The winter days are behind us, and spring is finally officially here. As I think about all that this season can hold, I consider my garden plans. I have not been someone with a major green thumb, but in years past, I have tried my hand at planting a flower garden.
Read MoreIn our winter seasons of wrestling with the weight of our fallen world and sin nature, it is imperative that we have a grounded and Biblical view of both our sin and our God. Without the right perception, we will fall right into the hands of our enemy.
Read MoreThe crossing of the Red Sea was a moment etched on the collective minds and memories of generations of Israelites. As Christ-followers today, we still point back to it, a stone of remembrance serving as clear proof of God's faithfulness to His people. The psalmist identifies with this moment too. He redirects his focus from the pangs of his present grief, and the uncertainty of his future, to the past evidence that his God who has been faithful before would be faithful again, even when he could not see how.
Read MoreThis psalm is marked as a “psalm of Asaph.” Asaph was a Levite, meaning he was someone marked by God to lead others in worship and to ensure that people honored the Lord through the various means of worship in the temple. He opens the psalm with a question— “O God, why do you cast us off forever?” He then implores the Lord to remember all that He has done for His people in the past and tells Him of the transgressions of His foes.
Read MoreHow do you handle awkward silence? Are you like me, where one second of silence leads you to immediately rack your brain with endless conversation starters? Or are you like my husband, who can sit in an eternity of silence and not feel an ounce of awkwardness? You might guess who talks more in our marriage!
Read MoreBut it is here—in the depth of despair, longing, grief, and darkness that the psalmist actually comes into alignment with God's overall purpose in His world: to restore all things back to Himself.
Read MoreIn this week's psalm, we see David contrasting the life of the wicked with that of the righteous in order to express the beauty and richness of a life lived in Christ. While the wicked may appear to have it all, we know they are lacking the most important part of life—joy in Christ and the confidence we have in Him.
Read MoreOftentimes, we are disappointed with life because we expected things would be easier than they are. But this psalm tells us those who will stand with the Lord are those who do not trust in idols (of comfort, false peace, safety, pleasure, ease) but rather in the Lord Himself.
Read MoreForgotten. Sorrowful. Defeated. This is the weary posture we find in this week's Psalm. The psalmist uses language that shows great anguish—from a troubled heart to eyes that are so weary, they can practically see death. Have you ever found yourself deep in the trenches of a season like this? One where you feel like God has neglected, abandoned, and hidden His face from you?
Read MoreIn seasons of excess, my heart is tempted to succumb to sinful habits and desires. Like uncontrolled weeds, temptation grows and slowly wraps itself around my heart and mind, consuming my waking hours. Left unchecked and unchallenged, temptation gives birth to sin, and before I know it, I am knee deep struggling with sinful patterns in my heart, unable to defeat them on my own.
David understood this struggle. In his sin, he lusted for another man's wife, and when he found out she was pregnant with his child, he ordered for her husband to be murdered in battle. He covered his tracks, and in doing so, fell deeper into the pangs of sin. David's reaction was to hide, run away from the consequences of sin, and to minimize his offense.
Read MoreIn this week’s Psalm, we find David crying out to God as he is running for his life from his enemies. He laments his circumstances to God, rightfully so. But he doesn’t stay there. He takes the focus of his prayer and turns it away from his predicament and onto the Lord. He knows that his circumstances cannot dim the brightness of God’s goodness, even in the darkest of places.
Read MoreThis week’s Psalm gives us a picture of two different paths: the path of the righteous and the path of the unrighteous. For the righteous man, the Scripture gives beautiful imagery of a tree that is planted by streams of water that flourishes and prospers in every season. The unrighteous man is pictured as a withering tree that is blown away in the wind.
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