Devotions from the Psalms

Passage Read: Psalm 3-6 Meditation Verses: 6:8-10 The psalmist is hopeful, even confident that the Lord will hear his prayer and deliver him, especially when he's been grieving and weeping through the night. The Lord is inclined towards the humble, towards the weak, towards those…

Passage Read: Psalm 7-10 Meditation Verses: 10:12-14 Why does God not call the wicked to account right now? Why doesn't He catch them in their wickedness and rebuke them? If He wants them to repent, why does He not say anything to them, warn them,…

Passage Read: Psalm 11-14 Meditation Verses: 11:5-7 The Lord loves the righteous but hates the wicked. The truth is, there are those who love evil and will not turn from it. There are such things as wicked men, and God hates them from the bottom…

Passage Read: Psalm 15-18 Meditation Verses: 16:1-2 The psalmist prays for safety and affirms his trust in the Lord, more than that, he declares that his greatest treasure is the Lord. The most important thing in life is not to seek wealth or prosperity, but…

Passage Read: Psalm 19-22 Meditation Verses: 22:1-3 The psalmist cries out to God but receives no answer, yet he acknowledges that God still reigns as King. Though He is silent, it doesn't mean He is non-existent, it doesn't mean He doesn't care. In effect, it…

Passage Read: Psalm 23-26 Meditation Verse: 24:1 The world and everything in it belongs to the Lord, so He gets to make the rules, and He gets to decide who remains and who is cast out. He sets the standards and we must abide by…

Passage Read: Psalm 27-30 Meditation Verse: 27:14 Sometimes we just have to wait for the goodness of the Lord to show up. He does allow hard things to come, if for no other reason than to drive us to Him. When my heart says to…

Passage Read: Psalm 35-38 Meditation Verses: 32:1-5 It is the man who confesses his sins who is forgiven, who enjoys the favor of the Lord. It is not the man who covers over his sin, who pretends he has not sinned or who redefines sin…

Passage Read: Psalm 35-38 Meditation Verses: 35:12-14 David doesn't start off wishing for the destruction of the wicked; he cares about these people, even when they do him harm. He repays good for evil, seeks their good continually. But there comes a point when despite…

Passage Read: Psalm 39-42 Meditation Verses: 39:10-11 The more sin, the more rebuke; the worse the sin, the more the rebuke; the less I listen and change, the more the rebuke. For any number of reasons, the Lord's rebuke can increase or continue. I need…

Passage Read: Psalm 43-46 Meditation Verses: 44:15-17 "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted," Paul wrote, and that is the truth. The psalmist is confessing that truth here: Though he has done nothing wrong in the eyes of the Lord,…

Passage Read: Psalm 47-50 Meditation Verses: 50:16-17 God knows full well who is righteous and who is wicked. Though both recite His words and claim loyalty and love, He sees who walks in obedience and who ignores His Word. That is the distinction between the…

Passage Read: Psalm 51-54 Meditation Verses: 52:5-7 The psalmist calls out the evil man, asking why he boasts of evil, and warning him that he will be destroyed. Then he says the righteous will see the destruction and fear, but also laugh at the man…

Passage Read: Psalm 55-58 Meditation Verses: 58:1-3 There is a kind of man that will not heed the charmer's tune, that will not repent of their evil and submit to righteousness. We all are filled with evil thoughts from childhood, but some of us become…

Passage Read: Psalm 59-62 Meditation Verses: 62:4-7 The man who seeks the Lord and walks in His ways can trust in the Lord, even though everyone fights against him. The key is to have a clear conscience before God. As John says, if our hearts…

Passage Read: Psalm 63-66 Meditation Verses: 66:10-12 The Lord tested them and refined them like silver, by imprisoning them, humbling them, placing heavy burdens on them, letting others rule over them, taking them through fire and water, before finally bringing them to a place of…

Passage Read: Psalm 67-70 Meditation Verses: 69:26-28 There are those who believe they are saved, maybe even trusted in the Lord at some point, but turn and become some of the worst people on the face of the earth. Like the Pharisees of old, the…

Passage Read: Psalm 71-74 Meditation Verses: 73:1-3 How easy it is to get caught up in living just for this life. Those who care nothing about God give all their time and effort to gathering wealth or things or both, to make their lives more…

Passage Read: Psalm 75-78 Meditation Verses: 78:21-22 An interesting verse in light of the storms predicted this afternoon. Do I trust in the Lord for deliverance? If everything we own is destroyed, is the Lord yet able to deliver us? Do I trust that He…

Passage Read: Psalm 79-82 Meditation Verses: 81:10-14 It is interesting that in the previous psalm, the writer pleads with God to strengthen the king, then the people will follow the Lord, restore them, then they would worship Him. But in this psalm, the Lord says…

Passage Read: Psalm 83-86 Meditation Verse: 86:17 One psalm ends with a plea that the Lord would cover the writer's enemies with shame that they would seek the Lord, this one ends with a plea that the Lord would give him a sign of His…

Passage Read: Psalm 87-90 Meditation Verses: 90:9-15 Putting this psalm in the context of Moses' life makes it hit with more weight. For forty years, he enjoyed the pleasures and treasures of Egypt; for forty years, he enjoyed (?) the solitude and simplicity of a…

Passage Read: Psalm 91-94 Meditation Verse: 94:23 The Lord desires all men to be saved, but they must repent of their sins and submit in faith to Jesus Christ. Those who will not believe and obey the Son will be marked for destruction. Though they…

Passage Read: Psalm 95-98 Meditation Verses: 95:7-11 "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." The Israelites heard His voice once directly, from fire above the mountain, all the rest of the time was through Moses, with multiple confirmations that the Lord…

Passage Read: Psalm 99-102 Meditation Verse: 99:8 The Lord loves those who are His. He loves them enough not to leave them in their sins, as objects of wrath. He determines to train them to walk in His ways, and that requires rebuke and even…

Passage Read: Psalm 103-106 Meditation Verses: 105:43-45 The Lord did good to Israel in accordance with His promise to Abraham, and He did it so that they would obey Him and follow His laws. Interestingly, the next psalm then details the sins of the people…

Passage Read: Psalm 107-110 Meditation Verses: 109:25-27 When Jesus returns, all this prayer will be answered, but that's not what the psalmist is asking for. He wants justification in this life, in these days. He wants the evil man to suffer and the innocent to…

Passage Read: Psalm 111-114 Meditation Verses: 113:5-7 Who is like the Lord, who sits on high, who stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth, who raises the poor from the ash heap? The Lord has to stoop down to see the earth…

Passage Read: Psalm 115-118 Meditation Verses: 118:8-9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men, even in princes and powerful people. It is easy to turn to those we can see, those who have authority or influence, but the…

Passage Read: Psalm 119 Meditation Verses: 119:99-100 Insight and understanding come from meditation and obedience. To be as wise or wiser than teachers of the Word or elders who have much more lived experience of God requires meditating on God's Word (probably day and night)…

Passage Read: Psalm 120-123 Meditation Verses: 121:1-2 In anything and everything I do, the Lord is my help. I need to remember to call on Him not just for strength or protection, but wisdom and guidance. I don't just need Him to keep me safe…

Passage Read: Psalm 124-127 Meditation Verses: 127:1-2 If the Lord doesn't want a thing accomplished, those who work at it do so in vain. They may make progress, may even complete it, but it will continually be under threat of overthrow. They'll have to watch…

Passage Read: Psalm 128-131 Meditation Verse: 131:1 There is freedom and great peace when I understand my place, my responsibilities, and trust those over me. When I content and confine myself with just things I have control of or responsibility for, when I can let…

Passage Read: Psalm 132-135 Meditation Verse: 135:14 The Lord has done mighty works for the sake of His name and His people. He will yet do mighty works that will save His people and bring glory to His name. While we wait for those final…

Passage Read: Psalm 136-139 Meditation Verse: 138:1 I don't have much cause for this, in that I don't spend much time among other gods or among great men who think and act like they are gods, but even when I encounter those who think much…

Passage Read: Psalm 140-143 Meditation Verses: 141:4-5 Several things I learn from this: I don't want my heart to be drawn to what is evil or to take part of evil deeds, so I should not enjoy or partake of their delicacies. Enjoying their riches…

Passage Read: Psalm 144-147 Meditation Verses: 147:19-20 God has revealed His Word to Israel. Paul speaks of that as a great advantage Jews have over Gentiles. It is a privilege that we don't often recognize. That God would choose a people and make sure they…

Passage Read: Psalm 3-6 Meditation Verses: 3:1-2 This is when Absalom launched a rebellion against David. So when David says his enemies have multiplied, primarily it is his own son, but also it is all those who have gathered about Absalom to support his rebellion.

Passage Read: Psalm 7-10 Meditation Verses: 7:4-6 This is a bold request by David. He is so confident of his own righteousness and love that he asks the Lord to judge between him and his adversary. He's willing to be trampled in the dust, perhaps…

Passage Read: Psalm 11-14 Meditation Verses: 14:2-3 This is a pretty terrible indictment against all mankind. Though in this Psalm, there is mention of the Lord's people and the righteous generation, Paul uses these verses to establish the fact that there is no one righteous,…

Passage Read: Psalm 15-18 Meditation Verses: 18:1-2 David wrote this psalm after God had delivered him from all his enemies. How many years did he live in fear of his life? How many years did he flee from Saul? In all that time and in…

Passage Read: Psalm 19-22 Meditation Verses: 22:4-5 There were those among the Israelites, certain generations, that trusted in the Lord, often after forsaking Him and crying to Him for help, and they were delivered. Their lives were saved and they went on to live in…

Passage Read: Psalm 23-26 Meditation Verse: 26:1 What a thing to say! What confidence in his faithfulness to the Lord, his integrity in trusting in the Lord and living like it's so! That he would have the courage to ask God to deliver him because…

Passage Read: Psalm 27-30 Meditation Verse: 27:13 David says this kind of thing a lot, that he must be alive to praise the Lord, that he must remain alive or else it would be bad for the Lord or he would miss out on the…

Passage Read: Psalm 31-34 Meditation Verse: 34:1 David feigned madness and Abimelech drove David away from him. And David writes a psalm of praise to God. He credits God with his deliverance, not his own cleverness. He is the one who played the part of…

Passage Read: Psalm 35-38 Meditation Verses: 38:17-20 David has so many psalms about enemies hating him so much that he needs God's deliverance. Here he is discouraged by his own sin, broken over it, confessing it, and his enemies are surrounding him and pressing in…

Passage Read: Psalm 39-42 Meditation Verses: 39:4-7 David was silent in the presence of the wicked, for fear of sinning with his tongue. He refrained even from doing good, but his sorrow only grew worse, and his heart grew hot inside him. Then he spoke…

Passage Read: Psalm 43-46 Meditation Verses: 44:17-22 The Psalmist says that all kinds of terrible things have done upon the people, yet they have not turned away from the Lord or been unfaithful to Him. Verse 22 is quoted by Paul to describe the state…

Passage Read: Psalm 47-50 Meditation Verses: 50:21-23 There are those who claim God's covenant as their own, but they hate discipline and they delight in those who do evil. God says nothing, and they think that means He approves of them. Instead, He sends a…

Passage Read: Psalm 51-54 Meditation Verses: 54:4-7 David speaks in the past tense, that God has delivered him from all his trouble, and his eye has looked with satisfaction on his enemies. Yet he was being ratted out to Saul, enemies were calling the king…

Passage Read: Psalm 55-58 Meditation Verses: 58:6-11 Again and again, David cries out to God for Him to act against those who hate him, who have attacked him, who plot his downfall. These are some of his most direct and descriptive pleas for vengeance. His…

Passage Read: Psalm 59-62 Meditation Verses: 59:3-5 David, like Job, is suffering for no fault of his own. He's right. Perhaps some might try to make the case that David somehow sinned against Saul and incited Saul to such anger that Saul wanted to kill…

Passage Read: Psalm 63-66 Meditation Verses: 63:1-4 The Lord is glorious in His power and greatness, and He is filled with lovingkindness towards those who seek Him and love Him. He is good to us beyond measure! David longs for the Lord with every fiber…

Passage Read: Psalm 67-70 Meditation Verses: 69:6-9 Zeal for the Lord's house has consumed David, and those who speak against the Lord also speak against David. His love and loyalty to the Lord have made him a stranger to his brothers and separated him from…

Passage Read: Psalm 71-74 Meditation Verse: 71:20 What an interesting verse! The Lord has shown him many troubles and distresses, but He will revive the psalmist again and bring him up from the depths of the grave. In one sentence, the author admits that it…

Passage Read: Psalm 75-78 Meditation Verses: 78:9-12 Ephraim was unfaithful to the Lord, turning back in the day of battle, not keeping God's covenant, refusing to walk in the Lord's law, forgetting God's deeds and miracles. At that point, Asaph begins recounting all God's deeds…

Passage Read: Psalm 79-82 Meditation Verses: 81:11-16 Two sobering thoughts from these verses: Those among God's people who don't listen to His voice to obey Him, He gives over to the stubbornness of their hearts to walk in their own devices. If they repented and…

Passage Read: Psalm 83-86 Meditation Verses: 83:15-18 This is the prayer of a man who loves God and His people. He pleads with God against the enemies who desire to destroy God's people. He pleads with God to terrify them and pursue them and destroy…

Passage Read: Psalm 87-90 Meditation Verses: 89:29-33 Ethan is dismayed at the Lord's treatment of his anointed one. God made a covenant with David, that he would never lack a man to sit on his throne before Him, that his kingdom would endure for all…

Passage Read: Psalm 91-94 Meditation Verses: 94:1-3 The wicked get away with so much. It seems their judgment is slow in coming, such that the righteous find themselves pleading with God to judge them quickly, to not delay. Because it is such a temptation to…

Passage Read: Psalm 95-98 Meditation Verses: 95:7-11 Today, if I desire to hear God's voice, I must be careful not to harden my heart. If I harden my heart against the Lord and His Word, I shouldn't be surprised if He doesn't speak to me,…

Passage Read: Psalm 99-102 Meditation Verses: 99:6-9 Moses and Aaron were among God's priests; Samuel was one who called on God's Name. They called upon the Lord and He answered them. He was a forgiving God to them, yet also an avenger of their evil…

Passage Read: Psalm 103-106 Meditation Verse: 104:35 There are two kinds of people in the world, the wicked and the righteous, and the only difference is how they respond to God. Both sin, but both are not characterized by sin. The righteous hear the word…

Passage Read: Psalm 107-110 Meditation Verses: 110:1-6 Psalm 110 is more than just a riddle about the identity of the Messiah. It is prophesy about God fulfilling that promise to make the Son of David rule over all nations! He will rule in the midst…

Passage Read: Psalm 111-114 Meditation Verse: 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is repeated many times in Scripture, so obviously, it's pretty important and very true. To fear the Lord drives a man to know what the Lord desires…

Passage Read: Psalm 115-118 Meditation Verse: 118:17 There is much about praising God in these psalms. In almost every case, the same reason is given: because the Lord delivered the psalmist from death or suffering. In some cases, the suffering seems to be the result…

Passage Read: Psalm 119 Meditation Verses: 119:97-104 The writer of Psalm 119 has discovered the secret to a righteous life: total delight and love for the law of God. Over and over he declares how love for God's law consumes him, therefore he walks in…

Passage Read: Psalm 120-123 Meditation Verses: 123:3-4 We are surrounded by scoffers, so many even in the church, that we ourselves doubt some of Your truth. Be gracious to us, O Lord, give us some measure of deliverance. Show Your power that those who scoff…

Passage Read: Psalm 124-127 Meditation Verses: 127:1-2 If the Lord has not determined beforehand to bless the building of a house, then those who build it will have to work harder at it and it likely will still collapse. If the Lord has not determined…

Passage Read: Psalm 128-131 Meditation Verse: 131:1 It is pride that moves a man to think he knows best regarding matters that are out of his sphere. He doesn't have all the facts, only bits of information. He doesn't have the whole picture, but he…

Passage Read: Psalm 132-135 Meditation Verses: 135:5-10 Our God is greater than all gods. There is no one like the Lord. He rules over the affairs of men. He does whatever He pleases on the earth. The world and everything in it belongs to the…

Passage Read: Psalm 136-139 Meditation Verses: 139:19-22 There are those who speak against God wickedly. There are those who take His name in vain. There are those who truly hate the Lord and rise up against Him. Not all hatred is the same: Some is…

Passage Read: Psalm 140-143 Meditation Verse: 140:8 This is a good prayer, that the Lord keep the arrogant from succeeding, and so further inflate his ego. But it is the Lord's will that the wicked man, whom He has rejected, fill up the measure of…

Passage Read: Psalm 144-147 Meditation Verses: 147:19-20 The Lord taught Israel about Himself. He chose Israel to teach of His ways. There was no other nation that received such a gift. And it should be seen as a privilege, one not to be wasted. God…

Passage Read: Psalm 148 - Proverbs 1 Meditation Verse: Psalm 149:4 That's a twist! The Lord honors His afflicted people with salvation, so His godly ones can rejoice on their beds. Why on their beds? Does he mean morning and evening or are they crippled…