Psalm 19

verses 13 and 14:

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.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

For those of us living in a post-Resurrection world, Jesus has completed this sinless life for us because we couldn't and didn't want to and honestly, didn't even know where to begin. It is such a tricky thing, desiring blamelessness before God because we aren't trying to earn his favor, but rather, this is how we can express it! I pray that we wouldn't pursue righteousness for our own holiness-levels, but so that we may point others to God's Holiness and Goodness through our lives.

Psalm 18

verse 1:

I love you, LORD, my strength.

What are we doing that requires strength?

What are we failing to do because it requires strength?

verse 2:

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I love this because the author presents us with seemingly contradicting pictures of God.

We have security we are defended by: a rock, a fortress, a stronghold.

And yet we also have these wildly offensive depictions as well: a deliverer, a shield, a horn.

It is good having a God who we can both seek safety in and who will go out to battle for us.

Psalm 17

verse 15:

As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Colossians 1:15 [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

In the gospels, we have stories of Christ.

Him healing mother-in-laws and asking brutal rhetorical questions and giving himself away as a ransom for ignorant and hostile hostages.

We get to see him live.

We get to see his likeness.

If we will be satisfied with seeing his likeness, how much more satisfying can it be to live in and with his likeness?

Psalm 16

This psalm has one of my favorite truths:

verse 2: I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

Even the best things I have in this life right now, healthy and growing relationships, good health, and (ridiculous amounts of) privilege, pale in comparison to the goodness of God. Not just His goodness though.

How sad would it be if like relationships, health, and privilege, the goodness of God were limited to the earth, limited to a time and place.

Temporal.

But it's not.

Our Lord is not only good, but He is faithful and constant and steadfast.

I pray for the clarity and humility in knowing that apart from Him, I have no good thing. I want to love the Giver, not the gifts.

Psalm 15

This psalm asks "LORD, who may dwell in your sacred tent?" and proceeds to list out all the requirements to live on God's holy mountain. The one in particular that stands out to me is "who speaks the truth from their heart."

This tells me two things:

1) This person has truth in their heart and

2) He or she has the love and boldness to speak it.

I am neither, but I thank God that because of Jesus, I can dwell with Him in His Sacred Tent, His Holy Mountain. And by being there, God will plant Truth in my heart and give me the boldness to speak it.

Psalm 14

3 All have turned aside
they have together become corrupt,
there is no one who does good,
not even one.

What I find challenging about this verse is the idea of collective corruption, communal corruption. Not only evil within individuals, but among them: our individual fears, insecurities, and wounds bleed out and hurt the people around us.

We have a planet filled with broken people that inevitably create broken systems, only egging each other on in selfishness and destruction.

I don't want to acknowledge that my individual refusal to care for "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40) contributes to a global disparity between the rich and the poor.
I don't want to see that my individual dishonesty in relationships is the same strain of dishonesty in hedge-fund economic practices.
I don't want to admit that my individual passivity towards sex trafficking results in even more women, girls, and boys being brutalized.

And this is what I love about God, that he offers not only individual healing, but communal restoration as well.

He is just that big.

Psalm 13

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

The psalmist presently questions the existence and power and love of God. He questions whether God will do what he says he will do: heal, strengthen, restore, save.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing the LORD's praise,

for he has been good to me.

At this time, he turns to what God has done for him in the past. Remembering God's provision and goodness in the past to bring clarity and certainty to the present.

And this time, that is enough.