ACTS Church Northwest

Many of the Psalms were written by King David, Israel’s greatest king. But as great as David was, the Psalms express a yearning for another king - one who is even greater than King David. Psalm 96:7 says, “O Lord, save the king!” As Christians, we know that this prayer was answered when God sent a king named Jesus who saved us.

Life can throw a lot at us at once. Sometimes, what life throws at us can become so overwhelming that we begin to lose our joy. We become sad. Psalm 55 is honest about sadness, about the questions sadness asks about God, and how sadness leads people to want to run away, all the while asking God for help in the midst of sadness.

A glance at a beautiful sunrise or a gaze at a lofty mountain can inspire a sense of awe. In Psalm 19, while a sense of awe is declared at God’s creation, the Psalmist reminds us that our ultimate awe should be in how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us in His Word.

As Christians, we are called to be forgiving people. Yet, when someone wounds us deeply, we often struggle with wanting to get revenge. In Psalm 137, the Israelites have been carried off into exile by the Babylonians. They too struggle with revenge as they gleefully envision Babylon’s destruction. How can our feelings of revenge be turned into God’s purpose of redemption.

It is not difficult to be thankful when we have a lot to be thankful for! But what if we are in trouble? What if disaster has struck? In Psalm 34, the Psalmist invites us to take a long view of thankfulness, understanding that even if we experience momentary troubles, finally, the Lord will deliver us by faith. For that, we can be thankful!