Psalm 131, 133, 138-141, 143 Psalm 139 tells us that God is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (all-present), and omnibenevolent (all-good). No matter what we face in life, we can know God knows what we are experiencing. He is always with us, and he is always operating for our best. These are the truths to which we can cling when nothing else seems to make sense. Further, God is not just these ...

Psalm 103, 108-110, 122, 124 We are born praising things. As children we praise toys and ourselves, as we get older, we praise boyfriends and girlfriends, sports teams, friends, and a myriad of other things; but ultimately, we are created to praise God. Since he is the infinite God of the universe, we have an infinite number of things for which to praise him. We may get stuck in a rut of praise wh...

Psalm 68-70, 86, 101 What do you think of when you think of God? This is one of the most important questions for us to answer. It is critical because our view of God determines how frequently and in what circumstances we run to God. One of the attributes of God we see highlighted in our psalms today is his power. Psalm 68 describes God as blowing away his enemies like smoke, riding the clouds, and...

Psalm 61-62, 64-67 You can live under the same roof as someone and not spend time with them. You can work with someone for decades and not really know who they are. It is possible to read the Bible for years and not really know God. The primary purpose of reading the Bible, prayer, and all spiritual habits is to meet with God. Psalm 61 speaks of dwelling with God and being in God's presence. Psalm...

Psalm 39-41, 53, 55, 58 The psalms is a model for us in crying out to God through varying circumstances of life. The focus of many of today's psalms are crying out to God amid pain and injustice. David does not turn to his sword or army to bring deliverance; he cries out to God. David is surrounded by the wicked in Psalm 39, 53, 55 and 58, in a pit in Psalm 40, and dealing with sickness in Psalm 4...

Psalm 35-38 I am a fixer, not always great at listening and even worse at asking for help. I continually rely upon myself and experience the futility to which that often leads. Perhaps because of that, I sometimes have a difficult time with the Psalms. For too long I have felt the Psalms are less God’s word to us and more our cry to him. They may be our cry to him; however, as part of Scripture th...

Psalm 27-32 We have consistently encountered a variety of psalms including laments, praise, thanks, trust, and now in Psalm 32 we are introduced to a wisdom psalm. Wisdom takes two primary forms in the Bible: proverbial wisdom which comes in the form of a concentrated expression of truth (think the book of Proverbs) and reflective wisdom like Job and Ecclesiastes, where wisdom is to be derived fro...

Psalm 22-26 The psalms are powerful emotional expressions, but they also provide us with significant revelation about God. One of the key descriptions of God we find in our psalms today is that of king. God is the sovereign ruler over the universe and over us. We are used to living in a democracy where we have a say in those who have authority over us, but that is not the way it is with God. God i...

Psalm 12-17, 19-21 Have you felt isolated, alone, depressed, or struggling to make sense of life? David reminds us through his desperate situations that we are not alone when we are feeling the full weight of the brokenness of the world. In Psalm 12 and 14 he feels like he has been abandoned by everyone and lives in a world of moral darkness. In Psalm 13 he cries out feeling like he has been forgo...

1 Kings 2:1-9; 2 Samuel 23:1-7; 1 Kings 2:10-12; 1 Chronicles 29:26-30; Psalm 4-6, 8-9, 11 As we work our way through most of the psalms over the next couple weeks, we will be introduced to the variety within the psalms. Often, we may not know what to pray, but the psalms can help us put words to our feelings. When we do not know what or how to pray, we have the Spirit interceding for us and we al...

1 Chronicles 29:1-22; 1 Kings 1:1-53 What does it look like to be generous? A great description of generosity is in I Chronicles 29 as David gives 110 (!) tons of gold and 250 (!) tons of silver. To put that in perspective--the gold alone would be worth over 5 billion dollars today. David models extravagant giving, and his example is followed by others. David's response to the generosity of the na...

1 Chronicles 26:1-28:21 What does it take to be an effective leader? If you were to write up a job description for a leader, what would be in it? In 1 Chronicles 28 David spells out for his son Solomon what is necessary for him to effectively lead the nation. The first ingredient of leadership is obedience. Someone cannot lead others in something they are not doing themselves. The second ingredien...

1 Chronicles 23:1-25:31I can remember as a kid watching my dad prepare for his backpacking adventures. He had a massive checklist of all the necessary items he needed and would spread them throughout our entryway to ensure that everything he needed made it on the trip. With a similar amount of attention, David begins preparing the kingdom for Solomon's rule in our reading today. He knows since he ...

2 Samuel 24:1-9; 1 Chronicles 21:1-6; 2 Samuel 24:10-17; 1 Chronicles 21:7-17; 2 Samuel 24:18-25; 1 Chronicles 21:18-22:19 Can seemingly contradictory Scripture passages be Godbreathed and true? In 2 Samuel 24 it says "he (God) incited David;" then in 1 Chronicles 21, "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David." So, was it Satan or God? In 2 Samuel we are told Israel had 800,000 able bodied m...

2 Samuel 22:1-51; Psalm 18 What is the ultimate foundation of your life? What is the object upon which your life is built; where, if everything else was stripped away, could you still say it is well with my soul? In many of David's psalms he uses the imagery of God being his rock, and then five times in 2 Samuel 22 David announces that God is his rock, the ultimate foundation upon which his life i...

2 Samuel 19:31-20:26, Psalm 7; 2 Samuel 21:1-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 Life is filled with turmoil. We resolve one conflict and then suddenly something else surfaces. This is true with David's life as well. He has no sooner fought off the coup of his son Absalom, when he must deal with the rebellion of Sheba and Israel. Not only does he have to deal with Sheba, but Amasa fails to fulfill his respons...

2 Samuel 17:15-29; Psalm 3, 63; 2 Samuel 18:1-19:30 Where do you turn in times of trouble? David found himself fleeing from his son and an army that sought to destroy him. He fled across the Jordan River to create distance between himself and the army but ultimately, he runs into the arms of God. He knows that God is his place of refuge and his protector as he describes in Psalm 3 and 63. He descr...

2 Samuel 15:1-17:14 2 Samuel 15 is an account of Absalom's rebellion against his father. How sad to watch a son undermine his father and try to take his throne! He pretended to care more for the people than his father, he drew attention to himself rather than the king, and announced that he would be a superior ruler. These insidious plans soon led to him claiming the throne.In many ways when we si...

2 Samuel 12:26-31; 1 Chronicles 20:2-3; 2 Samuel 13:1-14:33 David is a courageous warrior but an extremely passive father. One of his sons rapes one of his daughters and, as far as we can determine, he did nothing about it. We are told that his initial response was anger, but there were no conversations, consequences, or justice that occurred. He simply allowed the act to happen, and the guilty pa...

1 Chronicles 20:1; 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14, Psalm 51; 2 Samuel 12:15-25, 5:14-16; 1 Chronicles 14:3-7, 3:5-9 David's promising beginning as king quickly takes a dark turn. Small steps soon lead to massive leaps away from God and into sin. He first remains at home "at the time when kings go off to war," then watches Bathsheba bathe, hunts down her identity, sleeps with her, attempts to cover it up, and...