Eastertide Devotion – May 9

I love the Lord, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy. Psalm 116:1

Psalm 116 is the Psalm appointed for this week. There are so many wonderful themes in the Psalm that a week or two of devotions would not exhaust its strong words.

Martin Luther saw this psalm as referring to Christ from beginning to end. It is one of the “Hallel” (Praise) Psalms that were included in the celebration of Passover. As you read Psalm 116, pause and close your eyes and imagine Jesus and his disciples singing this psalm “on the night that He was betrayed!”

Psalm 116

I love the LORD, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
    the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
    I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
    “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;
    for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the LORD
    in the land of the living.
10 I believed, even when I spoke:
    “I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my alarm,
    “All mankind are liars.”
12 What shall I render to the LORD
    for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
    is the death of his saints.
16 O LORD, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
    You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!

 Prayer: O Lord, even in my cries for mercy let me praise your holy name. Amen.

The Last Supper

Valentin de Boulogne

1625-1626

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica

Rome, Italy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Valentin_de_Boulogne,_Last_Supper.jpg

God’s richest blessings in Christ,

Pastor Philip Quardokus