are the people who genuinely seek the LORD amid their afflictions.
V5 – The Lord is great – He is the epitome of great power. There is no limit to His wisdom or knowledge. Those who oppose Him are nothing and He brings all this abounding power to our side when we are in distress or under attack. As a result, our praise of Him should be great, as we extoll His name at every opportunity. Even if we do this, there is no way we can bring anywhere near what He deserves.
As we shall see as we delve deeper into this Psalm, it is about walking in the way of life. Joy and gladness will invade the lives of those who live in response to the God described in this psalm.
Life may well get tough, and confusion may invade, but we are urged to hold on to the faithfulness and trustworthiness of our God rather than put our hope in any other person or thing. Christian Scharen says,
This is emphatically not the God of any one tribe or nation, not the pet deity of any prosperity seeker or power grabber. This god is God of all creation, maker of sky, earth, water, and all that lives in them. There is, to paraphrase the Reformed theologian and former prime minister of the Netherlands Abraham Kuyper, not one square inch of all creation over which the Lord does not say, “Mine!”
The creator of all has power beyond measure, yet its exercise does not take the form or character of a tyrant, someone whom we must bribe for our petitions and prayers to be answered. Rather, this powerful God has already taken sides in history, responding to the cries of those in great need, responding with great mercy and transforming love.
Such love, grace and mercy are reserved for those who love Him and have surrendered their lives completely to Him. Is that you?
May God bless you.
Bruce Billington