Psalms 20:1 NIV
[1] May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
We fall into distress easily. We’re people, it’s natural. But do we remember that God is on our side? When we fall into distress/anxiety/fear/meltdowns, may the Lord answer us. Let us remember to go to Him.
Take away:
Life happens, and it can be terrible, but God is still with us. He alone will save us and protect us.
Life happens, but we are not al
Psalms 19:12 NIV
[12] But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
We all have hidden faults and errors. Pride, arrogance, anger, complaining, it goes on and on. Sometimes we even have faults and sins we do without thinking of it. Not a willful sin, but a sin that has crept into our lives and personalities in some cases. There are many great things about God, but one of them is that He does not just search the depth of our hearts to judge what’s there, He also brings to our attention what’s going on inside that might be wrong. Best of all, He forgives us. We do not even have to be specific, look at the simplicity of David’s prayer; God hears that, knows what you are talking about and forgives. He’s amazing!
Take away:
God searches our hearts and knows the depth, but He doesn’t just sit back and be judge of our mess, He comes to us and helps us see it and clean it up!
Psalms 17:8 NIV
[8] Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
Soak that in. We are the apple of God’s eye and He hides us in the shadow of His wings.
Who in your life is the apple of your eye? Who means more to you than anything on this earth? What would you do to protect them? What would you give up?
Jesus gave up Himself. Nothing could satisfy the need for sacrifice for the amount of sins we people held, so Jesus gave up Himself. That’s how much we mean to Him.
In the world we live in, seeing all this darkness spread and grow around us it is easy to feel frightened, angry, and sad. Yet Jesus covers us with His presence. When we remember how much we mean to Him it helps us to feel safe because we know we are loved.
Take away:
We are so important to God that He gave up His son for us.
We are so important to Jesus that He have up Himself for us.
How important to us Is God? Are we willing to give up our lives for Him?
Psalms 16:6 NIV
[6] The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
This poem of David is known as a Miktam, which most likely means precious. David made God his precious hiding place and rejoiced in His protection. God surrounds us with His presence and in Him we are safe. Nothing can cross the boundary line that God sets and this is such a precious thing to know. I know that here David is most likely referring to the boundaries that dictate a person’s property due to the mention of a delightful inheritance from the Lord; however I wish to think of the type of boundaries I mentioned earlier.
This past year we built a fence for my dog on our farm. It’s a nice large area right out the front door of our house. It holds a boundary. Due to the fence, I can let him go and run and play and am not worried about the foxes and coyotes because they cannot cross the boundary line.
God sets a boundary line for us. He promises to protect us from more than we can handle, which means despite all we go through in our lives there are things far worse that have been stopped at that boundary line. I can imagine a shining fence surging with power all around me as I rest, many thing prowl outside it but do not dare even coming close, and I am safe. It’s a pleasant thought.
Take away:
The boundary lines of our inheritance from God are wide and vast! Truly a blessing to be joyful in thinking on. His boundary lines of protection for us are also something to take joy in. They are strong and unending, nothing can reach over or under and we are safe in Him.
Psalms 13:5 NIV
[5] But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Trust is so hard. How many people do we really trust? We as humans have been hurt by people so often that we live with a tinge of concern and lack of trust. We often turn that fear over to God. We don’t believe that Jesus will truly come through because we put Him on the same level as people. But His love is unfailing. He will never leave us abandoned. He reaches down and pulls us out of darkness and hurt.
In this passage, David is pleading with God to save him from his enemies. How long will you make me wait before you save me? Is basically what he says over and over again. Then he ends by rejoicing in God and praising Him, because David understood that God would always come through for him no matter how dark everything around him seemed.
Take away:
In the middle of trials we may stumble and feel like we are losing faith, but God will always be there with us. We cannot understand the waiting or the time it takes before our troubles end, but we always know that God has not left us and that He is doing something for us.
Psalms 11:1 NLT
[1] I trust in the Lord for protection. So why do you say to me, “Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety!
I really love this! Here we see David singing about the evil who pursue him with underhanded ways. His people (the righteous) try to convince him that they should all find shelter and hide from those who attack them. Yet David believed more in God being his shield than almost any other person in scripture. He trusted so much in God that he refused to flee from his enemies. Sure he had times of great pain and discouragement, even fear; yet he refused to run.
When bad things happen, or darkness rises, it is easy to want to run away. Flee to the mountains to hide and cower. Yet David knew that the only mountain to flee to was the mountain of God. God alone is our mighty stronghold to protect us.
Most of us are not facing violence, sadly some of us are, but we all have some enemy attacking us. It might be anxiety, illness, strife, a wandering child, an addiction, a lost job. Whatever your giant, three headed monster looks like, God is still your safe place to run to. We do not need to flee to the mountains when the enemy draws it’s bow taught, we need to flee to God.
Take away:
A fallen world means people will face pain at sometime in their lives. Pain can come in many shapes and sizes and most of the time it is preloaded by fear. When fear rises and we see pain coming, do not try and find something to hide in that is of this world. Hide in Jesus! He is your safe zone. He is your strong tower. He is the mountain where you run. This world will hurt you and let you down, but Jesus never will.
Psalms 9:20 NIV
[20] Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal.
It is always so interesting how David often shows a sense of seeing the world around him as something that does not love God the way it should.
In Psalms 9:20 we join David as he sings a song of praise to God, (oddly enough to the tune Death of the Son) and then he ends his song with a prayer against people being wicked and ignoring God’s glory. Showing God honor was always the most important thing to David. I have wondered if David would have bothered with Goliath if he had not insulted God. God meant everything to this man. He had so much in his life that was good even before becoming king, and after… well… he was king. Yet despite all the blessings he had, David always held God higher than any of them. Because David worshiped God and put Him first in his times of blessing, it was easy for David to feel and know the power and goodness of God in his times of need.
Take away:
Do we put God first? We often run to Him when life takes a side road, but when things are just good, (not so great that we naturally draw to praising God, just good, fine, decent,) do we turn to God and worship Him? Do we desire for those around us to put God in high authority in their lives? What does He meant to you?
When the world around us falls away from Jesus and turns their backs, we should pray that God strikes them with terror of His power so they change and seek Him. They need Him so badly, yet they do not see it. We need Him so badly, but do we acknowledge it?
Give God time today.
Psalms 7:17 NIV
[17] I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.
Here we have David again praising God; honoring his savior because of His righteousness. It seems from this verse that David is in a moment of great joy. But look at the verses above this one and you will see that David is not only in anguish but is being pursued. Despite the danger and all David was going through he not only honors God as sovereign, but he also declares that if he has done anything to wrong the person who is after him that God should permit him to be overtaken.
We like to focus on David’s big failures. His mistake with Bathsheba. His terrible parenting. Yet he was always a man who sought God with his whole heart, throwing himself at the mercy of God even if it brought him pain. God does not overlook our sins, but He does forgive. This same verse where David declares he will sing praises to God, he also acknowledges and accepts that the same weapons God uses to punish his enemies, He will use to punish his followers if they are unrepentant. Can we praise God when are confused and afraid? Can we give Him glory and at the same time know that if we sin without remorse we will be punished?
Take away:
God is always good. He is also always pure. He will not permit sin to run unchecked. Yet when He punishes our enemies He is avenging us, but when He punishes us He is loving us. Just like a parent who protects and disciplines his or her child everyday. Yet God does not hold to His anger. He forgives when you call on Him.
Psalms 4:7 NIV
[7] Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.
Welcome to lent 2026! This lent we will mostly be spending time in Psalms and learning from the various authors and artists.
Today we look at Psalm 4:7 where David is lamenting about his people. He asks how long they will ignore God and chase idols. The big thing to always learn from David is this: Feel your feels and then let them go.
Feel your emotions- acknowledge them- turn them over to Jesus.
David begins by feeling disheartened and ends in praising God and saying to Him, “let me see you do something wonderful.”
The very end of this chapter has the beloved verse about lying down and sleeping in safety because of God watching over us.
Take away:
Acknowledge problems and things that upset you. Then take a deep breath and hand them to Jesus. After you do this you can open your eyes to His goodness and look forward to the way Jesus cares for you.
You may wonder what the Psalms have to do with lent. Lent is a time of opening your mind to Jesus and all He has done for us. That means taking extra time everyday to be with Him. The Psalms are a great place to look at God’s wonder and how He cares for His people. Making time for a little more Jesus and a little less me is what lent is for as we prepare to remember the sacrifice of Easter.
Psalms 121:1-2 NIV
[1] I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? [2] My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
David found his hiding place within the mountains when he hid from Saul. He knew perfectly well how safe a cave could feel. Yet he reminds us here that his rescue did not come from the mountains. His safety and hiding place was in God.
Too often we find comfort in things of this world. In our jobs, in our studies, in health care, in our homes, so on. All these things are very good but they do not replace God. How often throughout the book of Isaiah did God warn the people about setting up thing as idols, about relying on earthly strength instead of on Him? Just like the Israelites then we seek strength for anything we can touch and see because we fear relying on God.
Yet David saw it. My safety is not from these mountains around me, my safety is from the God who made these mountains.
Our safety and strength and success does not come from anything we can touch or see, sure we will have put out effort on our part, but our salvation from all around us no matter what we face, is in God Himself.
These strongholds cannot save me, but God can!
Carried in the cross 