Day 191: Psalms 135:1 - 139:23

I love Psalms 36 because of the obvious recurring theme throughout the chapter. There are many different translations and they each say it differently, but the message is very clear. God's love will never fail. Although that would seem like somewhat of a simple concept, it's really one that we may never be able to fully wrap our brains around. We live in a world full of failure. We live in a place where every single thing, even human love and affection will eventually die and disappear. Even if I tried, there is no possible way I could compare the love that God has for us with anything on this earth. The bottom line is, the Psalmist could repeat the same phrase over and over, write entire chapters trying to explain it, or even write an entire book simply repeating that phrase and there's still nothing that would be able to adequately describe the depth and beauty of the love that our Father has for His children.

- Lord, as much as a human could comprehend love, I realize that I will never fully grasp the love that you have for me. But I just want to thank You for loving me and I know that you don't require us to understand it in order to receive it. You will always love me no matter what happens. You don't simply offer us the gift of love, You are Love. -

Day 190: Psalms 122:3 - 134:3

For some reason, I can't help but look at God in the light of a Father when I read these verses. It seems like throughout the Psalms, we see God in so many lights - Father, Protector, Provider, Avenger, etc. It's sad that many people have such a distorted view of God as being their Father. It's no coincidence that more often than not, the father is the one who ends up walking out of the relationship leaving the mother and the children to fend for themselves. Satan knows that if he can ruin the idea of a "father," then people will have a much more difficult time understanding what it means for God to be our Heavenly Father. I've had the wonderful blessing of being raised by an awesome father who is still around today, and yet, even my personal experiences aren't enough to be compared to the type of Father that God is to us. The only way for us to understand it is to get in His Word and find out what He said to us and what He's done for us. I don't consider my dad a wonderful dad simply because of "who he is." He's been a wonderful dad because of the things he's said to me and the things that he's done for me. In order for us to truly know God as our father, we must throw aside any pre-conceived ideas or notions about what a father is and find out what the Bible says about the matter.

- Lord, thank You for being my Heavenly Father. And even though I may have a wonderful example here on earth as a reference, I know that nothing compares to the love that You have shown for me. Help me to understand more of Your deep love for me so that I might be able to truly love You. -

Day 189: Psalms 119:109 - 122:2

I really like Chapter 121 because it's short, simple and to the point. We need to remember that God is our only source of strength and if we will rely on Him, He will take care of us. It seems to be somewhat of a human condition to think that God wants to watch us squirm and it's all up to us to prove that we can handle whatever life throws at us. There are millions of people all over the world who seem to think that there's some sort of honor in suffering and barely making it through a terrible life, but there is so so much more honor in accepting the fact the we are weak and that our Heavenly Father is the only one who can carry us through everything that the world can throw at us. We need to make the decision to stop wallowing in the troubles of this world and stand up and let God work through us. Although we may be weak, our God is strong and faithful to carry us through anything.

- Lord, although I may be weak on my own, I know that I am strong in You and You are the one who will always be faithful to pick me up and shelter me from the enemy. You are faithful and just and I will always trust in You to carry me through the storms of this life. -

Day 188: Psalms 119:24 - 119:108

I just love the deep sense of reality that you get from reading this passage. There are alot of passages that discuss the all-time highs and the all time lows of the Christian walk, but it seems like this passage does a very good job of expressing the fact that although walking with God can definitely have it's speed-bumps, it will always beat the alternative. It's sad to see how many people are willing to turn to God and allow Him to take control of their lives only until things go wrong. I know most of the responsibility lies upon themselves for not having the resolve to hang on, but I think alot of the responsibility lies on believers who try to trick people into getting saved so that their lives will be more fun and easier. God never promised that life with Him would be a walk in the park. But He did promise us that He would always be there no matter how difficult that walk became. And that, my friends, is worth so much more than an easy walk straight off of a cliff.

- Lord, thank You for being with me in the good times and the bad times of life. It's easy to get the wrong idea and think that the Christian life is supposed to be full of gumdrops and lollypops, but the reality is that the Devil will come at us full force and You are the only one who can walk and fight right alongside us. -

Day 187: Psalms 115:1 - 119:23

It's sad to say, but there are so many believers out there who seem to have a very distorted picture of our God Who is so quick to bless us. Of course, at first glance, it would appear that there are two basic beliefs regarding God's desire to bless His children - some believe that we are called to a life of poverty and others believe that we are called to a life of abundance and prosperity. Of course, after reading through the Bible, it would be impossible to believe that God wants anything other than total success and blessings for His children, but there are many out there who think that the whole point of the Christian walk is so God can make me rich and give me stuff. The truth is, God wants us to prosper, but not so that we can have a bunch of stuff. God wants to bless us so that we can turn around and be a blessing to those around us who are in need. God wants to bless us so that we can stand before the world as a representative of Him and so that we can bring honor to His name, and not our own.

- Lord, help me to have the right motives when asking for Your blessings to fall. Of course I want to live an easier life and a more comfortable life, but more than anything, I want to live a life that is indicative of Your Word and one that will make the people of the world stop at nothing to find out what I've got and how they can get it. -

Day 186: Psalms 108:10 - 114:8

I love reading passages like this one that contain verses about God's blessings as well as His cursing. If there's one thing we can get from this passage is that God doesn't do anything half-way. When the Psalmist asks God to curse his enemies, I don't think he's asking for such extravagant curses because he wants God to go over the top with it. I think the words he uses and the extent to which he expects the curse to fall are because he knows that God doesn't "sort of" curse or bless anything. It's either a total curse or a total blessing. There are alot of things that we encounter in life that could somewhat go either way. There are alot of circumstances that we end up finding ourselves in that could be considered bad and good at the same time, but when God is the one making it happen, you know for sure. And since we're all given the option to choose between one or the other, I think I'll choose the blessing.

- Lord, we see in Your Word time and time again that we've been given an option between life and death, blessings and curses. I stand firm and choose the blessings that You freely offer to those who accept them. And even though the devil will no doubt try and slow me down or change my mind, I know that You will always shower Your blessings on me because You are and will always be faithful. -

Day 185: Psalms 106:16 - 108:9

I really like this group of Scripture because it very simply covers a basic principle of the Bible - if you follow God and keep your focus on Him, you'll be blessed; otherwise, you won't be blessed. There are so obviously millions of people out there today who very strongly disagree with that principle. It can sometimes be difficult to understand which way we should go when we see so many people in the world living completely against God's will and they seem to be living these beautiful, rich, blessed lives. The truth is, however, that unless God is at the center of their lives, the extent of their "blessed" way of life lies no deeper than the very thin surface that we can see with our  own eyes. True blessing only comes when we are willing to lay down everything that we would normally consider important and make Him the only important aspect of our lives. Without Him we are nothing.

- Lord, help me to remember to always be thankful for the immense blessings that You have promised me. I know that there can be a certain level of glamor and allure that comes with living according to the world's system, but that also brings worldly consequences that I don't want at all. I know that as long as You are my focus, my life will always be blessed. -

Day 184: Psalms 104:1 - 106:15

I like how chapter 106 paints a picture of God as not only the creator, but also as the one who sustains life here in earth. It's pretty easy to look at things in light of the fact that God gave man dominion over the earth and so that would mean that everything on earth including the very life that moves and drives everything is the sole responsibility of man. Although I do believe whole-heartedly that it's every man's decision what to do with his own life and the lives of those around him, the Bible shows us time and time again that God is the only one true sustainer of life. The very fact that God is alive and that he wants His children on this earth to do His work is what keeps us alive. This chapter makes mention of the fact that if God were to turn His back or allow His Spirit to move somewhere else, everything we know would fall apart instantly. God didn't just create life and then leave it alone, He is life and without Him, there would be nothing.

- Lord, as difficult as it may sometimes be to grasp hold of such deep concepts, thank You for giving us a deeper revelation of Who You are and the fact that without You, not only would have nothing to do, but we would be nothing at all. You are the maker and sustainer of life and I will forever worship You. -

Day 183: Psalms 98:7 - 103:22

If there's one common subject we can get from these verses, it's that we serve a faithful God. Many of us have wonderful relationships with spouses or friends or family and most would probably consider those people to be faithful friends, but I'm telling you right now that we could never find a friend as faithful as our Lord. He's faithful no matter what could possibly be going on in our lives. We see that He is faithful when everything is going good and moving smoothly. We see that He is faithful when it seems like everyone around us is living in sin. And He even remains faithful when it feels like our entire world is caving in around us. Just like I've talked about before, assuming that God isn't faithful simply because things are difficult is just ridiculous. Our situations may not always be faithful, our friends may not always be faithful, and we may not even always be faithful to ourselves, but God will never leave us nor forsake us. And in my opinion, that's about as faithful as it gets.

- Father, thank You for Your faithfulness. It can sometimes be difficult to quantize Your faithfulness because all we have is humans to compare it to, but thank You nonetheless for being who You are. And thank You that no matter what happens, You will never leave me nor forsake me! -

Day 182: Psalms 92:1 - 98:6

In these verses, the psalmist encourages us to offer all that we have in worship to our king. It's true that many people have had huge accomplishments in their lifetimes, but these verses do well to remind us that as big as our accomplishments may be, God's will always be bigger and more worthy of praise. He made the heavens and the earth and He is the Almighty God. I also love the mention that he always makes of the mountains and the way they react to God. When we think of the things here on earth that could be considered huge and powerful, mountains are always at the top of the list, but we are reminded in these passages that just at the sight of God, mountains will melt like wax and the oceans will stand at attention. We serve a powerful and mighty God and no matter who we are or where we are in life, He deserves our utmost praise.

- Father, give me the strength to never stop praising You. Though people often change their minds and the way they do things, You will never change. You created the universe and yet You are still willing to hold my hand and love me. Thank You for being the huge God that You are and help me to never stop praising You. -

Day 181: Psalms 89:1 - 91:16

Psalms 91 has always been my favorite chapter in this book, so naturally, I'm gonna focus on that. There is so much deep truth in this chapter that I think alot of people are totally unaware of. So many Christians out there seem to have this warped idea that we're all on our own and that God will be there when things are going good, but when things start to fell apart, we have to make it through to we can make it back to Him. But in this passage, we learn the amazing truth that God is right there with us in the storm and all we have to do is get under His wing and He'll protect us. My favorite verse of this passage is definitely vs 13 where it talks about God giving us the power to stomp on the lion and snake. I know I've walked down many a path with a few stakes and lions on it, and I'm sure there are many to come, but if I will just put my faith in Him, He will give me the power to crush everything in my way.

- Lord, thank You so much for the protection that You offer us. This can be a scary world and the enemy is always out to hurt us, but I know that we can stand confident knowing that You will always be there to hold us and send Your angels to protect us whenever we fall. -

Day 180: Psalms 83:1 - 88:18

The first few psalms in this passage point out a very interesting and distinct characteristic of our Lord - He is a God of abundance and more than enough. So often it seems like the more religious people of the church try and convince people that God wants us all to live poor and just barely getting by, but we can clearly see that God is a God of abundance and it would be silly to assume that He would want us to live opposite of Him. For example God is righteous, therefore He desires that we strive for righteousness. God is love therefore He wants us to love. He even  went so far as to tell us that it's our job to love our enemies. God is wise therefore we read in alot of places in the book of Proverbs that we are to search for wisdom wherever it may be found. So why then would it make any sense to say that although God lives in heaven, the most elaborate, well kept, beautiful city ever imagined complete with gold-paved streets, He would want us to live a life of poverty and pain? In my opinion, it makes absolutely no sense. God has called us to live blessed, well provided lives. All we have to do is look to Him and He will make sure that His children are taken care of.

- Father, thank You for being a God that desires to see His children blessed. So often religion tells us that we have to lie down and just give up and let poverty have its way in our lives, but we know that it's Your will to prosper us so that we can be a blessing to those in need. -

Day 179: Psalms 78:44 - 82:8

It's sad to say that in our society, salvation seems more like a convenience than a necessity. Reading the Psalms that Asaph wrote, it would be almost impossible not to feel the passion and intense desire that He has for God to save him and his people. It seems like modern "evangelism" has turned into something completely different. Preachers get up and try to convince people that giving their lives to Jesus will make things easier and more fun. They try to trick them into signing up because of all of the other cool people who are doing it. And yet, there are very few out there willing to express the sense of urgency and necessity that should always be associated with the need for Salvation. We don't need God for the same reasons we need to eat right or own our own houses. We don't need God for the same reasons that we need to get the fastest internet or the best cable package. We need God because without Him, our lives will surely, without a doubt end in torture and misery for all of eternity, and without His saving Grace, that end is our only option. So I urge you to stop "selling" salvation to the lost and go out there and stir up the kind of passion that doesn't just cause people to want salvation, but shows them how badly they need it.

- Lord, give me the same type of intense passion that Asaph had in these verses. Help me not to try to sell salvation as a new fad to a bored generation, but help me to offer salvation as the only solution for a dying generation. I know that without Your saving grace we would all be destined to hell and if I really truly love and care for my generation, I will do everything I can to keep them from that fate. - 

Day 178: Psalms 75:1 - 78:43

It seems to be a recurring theme in the book of Psalms that the writer feels like he's at the end of his rope, like there's no hope for him to ever get out of this situation, and then God shows up. It can oftentimes be difficult to live on human terms and serve a God who never works according to our personal timeframe. I know I have personally faced lots of situations where it felt like God was just too late to be able to fix it. If there's one thing that I've learned about our God, it's that He doesn't usually work according to our deadlines. It's a difficult thing to learn, but true faith isn't based on a particular timeframe or deadline. God works according to His own schedule and His decisions are always based on what it best for His children. The sooner we can learn to just give it up to God and have faith in Him to do what He promised, the sooner we will be able to go out and do what He has called us to do without any fear of failure.

- Father, help me to live my life based on Your timeframe and not my own. I know that there come times when it seems like if You don't do something right now, everything will be ruined, but I know deep in my heart that You know what You are doing and if I will just get out of Your way, You will do what needs to be done. -

Day 177: Psalms 71:1 - 74:23

In this passage, we have the opportunity to see how God is different things to different people depending on where they are in life. The first chapter in this passage is written by David and he sings about God being his shelter and protection. David had been on the run and God was the only One who could truly keep him safe from everyone who wanted to take him down. The second psalmist was Solomon. In his psalm, Solomon is asking God to be the source of his wisdom and authority. There are lots of men who would be so full of pride after being appointed to such a high position that they would have never relied on anything but their own "wisdom" to get them through. But Solomon understood that the only way to truly accomplish what God had planned for him was to invite God to be everything he needed. The third person was Asaph. As far as I know, Asaph was a scribe during a time when things were not going very well in Judah. To Asaph, God was the Redeemer. Although, I'm sure he needed protection and wisdom, at that point in time, what Asaph needed most was redemption from all of the horrible things that were happening around him. And he understood that the only One who could bring that redemption was the One True God. 

- Father, thank You for being everything that we could ever need. When we're in danger, You are our protection. When we are left in charge, You show us the decisions that we need to make. When things are falling apart and we've lost all we had, You come and redeem us. You have always been and will always be everything that we could ever need! -

Day 176: Psalms 68:1 - 70:5

In the book of Psalms, there are alot of places where we get a very deep sense of the size and the power of our Lord. It seems like sometimes when we think of God, we think of Him as our helper and as one who takes care of us and blesses us. We think of Him as that still small voice inside and as the one who leads us and shows us which way to go. But we oftentimes forget about the immense power and glory that He embodies. We serve a God who holds the entire universe in the palm of His hand. We serve a God who could destroy everything we have ever known in the blink of an eye. We serve a God more powerful and greater than any atomic bomb the could ever be created, and yet we also serve a God who loves and cares for each and every one of us. He has the power and the authority to do or love anything He wants and yet He's chosen to come down and love us. If that doesn't make you feel special, I don't know what ever could.

- Father, thank You for loving me and taking care of me despite the fact that I am just a small speck in this huge universe. You have more power than anyone could ever imagine and I am so thankful that You would be willing to take that power and bless me simply because You love me! -

Day 175: Psalms 60:10 - 67:7

It's beautiful to see how David is able to see how nature itself worships God. There are so many references to the mountains bowing down at His glory and the oceans providing wave-offerings to honor Him. David has such a wonderful perspective through the eyes of praise, and I wish more people could see the world that way. It seems today everyone is always talking about how this whole world is going down fast and that we're just sitting on a crumbling piece of dirt, but how often to we hear people talking about the beauty and splendor of this earth that God created? In Luke, Jesus made mention of the fact that even if the believers didn't offer up their praises to God, the very rocks that God created would cry out to Him. Creation itself is proof enough that we serve a strong and powerful God full of beauty and grace.

- Lord, thank You for this amazing earth that You have created. Alot of people tend to take it for granted or forget what a beautiful creation it is, but help us not to forget or neglect it. Help us to see this world and the beauties within and remember You and all You've done for us and through us. -

Day 174: Psalms 54:7 - 60:9

It's interesting to see what a singular theme these passages have - vengeance is the Lord's. This has always been a difficult one for me because although Jesus says in the New Testament that we are supposed to pray for those who hurt us and love those who hate us, and yet I still feel that passages such as these still contain tons of truth and wisdom. It's so easy when things go wrong to start looking for opportunities to go beat up the people who hurt us, but what we must learn from these passages is that it's not our job to bring vengeance down on those who treat us badly. Instead of seeking out ways to bring our "enemies" down and show them who we really are, God wants us to keep our focus on Him and doing what He's told us to do. If we will do that for Him, He will be more than faithful to not only bring justice to all parties involved, but bring justice that we as humans could have never accomplished.

- Lord, help me to keep my trust in You to bring justice in my life. It's so easy to want to take situations into my own hands, but I know that, just like anything else in life, if I will just give it to You, You will make it turn out the way that You want it to. -

Day 173: Psalms 48:14 - 54:6

I think it's interesting in this group of chapters that at the beginning, we see songs written by the Sons of Korah,  at the end we see more songs written by David, but right in the middle we see a chapter written by a man named Asaph. I can imagine as a song-writer in their times, it must have been pretty intimidating  to be writing praise songs to God when men like David were cranking them out every minute. But one of the beautiful things about the book of Psalms is that it's not monopolized by just one writer and his experiences. Asaph didn't write that Psalm because he wanted to express himself and God wanted him to forever be ignored. God wrote that song through Asaph so that His Word could be shared with the entire world. We must never assume that what we have to offer is somehow inferior compared to what the rest of the "super -Christians" might have. The work that God is doing through us is enormous and if we will just let Him work through us, He will make sure that whatever needs to happen will happen.

- Lord, help me not to belittle the gift You've placed inside of me. Although it may not be as flashy and exciting as someone else's gift, I know that You put it inside of me which means that You will make it as huge as You want it to be. I would much rather make a small impact with Your anointing than a huge impact based on my own goals and agendas. -

Day 172: Psalms 42:7 - 48:13

I love that the Psalms aren't just full of solemn songs or worship, but they also include alot of exciting exuberant songs of praise. Unfortunately, there are alot of groups of believers out there  who seem to have to quiet, solemn songs of praise down, but they have absolutely not revelation of what it's like to let go and just praise the Lord, not so you can be emotionally driven, but because you love Him with all of your heart and you just can't contain yourself. God doesn't want us to be pointlessly emotional or touchy, but He does want us to be willing to let go of our inhibitions and worship Him with all that we have and all that we are. We see in the Bible that David worshipped God to such an extreme that he completely embarrassed his wife. But regardless of who was or wasn't embarrassed David understood that the goal of our lives is not to please people, but to please our Lord above.

- Lord, help me to be willing to honor You with my unbridled passionate praise without regard to what people might think or say. You are my creator and without You, I wouldn't even be able to stand much less jump around and praise You. Your name is above all names and is worthy to be praised! -

Day 171: Psalms 37:27 - 42:6

We serve such a God of mercy! In the first part of these Scriptures, we see a man crying and weeping before God begging for forgiveness. Initially, it's easy to wonder if he'll ever receive the mercy that he so desperately needs, but in chapter 40, we see God turning around and rescuing one so deeply in need of being rescued. I know there has come or will come a time and many of our lives when we feel like all we want is mercy. My encouragement is to keep your eyes on  the Father and don't let up or let go or walk away. God is a merciful God and as long as we are truly willing to turn from our wickedness and follow Him, He will gladly turn around, take us into His arms and bless us to no end. He has always been and will always be a faithful father, and He is just standing and waiting for the opportunity to come back and bless our socks off.

- Lord, thank You for being so merciful even when we least deserve it. We've all sinned and fallen short of Your glory, but Your mercy is enough to wipe all of that away and make us whole. Please forgive me and send Your mercy down to pick me and up and cary me back into Your arms. -

Day 170 - Psalms 34:1 - 37:26

I love to read about the justice that David talks about it these passages. It can sometimes be difficult to fully understand what "justice" he's talking about in these verses, but the psalmist isn't talking about justice that we deserve on our own because of who we are. He's talking about the kind of justice we deserve because of Who God is. As true as it may be that the only "just" way for us to be treated is punishment, when we turn to God, He completely justifies us and treats us like His own children. And we know that a good father doesn't allow his children to be picked on. A good father always makes sure that his children are taken care of and provided for. A good father always disciplines his children, but he is also always right there waiting for them to turn to him and love him again. A good father doesn't sit back and watch as his children slide and stumble through life. A good father will always be there, will always keep his word, and will never leave us nor forsake us. 

- Lord, You are my father and I trust You to be there like a good father will always be. Help me to learn from current situations and listen to You speak to me through them. Thank You for never leaving me and for always being my provision. -

Day 169: Psalms 28:8 - 33:22

I love the "all-or-nothing" attitude that David expresses in his writing. Rarely will you ever read something by David that isn't passionate and in your face. I totally believe that just as David was passionate about every word of every line that he wrote, We serve a God who is full of passion. I understand and realize that not everything in life can always been huge and passionate, but God has called us to live a life that searches and yearns for more. I was just talking to a friend of mine today about the fact that life is too short to be caught up in the boring "safe" practices. We aren't called to sit around and let life happen. We are called to step out and make an impact! And although we may not be able to make much of an impact alone, with God working through us, we can live a life that will be full of passion and meaning just the way God intended.

- God, help me to never lose the fire that You've placed deep in my heart. It's hard enough to look past the disappointments and the negative situations in life, but help me to not be pulled down by the boring and mediocre things that can destroy our passion for You. I know that You are passionate for us, and I just pray that you teach us how to reciprocate that passion back to You. -

Day 168: Psalms 22:18 - 28:7

I love the contrast that we see in these chapters between the insignificance of one person alone and the awesome power they have with God behind them. David really had such a deep understanding of the fact that without Him, we are nothing and can do nothing, but with Him, all things are possible. So many people go though this life thinking that they're just small insignificant specks incapable of making any real changes in this world. And however true that statement may be in an of itself, if we will lay ourselves down and look to God, He can do so much more through us that we could have ever imagined. I think we must all realize that if we ever want God to really work through us, we must realize how ineffective we are and how powerful He is.

- Father, help me to remember that less of me means more of You. Help me to understand how powerless I am on my own. I want to be a strong and  powerful person; not based on my own strength, but by the strength of my God! -

Day 167: Psalms 18:19 - 22:17

It's interesting to read the book of Psalms and recognize the deep relationship that the writer has with God. It's relatively easy to write a big book about names and dates and what people did and how they did them and who they did them with. But it's a totally different thing to write a book, especially one to the extent of Psalms entirely focused on giving thanks and praise to our God above. In a way it's very humbling to think of all of the work put into this book. I mean, there have been times that I've found myself getting tired of loosing interest after reading the Bible or praying for 30 minutes and yet David had the endurance to write a book of the Bible like this one and was given the ability to come up with that many different things to say about the same topic. I hope that some day I will be able to express that sort of love to my Lord above.

- Father, help me to take a lesson from the Psalms and bring myself closer to You and worshiping Your name. Help me to become a man after Your own heart just like David so that I can know Your secrets and not just know who You are, but truly and deeply know You more than I know myself. -

Day 166: Psalms 10:11 - 18:18

Reading the Psalms is so wonderful because, in a way, each chapter in the book is basically the exact same theme as the entire Bible - Redemption. If it were about any other subject, it would really just end up being boring and redundant, but reading about God's grace and His provision for His people is a topic that will never get old. It's so encouraging to see in each chapter how although the writer is initially in some sort of trouble, God breaks through and takes care of Him in the end. It's a wonderful testament of what will happen in our own lives if we will just remain faithful and do what God has called us to do. If we're always focused on our problems, our problems are all we'll ever see, but if we will take the time to focus on Who God is and what He wants to do for us, we will eventually see His redemption come to pass in our lives.

- Lord, help me to always live as the Psalmists and make sure that You are always my focus rather than the problems in front of me. I know that no matter how big my problems may be, You will always be bigger. -

Day 165: Psalms 4:2 - 10:10

You know, it's hard to write about one subject from a passage like this one in the book of Psalms because there are so many short books and there is so much content in each one. It's interesting to note that there are definitely phrases and parts within these verses that seem to echo the laments of Job and how difficult it was to handle bad situations, and yet it seems that every time so far, when David spoke about the difficult times and the hardship that he faced, he also made sure to mention the fact the we serve a good and just God. David had a fantastic understanding of the fact that we serve a good and faithful God and even though things may not necessarily be going well for us at the moment, God is just and He will see to it that the situations change in order for us to live the life that God desires for us.

- Father, help me to have a proper understanding of You and the mercy that You have shown me. It's easy to look at the negative and gripe and complain about it, but we must never forget the mercies that You offer us that are new each and every morning. -