This devotion was initially created for publication in Eternity for Today, a devotional resource from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, for the week of March 12, 2022
Psalm 63:1-8
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. (Ps. 63:8)
Do you remember learning how to ride a bike? Did a parent, sibling, or other adult carefully hold the back of the bike, walking and then running alongside of you as you found your balance, learned the coordination of the pedals, and trusted your ability to navigate the cracks in the sidewalk on your own? Do you remember calling out something like “don’t let go!” and then hearing, “I won’t let go. I’m right here.”
The psalmist speaks to this powerful desire to know that we are not navigating life alone. Like a child crying out for the care and safety of an adult, the psalmist cries out to God. And in that crying out, the psalmist discovers that God is there—holding, guiding, receiving and encountering the beloved in all experiences.
Like a child learning to ride a bike and begging a parent to hold on tight, or learning to walk and gripping the hand of a caregiver, we are invited to reach out to God and discover that God has first reached out to us.
Dear God, thank you for catching us when we stumble, for holding us steady when we trip, and for being there when we cry out in fear. Amen.