Psalm 32:1-5:

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,

Whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,

And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones grew old

Through my groaning all the day long.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.

Selah

I acknowledged my sin to You,

And my iniquity I have not hidden.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

my twocents…

reading through the Psalms can lead one to think that they can never be as righteous as david was. it can be intimidating to praise the Lord with david’s songs and just not feel as worthy as he was. but this psalm gives us the insight we long for. and as noted in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, david is not exempt from this. the key here is that david recognizes his shortcomings, his sin, and he confessed all of it to God. simply with that humble confession, God mercifully provided forgiveness. the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ has become available to us all and it is now more accessible than ever to receive forgiveness from God. why should you get on your knees in humility and ask for forgiveness? well, there is eternal reward in doing so! as these Words point out, blessed are the forgiven. in contrast, those who resist God feel His ‘heavy hand’ as he is always consistently just. can you relate to the toil of working day to day in ‘silence’ to the Lord? do you recall the times each day as your body ached and all thoughts of negativity swarmed your mind? your stubbornness kept you trapped, in bondage to sin and without freedom. many of us can be fooled to think that by kneeling to our Creator, we become enslaved to Him - no, it’s just the opposite. we are freed - free from lies, and the pain that those lies inflict. through salvation we are blessed. we are immediately cleansed and forgiven. praise the Lord! His Word is the truth. if we seek forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ we are blessed beyond imagination. we are delivered and protected under his care.

Psalm 25:4-5:

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long."

my twocents…

God is our creator and the creator of every single thing on this earth. would it not also make sense that we seek Him first for direction, teaching, and truth? if we were to view a beautiful piece of abstract art and try to interpret it for ourselves, i’m sure we could come up with hundreds of different interpretations, but if we ask the artist what his intention and purpose for the painting was, he would surely tell us the true message. that true message what was allowed the creation to be made. if the artist didn’t have that idea, we would not be viewing that painting today, and we would have nothing to even try to interpret. much in the same way, our God is the mighty, miraculous author of creation. our existence was His idea. let us be humble to Him and seek the truth through His Word and nothing else. so many things in this world are vying for our attention and satan is the conductor of distractions. as we fall for those distractions, we drift away from the truth. we become subject to sin, false worship, and we start believing lies. we must learn discernment by meditating on the Word, the truth. we must learn to slow and steady our pace. there’s no point in sprinting down the wrong trail… ’wait all day long’ for the Lord if necessary. he surely waits for us… patience is a virtue, but it is also attainable with practice. when you start to learn an instrument, you aren’t instantly good, you have to start with simple lessons and continue each day to add a little bit more. as we exercise and strengthen our patience, with God’s grace and guidance, we are able to slow down to not only receive the truth but to sincerely hear it and to see it in the beauty of the Lord’s creation around us. …stop and smell the roses... hear the birds sing… the Lord is always speaking, but can we work to slow down and hear Him?

Psalm 23:3-4:

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.”

my two cents…

the neat thing in this well-known psalm is that each sentence offers so much. these Words are so rich. in this particular section, we feel the contrast of the Lord’s care and comfort versus the uncomfortable reality of life on earth and sin all around us. our God is almighty and sovereign - He knows all, created all, and chose to love us and save our spirits despite our choice to know sin. His love is so great that He allowed us to live in this world full of contrast so that our quest becomes learning and knowing His true love. we have the opportunity to know light and dark, joy and sorrow, love and hate, life and death, in order to have that knowledge that we so desired in eden. as unsettling as this chasm of contrast is, God carries us through it and restores our soul as we depend on Him. but we also have the choice to do it alone, and that, my friend, is freedom - an expression of love to be in awe over. after your failed attempts of trying to go about it alone, you might realize that seeking the Creator for direction is really the best route. in that case, as we kneel to Him, we shall be humble and believe that His ways are best. He shall be glorified by each of our steps, as they are directed by Him - do not resist His direction. walk in faith with the Lord. fear is lies and fear cannot exist where there is love, where there is God. know the Lord as our father: he corrects us, disciplines us, and teaches us. His word is the way. without those boundaries we would not feel safety. His ways comfort us. as children we seek to test those boundaries, desiring the ‘zap of the fence’ as reassurance and confirmation that we understand the rules. anxiety comes from lack of structure and direction, but the Lord is our rock, He is our foundation, He is our home and our security. although we may not always understand His ways and we may not be able to grasp the effects of sin and His ways of justice against sin, we must trust in His unfailing love and goodness as we take moment by moment.

Psalm 18:3-6:

"I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;

So shall I be saved from my enemies.

The pangs of death surrounded me,

And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord,

And cried out to my God;

He heard my voice from His temple,

And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”

my two cents…

what seems so simple, is so often not… we find ourselves lost in darkness, depression, anger and sin. many of us have followed the path of darkness for a long time (often without realizing it) and have no hope that there is anything better and really can’t see a way out. there is one way out and it is through Jesus, 'the way'. He is just a call away… all you have to do is say His name and He will save you from the deepest depths. david was right there face to face with death, but he called upon the Lord and was saved. the Lord ‘soared on the wings of the wind’ to save david, and He will do that for you too. He will shake the foundations of the earth to rescue you, even when you don’t feel worthy. nevertheless, humility and pride don’t mix. one has to be given up in order to move. this is the part that is not always easy… let go of the pride and believe that there is so much you just don’t know, so much you can’t fathom that God has to offer you. don’t believe the lies that tell you there is nothing more or that you should settle for only what you know. call on our one true creator’s glorious name, Jesus, and you will be saved from the cords of death and the torrents of destruction.

Psalm 17:1-3:

"Hear a just cause, O Lord,

Attend to my cry;

Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.

Let my vindication come from Your presence;

Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.

You have tested my heart;

You have visited me in the night;

You have tried me and have found nothing;

I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress."

my twocents...

to think that the Lord tests us in the night, to think that the Lord sees us in our dreams, in a realm that seems of pure fantasy, my... how mighty is He?... as david seeks the Lord's attention, comfort and reassurance, he expresses his diligence in obedience. he pleads his case in confidence that he has put forth his best for God. he is a conscientious student who measures and tracks his own progress as the only means of his understanding of holiness. and although holiness cannot be measured and can barely be understood by our finite minds, dreams are a miraculous way to gauge progress, and to test our spiritual strength. in this playscape where we drift away in our minds, God is still there. when you can make the choice to do anything, with no consequence, do you choose sin? what if you stand for your faith and choose righteousness, even when there is no real reward? even if its just a dream, a simulation? what are you practicing in reality that influences your choices when your inhibitions are lowered? just as warriors practice battle and exercise daily, so must we as Christians. when it is time to battle, we are armed with the Word and armor of God... we must study for that test and put in the extra effort with every opportunity. we do this for the glory of God. may we even seek to glorify Him in our dreams! what an exciting challenge!

So as we seek closeness with God, we must always put Him first and choose Him everytime...every chance we get to practice and exercise our faith, we must accept this gift... and that closeness with our savior is the true reward ever so gracefully available to us daily.