This week's time inside Psalm 67 has challenged us to look outside ourselves by setting our sights on the world around us. The author pours his soul out to God in prayer, not for personal blessings, but for a day when all nations will praise God's name. In that gap between the prayer and its culmination, we reside and play a part in its fulfillment. Today, we want to consider how our message to the world is a heart and life transformed by Christ's love.

The seven short verses of Psalm 67 pack quite a punch, jolting us from our tendency to think of faith through an individualistic lens. Rather than a consumer or critic, it invites us to be a contributor to the work God is actively doing. Instead of pondering what the Church can do for us, it challenges us to consider how we can be the Church in the places we call home as well as to our hurting and lost world.

In our divided and jaded world, Psalm 67 brings us hope while giving us responsibility for its restoration. Amid our selfish, me-focused culture, the beautiful liturgy that is Psalm 67 challenges us to take our attention off ourselves and set our focus outward. These words sung for centuries among different faith traditions and various languages across the globe are a melody of mission, a tune for togetherness, and a hymn dedicated to His name glorified among the nations.

The words of Psalm 63, this prayer from David, contains both moments of praise and meditations. We can appreciate its contents and insight by reading it. However, we can experience and unlock its powerful truths when we pray along with it, and that’s what we want to do today.

For the last few days, the words of David captured in Psalm 63 have brought us comfort and insight on quenching our spiritual thirst, the power of worship, and the art of dependency. A common theme threaded through each verse is the power that comes through a mind centered on God. We want to delve deeper into this topic today and recognize that our minds shape our hearts, direct our eyes, and guide our steps.

Today, as we continue our journey through Psalm 63, we witness worship erupt in the wilderness. While on the run as others attempt to take his life, David directs his praise to the One who created his life. Like David, God wired us to worship. It is part of our DNA to give our affections and attention to something greater than ourselves.

Yesterday, we began our journey through Psalm 63 and saw how David's response to his wilderness experience sheds light on how we should react to those times when we find ourselves in a spiritually dry season. First, he sought God and looked to Him to quench His thirst. Today, David recalls an encounter with God, which reframed his perspective on his troubles, leading him to worship.

We often forsake the very thing (FAITH) that can sustain us through our struggles, difficulties, and adversity. What we fill ourselves with amid adversity is critical to how we recover. We need to create space for recovery. By tending to our hearts, we learn how to respond with courage declaring, like David, our need for God. Amid those dry places, David recognized his spiritual thirst in Psalm 63. By strengthening our faith, we activate a sustaining source that we can rely on no matter what comes our way.

A jaded heart is unusable to God. A prideful heart doesn't believe it needs God in the first place. A fearful heart will never come out of hiding. But, a broken and contrite heart - that is one God not only welcomes and accepts but is eager to capture and transform. We display a broken spirit and contrite heart when we come humbly before God, acknowledging our sin and proclaiming God’s goodness. By doing so, we express our desperate and dependent need for God and His mercy.

The words of King David found in Psalm 51 have served as our meditations this week. Written during a time of internal strife, David can no longer bear the weight of his hidden sin and struggles. So instead, he pleads for mercy and forgiveness, to sense God's presence, and that God would cleanse his heart while renewing his spirit. As we continue our journey, we encounter another prayer - this time, it's for restoration. But, it's not restoring his strength, determination, or faithfulness. Instead, David asks God to bring back the joy of salvation.

Our journey this week has us in Psalm 51, focusing on King David’s pleas for mercy and forgiveness. With the weight of his sin and struggles too much to bear, David pours his heart out to God with vulnerability and transparency. Today, as we continue exploring this passage, we come across a prayer for restoration - one for a pure heart and a renewed spirit, a bold and desperate prayer that only God can answer.

None of these shortsighted tricks work on our regret, shame, grief, and misery - freedom only comes through acknowledgement and confession. Honesty brings healing. Transparency fuels transformation. Admission positions us to be available to receive Christ’s mercy and forgiveness.

As we turn the page to David's desperate pleas for mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing found in Psalm 51, it seems fitting that we find ourselves in the middle of summer. There's no escaping the overwhelming heat - if you dare step outside, the humidity hits you, zapping every ounce of energy and taking a toll on one's body. So to avoid it, we retreat behind closed doors. The hidden sin David carried with him had a similar effect; it made him miserable, weighed him down, and consumed him.

This week's time spent in Psalm 46 has reaffirmed our trust in God as our refuge, strength, and ever-present help while realigning our hearts with His ways. Recognizing His greatness, faithfulness, and protection invites us to stop striving and, instead, depend on Him in every circumstance. Rather than rush past this powerful insight, Scripture, specifically the book of Psalms, invites us to engage in a contemplative practice called Selah. 

Our hearts search for reassurance. Our souls yearn for comfort. Our minds work to clear the clutter and cut down on the confusion. With all those factors playing a part, it's no wonder why tidbits, snippets, and little morsels of truth in a single verse of Scripture grab our attention. We gravitate toward the comfort and inspiration they bring while often ignoring the context that surrounds them.

God's transformative peace is available to us whenever we need it. His peace and provision never run dry - they don't cease but constantly refresh and bring an unshakable hope that only He can provide. Our response to those streams is gladness and joy - a peace that passes all understanding and the ability to be content in every circumstance, including unsettling times.

Regardless of whether our hearts are heavy or jumping for joy, His presence and help are beside us. In the bad and the good, His Spirit is there to guide, encourage, and inspire us. The God we worship isn't detached, distracted, or distant.

The context of Psalm 46 runs similar to many other poems inside the book of Psalms. The author finds themselves in some uncertain and troubled predicament with chaos unfolding around them. Yet, rather than begin with words of distress, Psalm 46 opens up with a declaration - God is our refuge, strength, and ever-present help.

How does God advise us to respond to this madness of this world? Quite simply, He tells us to learn a new song. God urges us to be still, wonder, and reflect on His love. Amid the crisis, worship allowed the author of Psalm 42 to have confidence in God’s goodness.

Yesterday, we saw how he preached to himself and allowed God's truth to shape his perspective, not his dire circumstances. Today, we want to spend some time exploring how preaching to ourselves leads us to the fourth habit that battles a downcast soul - acknowledging God's love by recalling His past faithfulness.