I love the crisp detail of Psalm 147. I am an outside guy. I love how nature draws me into fellowship with the Lord. If you can take this devotion outside as you read, you may sense even better some of the keen detail that drips from the Psalmist’s pen. For fun, the bold text is what I am encouraged to do, and I have italicized what God does.

Praise the Lord.

How good it is to sing praises to our God,

how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars

and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

his understanding has no limit.

The Lord sustains the humble

but casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;

make music to our God on the harp.

He covers the sky with clouds;

he supplies the earth with rain

and makes grass grow on the hills.

He provides food for the cattle

and for the young ravens when they call.

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

the Lord delights in those who fear him,

who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Extol the Lord, Jerusalem;

praise your God, Zion.

He strengthens the bars of your gates

and blesses your people within you.

He grants peace to your borders

and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

He sends his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

He spreads the snow like wool

and scatters the frost like ashes.

He hurls down his hail like pebbles.

Who can withstand his icy blast?

He sends his word and melts them;

he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.

He has revealed his word to Jacob,

his laws and decrees to Israel.

He has done this for no other nation;

they do not know his laws.

Praise the Lord.

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On September 4, 2020, I decided to go for a hike and be alone with the Lord. I topped the trail where a ravine was that I was familiar with. There was a vine extending down from the treetops in perfect position to hold onto and swing across the ravine. After testing the vine for its strength and it seemed safe, I took two swings across. It was so much FUN! I decided to take a third and final swing before continuing on my hike. As I ran to the vine to get the right momentum to cross the ravine, I sensed something telling me: “no, don’t go!” but I did anyway.

The next thing I knew, I was falling! I landed awkwardly on my legs and my right leg bent in a way that I have not seen it bend before! I tried to get up and walk. No go. The sun was setting so I knew I had to get moving. I crawled up out of that ravine and crawled back to where I had started. As I crawled back onto the trail, I was thankfully discovered by a woman named Barbara and her friend, who immediately called 911. Her friend went to the parking lot to give the first responders our location. Barbara stayed with me as we waited and talked.

Soon, the EMS team came to carry me out of the park and into an ambulance to the hospital for X-rays that revealed a broken tibia! This required immediate surgery for me to be able to walk again. I returned home and after 12 weeks on crutches returned to work — walking without crutches!

My first day walking back to work, the Lord had a surprise for me! Unaware to both of us, Barbara was coming in for treatment that day I returned! We had a surprise reunion! As we became acquainted and revisited that day on the hiking trail, she intuitively realized that I had not forgiven myself for the accident. This was amazing! God’s timing, God’s message to me could not have come at a better time or a better place! HE knew how to reach me and heal me both flesh and heart! Psalm 147 reminds me that He does the same for all of us! As verse 3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” God used my “random” friend to not only help me physically on that trail, but more importantly to point out that I was needlessly carrying a load of guilt — a load I was not designed or required to carry. I say along with the Psalmist, “Praise the Lord!”

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