July 21, 2024
“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15 ESV). David’s psalm anticipated the reality of going to sleep in this world and awaking to the righteous face of the Lord in the next. The Spirit inspired him with expectation of a
July 14, 2024 | Psalm 99
Why is it important for us to consider God’s holiness? Indeed, the word “holy” might be taken negatively by some. If someone calls you a “Holy Joe,” or refers to you as “holier than thou,” you might take it to mean that they think you are judgmental, that you think you’re better than them or that you’re really a hypocrite. So, we have a little trouble with the word “holy.” Yet, God says to His people, “Be holy, for I am holy”
But before we try to understand what it might mean for us to be holy, we first need to get a grasp on what it means that “God Is… Holy.” In Psalm 99, the Psalmist called worshipers to praise God for His holiness. We can praise God for His holiness.
July 13, 2024
“…to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless” (Psalms 10:14b ESV). The psalmist began by questioning where God is when the wicked persecute the poor. For the wicked appear to prosper and take advantage of the widow and the fatherless. Like a lion they lay in wait to attack
July 7, 2024
“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (Psalm 5:3 ESV). David wrote this psalm describing his habit of seeking the Lord in prayer in the morning. He spoke of how he cried out to the Lord and then watched and waited for
July 7, 2024 | Psalm 107:1-3
“Is God really good?” You ask. Sometimes you may have doubted God’s goodness. For if any of us has had a trauma, a bad diagnosis, lost a job, or suffered a failed relationship… then we’ve asked the age-old question: “If God is good, then why are these bad things happening to me?” Most of us affirm God’s goodness until something bad happens to us.
Perhaps it is our understanding of God and our understanding of what is truly good that is lacking. For who are we to approve of what is good or not? In Psalm 107, the Psalmist encouraged his hearers to give thanks to the LORD for His goodness. We can give thanks to the LORD for His great goodness towards us.
July 4, 2024
“The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:7-8 ESV). The book of Acts attributes this psalm to David. Yet David did not, nor did any other Jewish king,
July 3, 2024
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2 ESV). The first psalm begins with both
June 28, 2024
“Put not your trust in princes” (Psalms 146:3 ESV). In this election year, most of the news and even daily conversations are around politics and who should be president. This is especially so after last night’s presidential debate. Yet this psalm reminds us that those who put their trust in political leaders and parties will
June 21, 2024
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1-3 ESV). The psalmist David wrote of his wonder at God’s constant
June 19, 2024
“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1 ESV). The Jewish captives composed this melancholy song while exiled in Babylon. Having lost their homes in Judah and seeing their holy city Jerusalem with its Temple destroyed, they gathered somewhere on the shores of the Euphrates, and