Walking Through the Psalms“O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.” – Psalm 40:5 (NLT)“Jogging Our Memory” Do you believe in miracles? The psalmist did. In fact, throughout the Psalms, you will read the various writers referring to the ...

Walking Through the Psalms“He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the LORD.” – Psalm 40:3 (NLT)“Are You Ready for a New Song?” Several years ago, I got an email from a woman named Michelle who received my devotionals. She thanked me for them and then shared her story with me. At one time, she had b...

Walking Through the Psalms“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” – Psalm 40:2 (NLT)“The Pits” “That’s the pits.” That was one of our favorite phrases that my college buddies and I used to use. If your girl dumped you. “That’s the pits.” If your car broke down. “That’s the pits.” If you bombed on a tes...

Walking Through the Psalms“I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.” – Psalm 40:1 (NLT)“The Waiting Room” I think the hardest part of going to a doctor is the waiting room. I can handle the probing, the blood-drawing, and even the breathtakingly cold stethoscopes that they keep in a freezer somewhere. I can handle the wooden ruler they stick down your throa...

Walking Through the Psalms“And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.” – Psalm 39:7 (NLT)“Our Hope Is in Him!” Our verse today is both sobering and wonderfully reassuring. It’s sobering because the psalmist has just spent several verses talking about the fleeting nature of life. His reflections are the realities that we all come to sooner or later. And that is that nothing lasts...

Walking Through the Psalms“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.” – Psalm 38:4 (NLT)“Life Goes Fast, So Get It Right!” This past week I celebrated my 70th birthday, which is absolutely unbelievable to me. Isn’t it amazing how fast time goes? And it seems to go FASTER the older that you get! That doesn’t seem fair to me, but...

Walking Through the Psalms“The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong.” – Psalm 37:30 (NLT)“Be Careful Who You Listen To” Be careful who you go to for counsel. I often tell my people here at church, “It doesn’t do you any good if you seek advice from people who are as dumb as you!” I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. If I need help with my plumbing, why would I ask a friend of ...

Walking Through the Psalms“It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich.” – Psalm 37:16 (NLT)“Lifestyles of the Rich and Dead” I think one of the more eye-opening experiences in my life was when I was in college in Houston, Texas. I got a job at the Downtown YMCA. It was a “Men’s Only” YMCA and served the businessmen who worked in the downtown area. Most of these men were incr...

Walking Through the Psalms“Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm.” – Psalm 37:8 (NLT)“Taming the Anger Animal” Do you think of yourself as an angry person? Most of us probably don’t. But at the same time, almost all of us have times when we allow the Anger Animal to take over. We say things we wish we wouldn’t have said. We do things we wish we wouldn...

Walking Through the Psalms“Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act.” – Psalm 37:7 (NLT)“Chill” When I was a pastor in Phoenix, we had a new guy show up for our Saturday night service who was a bit odd. He came and sat down in the front row across the aisle from me. As our band began playing and we stood to worship, he started becoming fairly animated and loud. I was...

Walking Through the Psalms“Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” – Psalm 37:5 (NLT)“Committing & Trusting” Read the first half of that verse again. Now circle the second word of that sentence. “Everything.” Do you commit EVERYTHING you do to the Lord? Now, before you answer that, think about what that means. Everything means, well, everything! Think about it. Most...

Walking Through the Psalms“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” – Psalm 37:4 (NLT)“Your Heart’s Desire” Relax. This verse doesn’t mean what you think it means. I say that because there are some of you who read that verse and thought it meant God is going to give you the stuff that you really, really want. Sorry to burst your bubble, but it kind of means the exact o...

Walking Through the Psalms“Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither. Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.” – Psalm 37:1-3 (NLT)“Trust and Do Good” Today, weather permitting, my wife and I will be doing the last leg of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. In the Se...

Walking Through the Psalms“For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.” – Psalm 36:9 (NLT)“The Fountain of Life” I love this verse. In Genesis 1, we read how God “breathed into man the breath of life.” You know what? He still does! I’m not talking about just the oxygen that our lungs need. I’m talking about LIFE. It is in God that our lives find meaning and purpose. It is in God t...

Walking Through the Psalms“Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” – Psalm 36:5 (NLT)“In the Blackness of Space” I was reading a fascinating story a week or two ago about astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. If you remember these two, they went into space to go to the International Space Station. It was supposed to be an eight-da...

Walking Through the Psalms“In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.” – Psalm 36:2 (NIV)“Who, ME?” Are you ever just astounded by how people can justify attitudes and actions that are so ungodly? Sometimes I watch people, and it is beyond me how they can’t see how mean they’re being, or selfish they’re acting, or how wrong what they’re doing is. It is so obvio...

Walking Through the Psalms“Then I will proclaim your justice, and I will praise you all day long.” – Psalm 35:28 (NLT)“Faith Praise” As I was reading through this psalm today, I noticed something. The psalmist was bargaining with God. Three or four times throughout this psalm in which he is asking God to vanquish his enemies, he tells God that if He does it, THEN he will praise him. “Then I will p...

Walking Through the Psalms"Lift up your spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Let me hear you say, 'I will give you victory!'" – Psalm 35:3 (NLT)“He Will Give You the Victory” The Psalmist minces no words in this psalm. He wants God to ACT. And act NOW! He’s tired of being attacked. He’s tired of hiding and being on the run. He hasn’t done anything wrong, and he wants God to bring justice...

Walking Through the Psalms“So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the LORD!” – Psalm 31:24 (NLT)“Resurrection Sunday” Hope. It’s perhaps the greatest human need there is. It’s said you can live a few weeks without food, a few days without water, a few minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope. Could YOU use some hope today?Resurrection Sunday is the day when God c...

“Walking Through the Psalms”“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.” – Psalm 34:8 (NLT)“Silent Saturday” Do you ever wonder where Jesus was on the Saturday before the Resurrection? Was He still in the grave? Did He go to some unknown, spiritual waiting room? Some people, based on words in Peter’s letters, think that Jesus visited Hell. One thing is su...