Today’s Daily Lesson is from Psalm 33:
1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous; *
it is good for the just to sing praises.
2 Praise the Lord with the harp; *
play to him upon the psaltery and lyre.
3 Sing for him a new song; *
sound a fanfare with all your skill upon the trumpet.
4 For the word of the Lord is right, *
and all his works are sure.
5 He loves righteousness and justice; *
the loving-kindness of the Lord fills the whole earth.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, *
by the breath of his mouth all the heavenly hosts.
7 He gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin *
and stores up the depths of the sea.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; *
let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to pass; *
he commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord brings the will of the nations to naught; *
he thwarts the designs of the peoples.
11 But the Lord's will stands fast for ever, *
and the designs of his heart from age to age.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord! *
happy the people he has chosen to be his own!
13 The Lord looks down from heaven, *
and beholds all the people in the world.
14 From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze *
on all who dwell on the earth.
15 He fashions all the hearts of them *
and understands all their works.
16 There is no king that can be saved by a mighty army; *
a strong man is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The horse is a vain hope for deliverance; *
for all its strength it cannot save.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, *
on those who wait upon his love,
19 To pluck their lives from death, *
and to feed them in time of famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord; *
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, *
for in his holy Name we put our trust.
22 Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, *
as we have put our trust in you.
This is the prescribed psalm for this Independence Day and it is a reminder to us as a nation as to what our responsibilities are to our neighbors and to one another and where our place is in relation to the God of all nations and people.
We give thanks today for our independence. We are grateful to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We cherish our Republic — “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” — and we pledge our allegiance to the flag for which it stands.
We know that with freedom comes responsibility. We believe all men and women were created with equality before God, and that all have a “right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness”. We the people are responsible for keeping the rights and freedoms of one another, protecting them from tyranny and abuse, and upholding the rule of law that our “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
The Pslamist writes: LORD “loves righteousness and justice and the loving-kindness of the LORD fills the whole earth.” Righteousness and justice are to meet in a Godly nation. For it is not sufficient to be great, a Godly nation must also be good; and it is not enough to be strong, it must also be kind. For the rule of law is tyranny, if not established in the law of love. The rule of law is necessary; and the golden rule is its measure.
We are one nation among many nations in this world, all under the eye of God. In God we trust; and to us God has entrusted also. To whom much is given, much is asked; and to whom individual freedom is vouchsafed, communal responsibility is required.
And we know what the LORD does require: “To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.”
May it be so on this 242nd anniversary of our nation’s birth.
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