Psalm 1:1-3
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” Proximity to God through meditation on His word found in the Bible leads to a security and ultimately to an abundant existence as we rely on Him and not the treacherous path of the sinful, rebellious mockers of God. Psalm 2:10-11 “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.” God brings rulers to power and he can remove them just as quickly. We are all to remember that He has ultimate authority and He alone is to be feared.
Psalm 3:3
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” Our ultimate protection comes from the Lord. We all have enemies that seek to destroy us on some level and at some time in our life, but we can find shelter from the storm in the protection of the Lord.
Psalm 4:8
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” We can’t find true peace and rest for our soul in anything other than God. Eventually, anything else will lead to anxiety and fear will begin to creep in because it cannot sustain the peace and rest that is found only in God.
Psalm 5:3
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”- When we pray we should have an expectancy to our prayers. We should believe the Lord will act. We know the Lord hears our prayers and He responds in a way that is for our ultimate good. However, if our prayers are not aligned with His will, or in violation of His character, or if we have unresolved sin when we come before Him ( Isaiah 59:1-2) that can prevent the Lord from hearing or acting on our behalf. Assuming we have repented and have clean “airwaves” before we come before Him, then we know He can answer our prayers in three ways: yes, no or not yet. But that shouldn’t ever prevent us from coming before the Lord in prayer. David learned this as he constantly brought all kinds of prayers to the Lord on a regular basis, and he waited with expectancy for the Lord to answer him. he didn’t always like the answer, but he learned over time to trust God’s judgment and perfect timing above his own and that God works all things out for good in the end for those who are His (Romans 8:28)
Psalm 6:3-4
“My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. It is ok to cry out to the Lord in anguish. In fact, I believe it is necessary when we don;t understand to take our yearnings and even our complaints right to the throne room of God. I believe He appreciates and honors our authenticity and acknowledgement that we are in distress and we don’t always understand His ways. I think we need to be real and not rote when we go to the Lord in prayer. I believe we need to have a relationship with Him that is as genuine as we would have with our own spouse or our children. In Psalm 6:3 above, David is pleading with the Lord and letting Him know that He can”t take his circumstances much longer. He is at his breaking point, Have you ever felt like that? I sure have and it gives me great comfort to know David has as well. But sometimes our breaking point can be our turning point when we come to the very end of our rope. Maybe that is when we encounter the real risen God of the Universe. Maybe when we see how helpless we are to change our circumstances we are finally willing to let God in and hand Him the keys to the car that He has wanted all along. Surrender may be the start of a new boss in our life, One who knows exactly what we need way more than we do.
Psalm 7:1-2
“Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.”- David knew with certainty that his ultimate refuge was found in the Lord. When the storms of life come in their many various forms, and they surely come, God is the only safe harbor we can truly rely on in the midst of the tempest. Everything else is a temporary reprieve or a mere distraction in time away from the problem or the threat we are facing. However, when we put our head on the pillow at night, we cannot trick our own soul, so the problem or the threat does not go away or diminish from a temporary elixir. Apart from God, it only grows until it destroys us. It is because only God is the firm foundation on which we can stand. Everything else is shifting sand as it says in Matthew 7:24-27 David understood full well that his only true refuge was found in God. The word refuge is defined as “shelter or protection from danger or distress: a place that provides shelter or protection, or something to which one has recourse in difficulty.” We sometimes have to learn this lesson the hard way in our lives that only God is a true refuge for us in this life. I used to try escaping painful or dangerous situations through using marijuana, alcohol or other illicit substances or behaviors, only to find out that when the buzz wore off, I was worse off than before. I had just kicked the can down the road, but I hadn’t dealt at all with the underlying problem. Only God can do that for us and many times it’s in simply surrendering to God and acknowledging that only He can give us the refuge that we are seeking. David felt threatened because his life was often in peril by jealous foes who sought to eliminate him. He knew that God alone could protect him, so he turned to him in his anguish and despair with deep prayer and an intense longing for him. Over time, David relied on God above all of his human wisdom, strength or influence and he eventually learned that anything that can drive us to seek God can be a hidden blessing in disguise. God is the only One who can allow us to lay our head on the pillow and give us rest, because He is the only One strong enough and stable enough to deal with all of our enemies, be they real or imagined, physical or mental, in the past, present or future. One thing I have learned from David is that when the shaking comes into our life through a situation that we are not equipped to deal with, God is the only One who can save us from our fear and utter helplessness to deal with the situation. He is the refuge we must run to for our protection and for our sanity. He is our firm foundation, all other things our shifting sand.
Psalm 8:1
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.” David often found time to simply praise God out of awe and wonder for who He is and for what He has done. When David considered all God had done in creating the world, he was often in awe that He was still so mindful of us as His people Psalm 8:3-4 gives us a glimpse into David’s heart about his love and respect for God when he penned “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? David set a good example for us throughout the Bible that we need to take time to simply praise God, and to be in awe of His power and the glory of His Creation. The whole Universe cries out in praise to God, and when we do so as humans, it glorifies Him and gives us energy as we show proper respect and a reverent fear for what the Lord has done. His Universe is so amazing and yet He calls us “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,” in 1 Peter 2:9 That should blow us all away, because I know that many times that is not how I feel about myself. I see my failures, my weaknesses, my sinfulness and my shame, and think to myself that there is no way God could love me. But that is a lie from the pit of hell, and that is why David knew, and we must know, how important it is to praise the Lord for how He sees us, which is much loftier than how we see ourselves. Psalm 9:1-2 “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” David often took time to celebrate God’s goodness. He wanted to remember His good deeds and blessings, even in the middle of tough times.In fact, many times David would remember the goodness of God only a few verses after he had complained to God or questioned God, or told God of his despair and need for rescue. It was like an ongoing conversation between God and David that was recorded in the Book of Psalms just for our benefit to let us know we are not the only ones who seem to have the battle in our minds that changes almost constantly how we feel towards God. I think it is simply human nature to not ever be comfortable in the knowledge that ultimately we have no control over the things of this world. We want to know answers and we want direction, but many times God doesn’t provide those things for us in order to grow our faith. That can be difficult and that can lead to fear and doubt and anger and despair. But it also leads to celebration and amazement when we see in hindsight most often how great God is and how much better His plan was than ours. He is often protecting us from things unseen, much like a father protects his little children from things they are not aware may bring them harm. That is why it is so important to stop and praise God and to celebrate His goodness, even when we may not understand the difficult trials or situations we find ourselves in. When we do so it recognizes that our faith in God is not circumstantial and it also recognizes His sovereignty over all aspects of our lives. God is good even when our circumstances are not, and David recognized this throughout Scripture with his praising of God even during difficult times. I try to emulate David in this area of my faith walk, and I have found that when we focus on God and praise Him while we are going through tough times, it helps us to shift our focus from our problems to His glory and character. That can help us reduce our feelings of anxiety or depression during the valley experiences of our life and keep our focus on God who can help us in all of our struggles.
Psalm 10:16
“The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.” David recognized the eternal nature of God and of our existence and he often compared that with the fate of nations, which he knew would rise and fall all the time. God ordains our time on earth as individuals and He does the same for nations.The only Nation that God promises a special covenant relationship with and that He promises to protect for all time is Israel.Israel is God’s Holy Land and the place where Jesus will one day return to rule the entire earth with justice and peace for all eternity. All other nations are temporary,and they rise and fall as the Lord decrees. Revelation 21:2 and 21:10 both speak to Jerusalem as the “ Holy City,” where Jesus will reign from: 21:2 “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” 21:10 “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” David had eternity in his heart and that gave him the perspective he needed to endure the trials of his life. That same perspective is needed now in our lives, especially in the ‘always on’ hyper time pressurized world in which we live today. We can get swept away in the torrent of “now” pressure instead of gaining perspective from the eternal perspective if we're not careful. Time is always our most valuable commodity, but time perspective is gained only through seeing our lives the way God does, which is from an eternal perspective. We were made for more than just our short time on this earth. David understood that and we can learn alot from his perspective on time. Psalm 11:7 “For the Lord is righteous,He loves justice; the upright will see his face.” David had a way of reconciling things in his life by returning to the fundamentals of who God is. David suffered from injustice, as we all do as a result of living in a broken and sinful world, but he knew that God is just and that eventually God will even the score and make an account of all things. People who defy God or who are wicked will ultimately pay for what they have done. Galatians 6:7 promises “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” David’s perspective allowed him to survive through the valleys of injustice and remain strong because his focus was on God and His character and he knew that God always gets the last word. It may seem for a while that injustice is prevailing or evil may be winning, but in the end God acts to reconcile all things and that gives us enduring hope. God spoke to David’s heart and he drew his strength even in the midst of great injustice from that. Psalm 37:1-4 is a good example of a promise we can hold onto like David did when he penned, “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This thought can immediately relieve our stress and lessen our burden when we are facing injustice in our own life, which now more than ever we surely will, with satanic things like the cancel culture and the media ‘thought police’ trying to control everything you think or say, it is so comforting to know God sees all, knows all, and will be the final arbiter of what is just and fair.