Companionship of the Lord

By Grace Parker, a senior at Goshen College
Reprinted from Lenten Devotions

DEVOTIONAL:

In our culture that is addicted to fast solutions and technological convenience, God offers something different— a long-term and transparent relationship. All too often, I find myself scanning Facebook statuses or reading friends’ blogs in the hopes of finding some relational connection. However, these mechanisms do not allow for the immediate and two-sided interactions with people who are physically present with me. 

God continually invites us into relationship. In today’s Scripture, the psalmist says that he loves and calls on the Lord because God heard his cry and prayers. God listens and we, yearning for authentic relationship, must respond with thanksgiving and humility as we hold up our side of the relationship. 

God’s companionship has been a comfort to me as I’ve felt the emotional distance from family and friends created by long-distance and international travel. During my semester abroad in Peru, I initially felt disoriented by my separation from so many people who I normally relied on for support. Turning to God for relationship, through reading the Bible, praising with the church I was working with, and moments of stillness, deepened my awareness of the mutuality expected by God.

As we experience emotional alienation and yearn for true relationship, let us remember the Lord, who hears our voice and answers with love.
  

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 (NRSV)

I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
What shall I return to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving-maid.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of
all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O
Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!