But David here in Psalm 51 reminds you once again that guilt, as painful as it can be, is actually a

But then we behold the overwhelming beauty of his confession here in Psalm 51, and our perception of

Psalm 89:34-37(NIV) A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. 1  I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 2   attributes of God, it's His everlasting faithfulness that stands out to this Psalmist here in the 89th Psalm So either Psalm 89 - and dozens of passages like it - is fake news and ought to be extracted from our Today: 2 Corinthians 5

Psalm 103 is an excellent reminder that such a bifurcated approach to the Bible is totally inaccurate

Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26 Q. All three of these aspects are on display in Psalm 104. This Psalm, like so many of them, uses beautiful poetry to describe the control that God maintains over ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Acts 27

Psalm 5:1–7 (NIV) For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David. 1 Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. 2 Hear my cry for help, my King and Listen to passage & devotional: Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 20: The Justice and Mercy of God (Also, for the record, David goes on in Psalm 5 to Align his life with God's will in a big way as well So technically Psalm 5 is a AAA prayer!)

The force of forgiveness is designed to break and reform you. Read / Listen Listen to passage & devotional: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 126 Q. What does the fifth request mean? A. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” means, Because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors Summary Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. A ball that's dropped to the floor will likely bounce right back into your hand. David shows us here in this final passage of his confession of sin that this law of physics applies to theology as well. The force of God's forgiveness rebounds in David's life as he "opens his mouth to declare God's praise" so that "his tongue will sing of God's righteousness." As is often the case when heavy physical force is applied, damage occurs. This is the case spirtually as well. When a person confess his sins, and God echoes back with overwhelming grace, it results in a "broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart." But the spiritual 'damage' forgiveness results in does slightly differ from what might be expected in the physical world. A ball will continue to bounce in the same direction until it finally runs out of energy. But God wants more than just a formulaic, mechanical response to the force His forgiveness brings. David realizes this as he writes that God "does not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it." In other words, God's not interested in a perpetual pattern of sin which leads to sacrifice/confession leading to forgiveness leading to diminishing thanksgiving which brings you right back to sin again... Instead, God wants Zion - His people/Church - to be built up and strong. So He applies the force of His forgiveness to change the direction of the lives of His people. Dig Deeper After experiencing the force of God's forgiveness in his own life, it drives David in a new direction. He writes, "Then I will teach transgessors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you (v13)." Teaching sinners God's ways certainly includes teaching them His law so they no longer transgress it, but primarily it means helping them understand God's ways of grace and forgiveness. This can be demonstrated on a much smaller scale when you show them forgiveness for the ways they've hurt you. This is exactly why Jesus teaches you to couch your requests for forgiveness with evidence of your ability to forgive others. It's not at all that God's grace is conditioned upon your actions, rather your actions in forgiving others evidence that you're being shaped by God's forgiveness rather than just mechanically expecting it. AAA Prayer (About) ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: "O God, you who are God my Savior; my tongue will sing of your righteousness." ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Confess your sins, and pray that the force of God's resulting forgiveness will break your sinful spirit and then build you back up; ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 17

Summary Psalm 119 is of course the longest chapter in the Bible. Even though the psalm has approx. 8 verses for each letter of the Hebrew Alefbet, each of the 22 passages Even though this psalm makes clear over and over the responsibility you have to stay close to the Bible While there's certainly room for a variety of expressions and opinions in many contexts, Psalm 119 helps ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Matthew 27

Summary You can feel the pain being expressed in Psalm 102. Although we don't know who wrote this psalm, it seems likely that the psalmist knew who he was praying It's interesting how this Psalm ends with this praise of God, leaving the fate of the author unresolved One of the big points of Psalm 102 is that for those whose hope is grounded in God's unchangeable character This means that the descriptions of God we read in Psalm 102 are just as accurate today as they were

But Psalm 145 helps remind us that there's more to the answer; our faith is not just in Christ alone, is near to all who call on Him in truth (v18); ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that as you end 2023 and begin 2024, that your mouth will speak in praise of the LORD (v21); ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Revelation 22