Author: David Short

Psalms 17:2-4 (18:1-3)

thus he said:
“I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my foundation, my refuge, my deliverer;
My God is my helper, on Him I will hope,
My champion, the horn of my salvation, and my protector.
I will call upon the Lord and praise Him,
And I shall be saved from my enemies.”

Encouraging Words

David had some pretty difficult times in his life. He loved God deeply and trusted Him completely. He slew the giant Goliath with 3 smooth stones ending the oppression of the Philistines and then was immediately hated by King Saul out of jealousy. After Saul sinned gravely, David was anointed king but pursued aggressively by Saul who wanted to kill him. He was also pursued by many others who did not want him to fulfill his role as the king. Through all of this, he remained loyal to his God because he knew his source of life nested in Him. This part of his Psalm shows how much he trusted and loved his God. We too can claim these truths about God because He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God will save us from our enemies. Glory be to God!

Psalms 16:1-9 (17:1-9)

Listen, O Lord of my righteousness;
Attend to my supplication;
Give ear to my prayer that is not with deceitful lips.
From Your face let my judgment come;
Let my eyes behold uprightness.
You tested my heart, when You visited me in the night;
You tried me in the fire, and found nothing unjust in me.
That my mouth might not speak of the works of men,
I held to hard ways because of the words of Your lips.
Restore my steps in Your paths,
That my footsteps may not slip.
I cried out, because You listened to me, O God;
Incline Your ear to me, and hear my words.
Magnify Your mercies,
O You who save those who hope in You
From those who rise up against Your right hand.
Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
In the shelter of Your wings, You will shelter me
From the face of the ungodly who trouble me.
My enemies surrounded my soul;

Personal challenge

Sometimes we need to be like David and just plea to God hoping that He will hear our petitions and supplications. He hears them, but how often do we not hear our own prayers and do what we know is right in God’s eyes in order to draw close to Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 15:11 (16:11)

You made known to me the ways of life;
You will fill me with gladness in Your presence;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Encouraging Words

One of the blessings of pursuing Christ and attempting to walk in His footsteps is that He will make known to us the ways of life. We do not cherish this knowledge because it gives us an advantage over our fellow humans but because it helps us to follow in His footsteps even more. It is all about Him and nothing about us. This is why we are filled with gladness in His presence. These are the pleasures at His right hand forevermore. Glory be to God!

Psalms 15:7-9 (16:7-9)

I will bless the Lord who caused me to understand;
Moreover, until night my reins also instructed me.
I saw the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart was glad,
And my tongue rejoiced exceedingly;
My flesh also shall dwell in hope.

Encouraging Words

The Psalmist captures so well the feelings that one can have when they have a deep relationship with God. God helps us to understand. Through Him, we can understand the issues that we are facing every day in our lives and we can bless Him in those issues because we know that He is greater than them. He instructs us. He goes before us in our journey of life. He is at our right hand, a position of companionship, and we are not shaken in tribulations. Because of who He is and who He is in our relationship with Him, our heart is glad, our tongue rejoices exceedingly, and we shall dwell in hope. Glory be to God! My heart is glad!

Psalms 15:3 (16:3)

To the saints on His earth,
In them He magnified all His will.

Encouraging Words

God has a perfect will for His creation. He has a plan and a desire for it to be a particular way. He does not, however, force us to comply with His will. That is why He created us with free will. He does reveal and magnify His will to those who become His saints so that it is not a mystery to us. Glory be to God!

Psalm 14 (15)

O Lord, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle?
Who shall live in Your holy mountain?
He who walks blamelessly, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart,
Who does not deceive with his tongue,
Neither does evil to his neighbor;
And does not find fault with those nearest him.
He disdains those who do evil in his presence,
But he holds in honor those who fear the Lord;
He swears an oath to his neighbor and does not set it aside.
He does not lend his money at interest,
And he does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be shaken.

Personal Challenge

Oh, how many times have I heard well-intended people proclaim that they wished they knew what God’s will was in their lines. It really is not all that difficult. The Psalmist sums it up very succinctly in this Psalm. The result of living a godly life as laid out here is to be able to dwell with God. This is God’s will for us, that we will live our lives His way. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 12:6 (13:5-6)

But I hope in Your mercy;
My heart shall greatly rejoice in Your salvation;
I will sing to the Lord, who shows kindness to me;
I will sing to the name of the Lord Most High.

Encouraging Words

Maybe one of the reasons that God proclaimed David to be a man after His own heart was that David had his priorities right. He always put his hope in God’s mercy first and foremost. This is such a prevalent part of the worship of the Orthodox Church. We are constantly singing, ‘Lord, have mercy!” We know that we are not worthy of the grace that God chooses to bestow upon us. We do not deserve His blessings and therefore cannot get puffed up in His kindness toward us. Our hope is in God’s mercy. Because of His mercy, we can rejoice in His salvation and the kindness that “He shows us. Glory be to God!

Psalms 10:7 (11:7)

The righteous Lord loves righteousness;
His face beholds the upright.

Personal Challenge

We live in an age where righteousness and uprightness have been diluted because we no longer embrace truth, especially absolute truth. This does not prevent us from pursuing God and seeking His truths. By doing this we can embrace His truths as absolute regardless of what the rest of the world thinks about them. God is a righteous God and He loves righteousness. We must choose to pursue righteousness. He is upright by His very nature and beholds uprightness in those who choose to live upright lives. Glory be to God!

Psalms 9:38-39 (10:17-18)

The Lord hears the desire of the poor;
Your ear heeds the readiness of their heart,
To judge the orphan and the humble,
That man may no longer increase his great boasting upon the earth.

Encouraging Words

What does it mean to be poor in the eyes of God? Is it just about money? I don’t think so. There are so many who are wealthy by the standards of our culture and yet they are extremely poor in all other aspects of their lives, especially in their relationship with God. Granted, the scriptures remind us frequently to use our wealth, our abundance, to tend to the poor, the widow, and the orphan. God cares for those that are in great physical need. But He also loves and cares for those who are poor in spirit, poor on their relationship to Him, especially if they are expressing a desire to know Him, who have a readiness is their heart for Him, and who are willing to become humble before Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!