Psalms 13:6
“I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”
As this psalm begins to unfold, we find David facing some pretty difficult times. He describes himself as feeling forgotten and being overcome by sorrow. Without giving details, he describes his enemy as threatening to prevail against him. Yet, in all this, he wrote of singing to the Lord. It is the song of triumph that will often lead to release from despondency. Instead of waiting for circumstances to change, David determined to worship in the midst of trial. As he took his eyes off his suffering and fixed them on the grace of God, he soon found himself rejoicing rather than complaining.
Whatever we are facing, we have to choose whether we will focus on the difficulty or on the Lord. When we keep our eyes on the problem, it seems to only grow and it won’t be long before we feel as though it will surely do us in. When we choose to focus on the goodness of God and His faithfulness, we will find ourselves overcome with hope, faith, and even a sense of expectancy. We learn to trust that He will not only carry us through our trying time, but will accomplish his purposes in the midst of it all.
Whatever you are facing, take some time to look up and worship God. If you cannot think of anything worthy of worship, how about looking at the cross, where the Son of God paid the ultimate price to save us from the punishment of sin.
Pastor Jim
Have you ever been in a situation where you were forced to cry for help? A good friend of mine told me a story of a time when he was cutting tree branches to make some extra cash. He leaned his extension ladder against the tree, climbed to the top, reached up and cut a large branch. As soon as the branch was cut, the tree shifted and the ladder fell. Reacting quickly, he was able to grab another limb to keep himself from falling. However, he found himself hanging twenty five feet above the earth’s surface. Knowing he would not be able to remain there for long, he began to cry out for help. Sadly, no one could hear him and after his arm strength gave out, he was forced to let go and fall to the ground. Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt. 
A few years back I was teaching in a Bible school in Ghana on the subject of trust. I invited one of the students to come forward and asked him to put his arms at his side, close his eyes, and face the class. He had no difficulty doing what I asked until I added, “now remain stiff as a board and fall backwards.” He immediately opened his eyes, turned around, and looked at me as if to say, “No way!” I assured him that I would catch him, and asked him to face the class again. I counted to three and told him to fall back. To his credit, he tried, but once he began to lean, he stepped back to catch himself. The remaining students erupted in laughter as their friend was afraid to fall back.
Webster defines glory as “Great beauty and splendor, even magnificence.” David is declaring things about the magnificence of God. It seems this Psalm was penned as a result of looking at the beauty of creation, in light of the Creator. He realizes that as glorious as creation is, it pales by comparison to the Creator.
On a regular basis, how would you describe your mornings? Do you wake up grumpy, dreading another day? Or late, rushing to get your responsibilities done? Or perhaps you arise and rush to get the morning paper, check the news, or peruse Facebook, or the web.
As A child, I spent a lot of time on the ocean. My dad loved sailing and we would spend time every summer living on the boat. I can remember times when the seas were so rough that we had to put anything breakable on the floor of the cabin, so it would not be knocked down and broken. In seas like that, it became very difficult to walk. I can remember grabbing hold of anything solid to keep me from falling overboard. When we reached the shore, even the solid ground seemed to move under my feet. Emotions are like that. They often seem like a turbulent sea; when we let them control us, we find that life is a pretty unstable place.
When establishing the government of the United States, the founding fathers saw that man was created with certain inalienable rights. They believed it is the right of every person to be able to pursue personal happiness. They were not alone in this thinking. Many philosophers spoke of happiness as the chief goal of life.
Sin is a plague that has infected every man. As Paul explained to the Romans, it was by one man (Adam) that sin entered the world, but that sin spread to all men because all have sinned (Romans 5:12). David, looking out at the world, and looking in at his own heart, declared, there were none righteous, not even one (Psalm 53:3). Most of us are familiar with the story of the woman who was caught in an adulterous relationship and brought before Jesus. After hearing the charges brought against her by her accusers, Jesus responded by inviting those in the crowd who were without sin, to throw the first stone. One by one her accusers dropped the rocks and departed, for they were all sinners (John 8:3-4). The truth that we have all sinned, makes Solomon’s question all the more striking. Is it possible for anyone to proclaim that their heart is clean, and they are pure of all sin? Scripture boldly declares that it is.
Jim Gallagher 