A place of abundance
by Linda Macqueen
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Praise be to God, who has not … withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:20)
Read Psalm 66:8–20
This week’s devotion texts have been ping‑ponging us back and forth across the Scriptures, and I’ll admit, I’m feeling a little dizzy. We began with the disciples trembling in the upper room (John). Then we visited the exiled Judeans in their exhaustion (Isaiah), before joining the early church (Acts) as they tried to understand what it meant to follow a crucified and risen Messiah. We bounced off Paul’s encouragement to two young communities learning how to live faithfully within pagan cultures (2 Corinthians and Ephesians). Yesterday, we reflected on how the Old and New Testament covenants meet in our High Priest, Jesus (Hebrews).
How can all these threads possibly belong to one story?
Thankfully, the psalmists often know how to gather scattered strands together, and today’s Psalm 66 does not disappoint. This is a song rising from the far side of trouble. The hearers are not people unfamiliar with suffering. They have known oppression, bewilderment, fear and the long ache of waiting. Yet the psalm is not a lament – it is a testimony. Standing on the other side of trial and testing, they declare that God has brought them ‘to a place of abundance’.
Across all the readings this week, did you notice the same heartbeat? God’s steadfast love for his people, even when their path leads through fire and water. His protection covered them, whether or not they could feel it. His refining work, his preserving hand, his refusal to abandon those who call on him.
Psalm 66 does not offer easy answers, but it does offer a way of seeing: God’s love is not proven by the absence of struggle but by his faithful presence within it. Like the psalmist, Christians today pray in the dark silences; we cry out, we wrestle – and we discover that God has been listening and loving us all along, leading us steadily toward his abundance.
God of all seasons, as I face the world’s turmoil and my own, I cling to this anchor: you are not withholding your love from me. Your ear is open to my cry. Your presence is steady, holding me close. And you are leading me, even now, toward a place of abundance. Amen.
Linda Macqueen retired in September last year, having served 26 years as editor of The Lutheran and communications manager for the LCANZ. She has rapidly adapted to retirement, happily and energetically bringing her long-neglected home and garden back to life. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills with her husband Mark.
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