Psalm and praise, Day 17 Where is your reward? Read Psalm chapter 17. This is another song where David shares his struggles, trials, and difficulties with the people of the world. He is being attacked and is under persecution from his enemies. How does he respond? David goes to God, of course. in this song, he makes an interesting statement. David asks to be saved from the people whose reward is here on Earth. He doesn’t ask to be saved from evil people. He doesn’t ask to be saved from people who want to harm him. David asks to be saved from the people whose reward is here on Earth.…

Psalm and Praise, Day 16 What are the good things in our lives? Read Psalm chapter 16. David recognizes that while we have many things in our lives, the only truly good thing that we have in our life is God. God is the one who allows all the good things that we have and only through him do we even understand what goodness really is. If we did not have the experience of God in our life, we would have no concept of what good really means and can be. When we look at our lives, we need to understand just exactly how big of a role God plays…

Psalm and Praise, Day 13 Are our thoughts our enemy? Read Psalm chapter 13. As we went through this psalm today, I’m struck by the fact that in this verse we can truly understand sometimes our greatest enemy is our own self. Sometimes our thoughts can be what comes against us and what drives us to doubt and to struggle. We need to understand that God overcomes our thoughts. God is greater than our own judgments and condescending words that we say to ourselves. We need to keep our opinion of ourselves based in the truth of God’s love for us and God’s understanding of who we are. Do we…

Psalm and Praise, Day 12 Can’t trust anyone. Read Psalm chapter 12. Who do you trust? So many people these days just don’t trust anyone. And honestly, that’s for good reason. The bible even says all the way back in David’s time that people can’t be trusted. We are trust God. He is the one that we can rely on because everyone else will let us down or betray us at some point. Are we relying on God in every area of our lives today?

Psalm and Praise, Day 11 God sees. Read Psalm chapter 11. So often, it can feel like the injustices of this world pile up. We read articles and see videos of all the evil things that people do to one another and we wonder how God can allow it. The answer is that God absolutely seen everything and he knows what everyone does. He will ultimately bring justice. God’s timing may not be what we expect it to be, but we can be confident that his Justice is exactly what it needs to be in every situation. However, we must remember that sin is sin and we are all sinners.…

Psalm and Praise, Day 10 No room for God. Read Psalm chapter 10. What is a good definition for pride? No room for God. When we are prideful, we leave no room in our thought or our hearts for God. I think this is a very telling definition and really shows just how pride works. When we are prideful, it really is about no longer having room for anything other that ourselves and or own thoughts. There is no longer room for God, or anything else. Are we making room for God in our lives? Or are we prideful?

Psalm and Praise, Day 9 Trust and Knowing go together. Read Psalm chapter 9. Reading through this chapter, this verse stuck out to me. Trusting God goes hand in hand with knowing God. When we talk about trusting God, we can only do this if we know God. Because we know God, we can trust him. If we don’t trust him, it’s because we truly don’t know him. Are we trusting God? If not, what knowledge about God are we missing? As we know God more, we will trust him more.

Psalm and Praise, Day 8 Majesty. Read Psalm chapter 8. This short chapter explains how much David admired and exalted all that the Lord had made. God is the creator and he made all things. This song is a praise to the Lord for his incredible work of creation. We may look around us, but do we truly understand that everything we see and everything we don’t see was thought up and created by a holy God. Do we give God the praise that he deserves for his incredible creation?

Psalm and Praise, Day 7 My shield. Read Psalm chapter 7. I admit I have been playing a lot of the video game Minecraft with my kids lately. It’s been fun to learn and understand that world and enjoy spending time with them in it. One of them ways you can equip your character in that world is with a shield. That shield is incredibly helpful to hide behind and to use to protect yourself. When we think about our lives on a daily basis, God is our shield. He is the one we are to duck behind and to lean into. He is the one that comes between us…

Psalm and Praise, Day 6 Being heard. Read Psalm chapter 6. Through this chapter, David spends the first eight verses explaining his struggles and trials, and just how awful he feels about everything. He has been in the true valley of despair and he is struggling. There are eight verses to explain his feelings, but then we come to the last two verses of the chapter. David realizes that God has heard him. David knows that God will respond at the appropriate time in the appropriate way. Sometimes, when we are going through difficult times and struggles, it can be hard to believe that God hears us. We just want…