The Blessings of Faith

       Although it appears as the concluding summary, the theme of Psalm 84 is “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (v. 12).  In the first eleven verses, one of the sons of Korah elaborates on three supreme blessings of faith.  These are:…

Asaph’s Tenacious Faith

       Psalms 79 and 80 appear to be companion psalms.  In Psalm 79, Asaph focuses upon a recent calamity in Jerusalem; in Psalm 80, he petitions God to restore His people.  Psalm 79 concludes with a reference to God’s people as “sheep of Your…

David’s Steadfast Heart

       David had no contingency plan for his life; he had no “Plan B”.  He determined to trust God when he was a young man and no subsequent circumstance was going to divert him from that course of action.  Even when he was a…

David’s Michtams

        The Hebrew word “michtam” comes from a root that means “to carve or engrave”.  It is used in the superscription of six psalms—16, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60—to identify the genre of these compositions.  Given the fact that the five psalms clustered…

Living by Faith

       A continuous challenge of faith is to view God as He has actually revealed Himself in Scripture.  Since He is a person—not a philosophy or a fantasy—a Biblically-based belief in Him necessitates an accurate faith that expresses itself in practical ways in our…

Reasons for Trusting Jehovah

     The Bible is full of beatitudes.  The book of Revelation alone has seven in it.  The greatest sermon in human history begins with an entire octave of beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10).  The very first word in the book of Psalms is “blessed”.  Psalm 40:4 pronounces…

What Living by Faith Looks Like

     One of Edgar Guest’s more famous poems begins with the line “I’d rather see a sermon.”  Like sheep, humans need a leader to follow; like young students in school, humans need a pattern to imitate.  When Jesus was asked “Who is my neighbor?”…