King David penned many Holy Spirit-inspired Psalms that bring life and sustenance to us even today. Two examples are Psalms 34 and 62. Here is a verse from the former:
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19 (NKJV)
Encouraging news, but it does raise a question – just what is “righteousness?” Some possible responses are living a life that is pleasing to God, walking with and honoring Him by seeking after Him, following His commandment to love one another, and making morally correct choices in God’s eyes.
You may have your own definition. But in all cases, it seems that there is a standard of behavior set by God that He wants us to honor, both with our hearts and with our actions. The problem is that, aside from Jesus, we humans generally do a poor job of living up to our end of this. That is why Jesus Christ came in the first place – to personally live the righteous life that we cannot, then to bear all the consequences we earned by falling well short of God’s holiness and purity. The good news is that by choosing and believing on Jesus’ suffering, death, and victorious resurrection, we believers are thoroughly cleansed and given a holy, spiritual covering by His righteousness. God then places His Holy Spirit within our hearts, helping us to walk more in line with His goodness. He continues to extend new mercies to us each day, to forgive and help us through our failures and shortcomings. Because of Him, we believers are righteous, fully cloaked with the righteousness of Christ.
Another encouraging verse from David’s Psalm 34 reads:
6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Psalm 34:6-7 (NKJV)
Being a God-follower does not mean that we will be without trouble. In fact, some may find that our troubles actually increase once we decide to follow Jesus and make Him Lord in our heart. Either way, the Psalms encourage us to lay our troubles out before the Lord and to share the deep yearnings of our hearts with Him. He wants to hear from us, and in return, will show us His love and mercy. As our Rock, He will safely deliver us through the trials and opposition that come against us. He will comfort us our in mourning or pain, and help us to walk through the anxieties and fears of life to enter into the peace and healing of His Presence.
5 My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense, I shall not be moved. 7 In God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Psalm 62:5-7 (NKJV)
By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David also wrote many prophecies about the coming Messiah. For example, in Psalm 22, he talks about the suffering that the Messiah would experience, including the piercing of His hands and feet, which happened to Jesus on the cross. This is important because it shows that the Father permitted Jesus to lay down His life for us voluntarily, out of God’s great love for us.
The Psalms of David show us that if we put God first in our lives, He will give us all the things we need, such as shelter, salvation, hope, honor, stability, refuge and deliverance from our fears and troubles. God listens to our cries, sees our tears, and brings us His healing and wholeness when we are brokenhearted or just need His comfort.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
May the Lord richly bless you today, bringing you His light, hope, encouragement, and peace to overcome any darkness or trouble.
Reflection
What do you need from the Lord today? He is attentive to our cry, and does not wish that we should lack any good thing.
Father God, our true Rock and Deliverer, we ask for Your blessing, healing, and forgiveness. Guide us as we offer ourselves to You, the source and Creator of all of our gifts, talents and abilities. Help us to use these gifts to bring pleasure to You as we seek serve others, following Your lead. May we draw closer to You, our eternal hope and Protector. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 