Psalms 2019

So often we fly through this season without slowing down to prepare our hearts for Easter. We don’t take the time to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, His death, and His resurrection. When we look into Scripture, we see how God prescribed for His people a day of rest every week — the Sabbath … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 11th →

I am constantly amazed at how fast I can forget something. I forget not only my keys, the rest of my sentence, the meal I enjoyed last week, the gift from a friend on my last birthday, and what my God has done for me. The Israelites were no different. Thus, they established memorials, feasts, … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 12th →

The psalmist uses the picture of mountains to describe those who are secure in the Lord. The mountains provided safety from enemies, shelter from weather, and a vantage point to be ready for what may be coming. It is noted in this psalm that we do not achieve this security and confidence in our own … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 13th →

Psalm 126 begins with joy at remembering God’s restoration in the past as the psalmist reflects on life from his current vantage point of sorrow. However, he is not without hope. As he remembers the joy in times past, he can hold onto hope amidst sorrow. He uses the illustration of agriculture as he sows … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 14th →

The travelers on the road to Jerusalem were seeking the hope of forgiveness. They recognized the depth of their own sin and cry out for forgiveness and mercy from the Lord. They cling to the hope that their redeemer is coming. We have the benefit of hindsight and know that Jesus Christ is Israel’s redeemer … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 15th →

When we choose to surrender to our Lord Jesus Christ, we find rest and contentment. Psalms 131 shows us a picture of this contentment as the psalmist has a right view of himself because he has a right view of God. He can be calm and quiet in God’s presence because he is forgiven and … Continue reading Psalms of Ascent: April 16th →

The UFC women’s ministry team talks much about equipping and encouraging women to be rooted in God’s Word, for the one who is established in the ways of Jesus will continue to bear much fruit even when the hard days come (Jeremiah 17:7-8). As we look back on a year of hardship, look forward to a year of hope, and prepare for our upcoming study Embracing God’s Rest, set to begin next Monday, January 11, we think it’s fitting to review how we cultivate deep roots in the way of Jesus. Psalm 1 provides a beautiful outline for how to do this, so beginning today and running through Friday, we will look at one aspect of this psalm each day.

Join us today for the second part of the weeklong series Cultivating Deep Roots based on Psalm 1.

Who are your three? Today we’re looking at the importance of close friends as we remain rooted in the Lord.

Counting blessings isn’t just for the month of November when our country celebrates Thanksgiving. Today we ask you whether you’ll embrace the daily practice of naming the ways God is blessing you.

In our final post in this week’s series Cultivating Deep Roots, we’re looking at rest to ready ourselves for our January-February study Embracing God’s Rest. Sign up before Monday for this study!

Some of us may be discovering that we have had a distorted view of the Ten Commandments. So, running alongside Exodus 20:1-17 this summer, we’re going to look at Psalm 19. In this psalm, designed to be sung by a choir, David declares the beauty found in the law of the Lord. We want these verses to restore the beauty of His Word in our minds and hearts that following the law of the Lord may become a joy, not a burden.

Psalm 19 continues to connect beautifully to our study of the Ten Commandments, and today we’re going to walk through memorizing and studying verse 14.

Our weekly sabbath allows us to refocus on this truth in worship and meditation, to evaluate where we have failed to keep God as the center of our days, and to talk to Him about where He wants to direct us in the week ahead. But if we don’t prepare ahead, our work will likely creep into our Sabbath days, and in the planning, we can find joy in the day.

Some might read the fifth commandment, which the apostle Paul reminds us was the first with a promise (Ephesians 6:3), as a form of prosperity theology, the belief that mustering enough faith and/or obedience to God will bring wealth, health, and power. But such a belief would be taking God’s Word out of context. This command paired with the other nine show us a picture of a right relationship with authority and the natural overflow of goodness that comes when wisdom is chosen over folly and surrender over self rule. In Psalm 19, the psalmist David reminds us of the beauty of the law of the Lord and how its very presence in our lives brings great reward.

So often we think of the Ten Commandments as a list of “thou shalt nots,” but it is so much more than a list of forbidden acts. It is permission to love God and to love His image bearers. In this sixth word, we are invited to unwrap the gift of protecting life physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but in order to genuinely do this, we must ask God to show us where we’ve allowed selfishness to invade the hidden recesses of our hearts. We pray with the psalmist David, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Psalm 19:12-13).

This week we’re talking about marital faithfulness as we dig into the heart behind the seventh commandment, You shall not commit adultery. Today we’re returning to Psalm 19, which continues to beautifully complement our study of the Ten Commandments.

On Wednesdays this summer, we have connected the Ten Commandments with Psalm 19 in which David declared God’s glory and the beauty of His law. He prayed, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (19:14).

We could easily call this season that we’re living in the Time of Great Mistrust. Information dissemination is fraught with falsehoods. Some of it is intentional and some purely because we live in a sin-scarred world where even once-trusted sources can innocently mislead us. Political and religious leaders make poor choices they then attempt to cover up, and when their sin is exposed, we feel violated for placing our confidence in them. As a result, we begin to doubt all the leaders in our lives. We can’t even go to the grocery store without someone looking sideways at us — or us at them. While we might feel that trustworthiness is at an all-time decline, the truth is “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). That’s why God needed to put the ninth commandment on the Tablets of Testimony and why the psalmist David reminds us that the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

As we’ve been studying the final commandment from Exodus 20 and once again reviewing Psalm 19, I’ve been reminded that thankfulness to God is often the antidote we need for covetousness. As we practice gratitude, we pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). Read more in today’s post…

Today as we approach a changing of the seasons when the natural world sheds its summer glory and prepares for its dormant season, I’m pulled back to the opening lines of Psalm 19, a song of David that has guided our Wednesday posts over the summer: