Daily Bible Encouragement
215 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago -Daily Bible reflections, a verse (or a few verses) at a time. Started during the Covid-19 lockdown, these short reflections are intended especially for women under pressure. They aim to help us fix our eyes on the character and promises of our gracious God, whatever our immediate circumstances.
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Episodes
Psalm 62:1-2
April 19, 2024 04:00 - 1 minute - 1.83 MBPsalm 62:1-2 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken. 2020 has been a year of great turmoil – our usual routines completely destroyed by Covid-19 lockdown, economies around the world decimated, huge protests challenging long-established injustice. Everything seems to be changing around us. Many of us feel restless and shaken. Unsettled by worries, disconcerted by the loss of normality, ...
Psalm 51:19
April 18, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.69 MBPsalm 51:19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar. Some people just love trying to find parts of the Bible that appear to contradict each other, in an attempt to undermine our confidence that it is God’s perfect, infallible word. Those people would have a field day with Psalm 51! In verse 16 David clearly states that ‘God does not delight in sacrifice’. Here in v.19 he is equally emphatic that Go...
Psalm 51:18
April 17, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.55 MBPsalm 51:18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. For most of this psalm we've been listening to David relating to God individually. He's talking very personally about his sin, his need for forgiveness, his own individual faith. But in the final two verses we see that he doesn't consider his faith to be purely a private, individual matter. He is part of the whole people of God ('the righteous' v19). So when he prays for blessing he doesn't say 'May it pleas...
Psalm 51:16-17
April 16, 2024 04:00 - 3 minutes - 3.57 MBPsalm 51:16-17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Even though it’s a familiar psalm, I still find these verses surprising. Why would David say 'you do not delight in sacrifice'? He can't mean that the whole temple sacrificial system displeases God - it was God's idea in the first place. Making the Old Testament sacrifices and burn...
Psalm 51:14-15
April 15, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.34 MBPsalm 51:14-15 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Saviour, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. Yesterday we saw that one aspect of David's response to being forgiven is a renewed commitment to telling others about his saviour. In today's verses we see a second response ... Singing God's praises. v.14 isn't the kind of bargaining with God that unbelievers do in a time of crisis ... 'Get m...
Psalm 51:13
April 13, 2024 04:00 - 1 minute - 1.92 MBPsalm 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Now that David has confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness, this next section (verses 13-17) shows us how a forgiven sinner responds to their forgiveness. Firstly, here in verse 13, he commits himself to sharing what he knows of God with others, so that they too can turn away from sin and be forgiven. So often when we think about evangelism, it's as something we OUGHT to do, to please God (or...
Psalm 51:12
April 12, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.76 MBPsalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Back in verse 10, David asked God for a 'steadfast spirit". And perhaps you thought that that sounded a bit dreary. Steadfast can be the sort of word we associate with over-long walks in the rain: plodding along, one foot in front of the other, knowing you'll get there eventually but certainly not enjoying the experience! Some people see the Christian life like that - heaven sounds great but t...
Psalm 51:11
April 11, 2024 04:00 - 1 minute - 1.76 MBPsalm 51:11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Throughout the Psalms we keep coming across this idea of God turning his face away from sinners, or sending sinners away from him. And I keep saying that if we are trusting Jesus we need never be afraid that it will happen to us. But how can we be sure? After all, it's too important just to take my word for it! In fact, we have Jesus' own words to reassure us. In John 6 he says "All those the Father gives m...
Psalm 51:10
April 10, 2024 04:00 - 1 minute - 2.13 MBPsalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. David knows that deep down, in his heart, he is a sinner. His adultery and murder were not an accidental, out-of-character slip-up. They were the outworking of his lifelong sinful nature. And so he needs more than forgiveness. More than just having his sin wiped from God's record of his life. He needs a new nature. A new heart. This isn’t the prayer of a man becoming a believer for the first time - we kno...
Psalm 51:9
April 09, 2024 04:00 - 1 minute - 2.17 MBPsalm 51:9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. When we looked at Psalm 80 together we saw how 'God's face' symbolised his relationship with his people. The psalmist prayed that God's face would shine on them with favour. Many other psalms contain prayers for God not to 'hide his face' - in other words, not to withdraw from his people or reject them. This verse is unusual - it's the only the psalms where God 'hiding his face' is a good thing. But it makes sense - Davi...
Psalm 51:7-8
April 08, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 3.04 MBPsalm 51:7-8 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. David has been totally honest about the seriousness of his sin. He has done evil. He is unclean before God. What's the solution? How can his sin be dealt with? Notice that he doesn't even consider trying to get rid of it himself. He knows that if he is to be made clean, it must be the God who he has sinned against who doe...
Psalm 51:5-6
April 06, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 3.08 MBPsalm 51:5-6 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. There's a strong similarity between the story of David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and Adam & Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. Both Adam and David have a God-given position as ruler and representative of the people (although in Adam's case the people who he represents haven't been born yet). Both saw someth...
Psalm 51:4b
April 05, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.35 MBPsalm 51:4b so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. We all want justice. We have an inner instinct that longs for right judgements and hates unfair decisions. We see it clearly in children, even from a very early age, railing against any perceived injustice: "it's not fair!" Yet we don't have a corresponding ability to judge rightly. We're very quick to judge others, even without knowing the facts. And even quicker to try to justify ourselves: 'It wasn't me', 'I did...
Psalm 51:4a
April 04, 2024 09:04 - 3 minutes - 3.94 MBPsalm 51:4a Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; As we saw yesterday, David recognises his own sin and calls it what it is. Today we see that he also understands WHY it is so serious. He knows that when he sins, he sins against God himself. If you're familiar with the Psalm, perhaps v.4 is no longer surprising. But as we slow down to think about it we see that this is actually an extraordinary thing to say! David has committed adultery and murder. We...
Psalm 51:3
April 03, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.86 MBPsalm 51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. I realise that many things about coronavirus have been terrible for many people, and I don’t want to make light of that in any way. Nevertheless, the Covid lockdown has also been useful, for me at least, in one way. It has shown me my sin more clearly! Perhaps the same is true for you. Being in close contact with the same people for an extended time with no escape has probably reminded us that they are sinners but it...
Psalm 51:1-2
April 02, 2024 04:00 - 2 minutes - 2.91 MBPsalm 51:1-2 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. So far in these psalms we've thought a lot about how God's unfailing love is a help to us in times of trouble. We've seen psalmists facing direct assault from armed enemies, and the treachery of deceitful accusations. But Psalm 51 reminds us that our greatest danger comes to us not from the world outsid...
Psalm 80:19
April 01, 2024 16:00 - 1 minute - 2.24 MBPsalm 80:19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Here we see again the repeated chorus of this psalm - a prayer that God would restore his people to their special relationship with him, look favourably on them and save them. These words are familiar, but if we look back through the whole Psalm, we see that verses 3, 7 and 19, while very similar are not identical. Verse 3 is addressed simply to God, verse 7 to God Almighty and verse 19 to the LORD...
Psalm 80:18
March 30, 2024 17:00 - 2 minutes - 3.18 MBPsalm 80:18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. How competent do you feel today? How able are you to do the things that you want or need to do? I imagine that some of us feel totally UNable today. We may be ill or tired or struggling with difficult circumstances, either temporary or permanent, that make us really aware of our own weaknesses and inabilities. Perhaps we find it hard to see others apparently 'succeeding' - those who seem able to just...
Psalm 80:17
March 29, 2024 17:00 - 1 minute - 2.24 MBPsalm 80:17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Yesterday's verse warned us that at God's rebuke his people perish. Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. In the final 3 verses of the psalm we discover that there is still the possibility of restoration. Instead of judgement, they could receive the blessing the palmist is praying for. But how can that happen? Today's verse tells us. And, as we've already seen, it isn't bec...
Psalm 80:16
March 28, 2024 17:00 - 2 minutes - 2.95 MBPsalm 80:16 our vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. Have you ever experienced the frustration of giving an ineffective rebuke? Perhaps a family member, or friend, or colleague, says or does something that is clearly wrong or unacceptable, and you need them to know that it shouldn't ever happen again. Not simply because it annoyed you, but because what they did was dangerous in some way ... the colleague who is careless about computer security and ri...
Psalm 80:14-15
March 27, 2024 17:00 - 2 minutes - 3.26 MBPsalm 80:14-15 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. I doubt know about you, but I'm finding this psalm quite surprising in places. Just when I think I know what the palmist is going to say next, he says the opposite! First we had the shock of discovering that the people's suffering comes not from their enemies, but from their God. They are the ones who turned away and ...
Psalm 80:8-13
March 26, 2024 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.5 MBPsalm 80:8-13 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River. Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it. The reason that the psalmist...
Psalm 80:7
March 25, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.84 MBPsalm 80:7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Here we read again the repeated 'chorus' of this psalm, that we looked at back in v3. We reflected on the great blessing it is to have God turn his face towards us and smile on us. But alongside the encouragement, this verse also contains an uncomfortable truth. Why do we need God to smile on us? Not simply to make us feel better. But 'that we may be saved'. This God, whose blessing the palmist prays fo...
Psalm 80:6
March 23, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.4 MBPsalm 80:6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbours, and our enemies mock us. We saw yesterday that God's people's suffering at the time of this psalm was a direct consequence of them turning away from him. It's bad enough that their rebellion caused them to lose their land and its blessings. But here we see that they also lose their reputation. Their neighbours laugh at them. Their enemies mock 'Thought you were God's special people, did you? Hasn't done you much good, has...
Psalm 80:4-5
March 22, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.45 MBPsalm 80:4-5 How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smoulder against the prayers of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. Yesterday, we delighted in the idea of God turning his face towards us and shining his favour on us. But as today's verse make clear, that wasn't the palmist's experience. It's what he prays for, but it's not what he currently has. He, and all God's people, are actually experiencing God's right ange...
Psalm 80:3
March 21, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.63 MBPsalm 80:3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. This verse is like the chorus of the psalm, repeated between each section. So, we'll come back to it a few times, and consider something different each time we read it. Today, we'll focus on the idea of God's face shining on us. Do you remember 'The blessing' - an online music video which was widely circulated during Covid lockdown in the spring of 2020? It's a song, recorded by different Christians, beautif...
Psalm 80:2
March 20, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.96 MBPsalm 80:2 shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. The way that we describe a place or person often focusses attention on one particular aspect of their character or history. When we read about 'the Britain of Shakespeare and Dickens' we know that the writer wants us to be thinking about our literary heritage. But if we read 'the Britain of Stephenson and Brunel' then the focus isn't on literature, but on engineering. In this psalm, as we'v...
Psalm 80:1
March 19, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 3.2 MBPsalm 80:1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth Those of you who are as old as I am might remember 'The West Wing' - a TV series from 20 years ago about a fictional President of the United States and his staff team. One of the things I loved about it was the way we saw the President 'behind the scenes' in his domestic life. One minute he is in the Oval Office, on the phone to another world leader, exerting al...
Psalm 80:1a
March 18, 2024 01:00 - 1 minute - 2.19 MBPsalm 80:1a Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. Today we're starting Psalm 80. Although we're not told exactly when and why it was written, if you read through the whole psalm it seems that God's people are suffering under God's discipline, so it could well have been written hundreds of years after David's time, when the nation of Israel had been invaded and taken into captivity by her enemies. In the midst of this difficult situation, the psalmist cries out t...
Psalm 33:22
March 16, 2024 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.72 MBPsalm 33:22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. This verse echoes verse 18 in making a connection between our hope and God's unfailing love. We can be confident that God will rescue and deliver us because he loves us with an unfailing love - he doesn't get bored of us, or give up on us, or encounter obstacles which prevent him doing the good he wants to do for us. But there's also a difference between these verses. V.18 is a statement of fact. 'The ey...
Psalm 33:21
March 15, 2024 05:00 - 1 minute - 2.2 MBPsalm 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. How does the idea of ‘trusting God’ make you feel? Totally secure, in the arms of an all-powerful, all-loving heavenly Father? Or dangerously at sea, all out of your own ideas and resources, and forced to reluctantly fall back on Plan B, at least until you can get Plan A up and running again? I have to admit, sometimes ‘trusting God’ feels more like a negative, rather than a positive. When our situation is hard we may...
Psalm 33:20
March 14, 2024 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.79 MBPsalm 33:20 We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. What are you waiting for today? The sun to come back out? A delivery to arrive? A child to grow out of a particularly frustrating stage of development? We do a lot of waiting. Yet we're not always very good at it. So often, waiting feels frustrating to us. We think it is time wasted. Wouldn't it be better if what we wanted came sooner? Waiting is a common theme in the Bible - God's people are a waiting, hoping people...
Psalm 33:18-19
March 13, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 3.2 MBPsalm 33:18-19 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. Yesterday we reflected on the way that we often find ourselves putting our confidence and hope in things that are not God. Yet none of those things can save us. 'But' says v.18, there is one who can deliver us. There is one who does live up to the hope we put in him. The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him. It's ...
Psalm 33:16-17
March 12, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.97 MBPsalm 33:16-17 No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. Where is your confidence? What do you rely on to make everything alright? None of us has an army. I doubt that many of us even have a horse! And if we did, we probably wouldn't be relying on it for our safety. But we all have something that acts as our comfort blanket. Something that we trust in. As long...
Psalm 33:13-15
March 11, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.88 MBPsalm 33:13-15 From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling-place he watches all who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. During the Covid-19 lockdown it occurred to me just how easy it is to assume that something is pointless if no-one else ever sees it. Why bother doing the washing up/cleaning the flat/getting dressed in the morning, if no-one else is even going to notice? When we were largely confined to the house, ...
Psalm 33:12
March 09, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.91 MBPsalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. So far in this Psalm we have been reminded of many wonderful things about God. He is faithful, righteous, just and endlessly loving. His word is true and right and powerful enough to bring all creation into being. His plans stand firm, his purposes alone will last for ever. No wonder the psalmist thinks we should praise this Lord! Who wouldn't want to know and worship and obey a God like that?...
Psalm 33:10-11
March 08, 2024 05:00 - 3 minutes - 3.7 MBPsalm 33:10-11 The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. Whose plans dominate your life? Yours? Or God's? That’s an awkward question, isn't it? We know what the 'right' answer is! We should be people who live to serve God's purposes. In our best moments, we WANT to be like that. To be able to pray 'Your will be done' and really mean it. But often, for me...
Psalm 33:9
March 07, 2024 05:00 - 1 minute - 1.94 MBPsalm 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. Already in this Psalm we have reflected on the fact that when God speaks, things happen. God says 'Stars!' and whole galaxies of them appear. His word is powerful not only in creation, but in the new creation that comes through the word of the gospel. God says 'Live!' and spiritually dead sinners are brought to life, as righteous children in God's family. We've already acknowledged that God's words have a power t...
Psalm 33:8
March 06, 2024 05:00 - 1 minute - 2.22 MBPsalm 33:8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. Verses 6 & 7 have reminded us of God's mighty power in creation. As we reflect on the immensity of the galaxy, and the power of the oceans, it is right that we feel small. The sheer scale of creation reminds each of us that we're not actually the centre of the universe. But we can't stop there. The purpose of creation is to declare God's glory. It exists not simply to make us feel small but to remind us...
Psalm 33:7
March 05, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.48 MBPsalm 33:7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. One of the things that we really missed, as a family, during lockdown, was the sea. Usually in the Spring we'd have at least a couple of day trips to the coast, to sit on the beach and look out at the sea. Huge and wide, stretching away as far as the horizon. Perhaps because we don't have enormous mountains in this part of the world, the sea gives us a rare glimpse of perspective. It is vast and we ar...
Psalm 33:6
March 04, 2024 05:00 - 1 minute - 2.11 MBPsalm 33:6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. One day last summer, we had a picnic outside, which was briefly interrupted by a stranger's over-enthusiastic Labrador. It took the owner several attempts to get the dog to return to them. Our sausage rolls were apparently more compelling than the owner's voice. Any of us who've tried to control a hungry dog, or a small child, will know that our words are - at best - only sometimes effec...
Psalm 33:5
March 02, 2024 05:00 - 1 minute - 2.02 MBPsalm 33:5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. What is your world full of right now? Uncertainty? Exhaustion? Frustration? Joy? Sunshine? Rest? What is the whole world full of right now? Covid-19? Fear? Acts of kindness, even heroism? All those things may be true, and you could think of many others. But let's not forget, the whole world is ALSO full of God's unfailing love. The Hebrew word is 'hesed' and it's a really common Bible word, var...
Psalm 33:4
March 01, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 3.08 MBPsalm 33:4 For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. I don’t know what’s in the news today, as you listen to this. But I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime this week there’s a headline about a celebrity caught doing something that doesn’t match their carefully-constructed image, or a politician acting in a way that doesn’t live up to their promises. We’re used to figures in public life not living up to their words. We may be frustrated and disappointed when ...
Psalm 33:2-3
February 29, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.78 MBPsalm 33:2-3 Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy. Hands up anyone who's got their ten-stringed lyre out recently! I'm guessing that's none of us. I'd be surprised if we could even muster a harp. Shall we just skim over these verses, then, and move onto the next bit?! Of course not! After all, as we saw yesterday, it is 'fitting' to praise God. He is praise-worthy, so of course we, his people...
Psalm 33:1
February 28, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 3.07 MBPsalm 33:1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Sing! Praise God! Rejoice! We've read verses like this a lot over the past few weeks. Is it starting to feel a little repetitive?! Perhaps it's not very surprising, since we are in the songbook of the Bible. We should expect songs of praise to God to be a big theme. And it's certainly good for us to keep being reminded to praise him. The world is always telling us to do all kinds of things -...
Psalm 5:12
February 27, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.61 MBPsalm 5:12 Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favour as with a shield. How useful is "God's favour"? What difference does it make, knowing that the God who rules over all things welcomes you as a child instead of turning his back on you as a sinner? Why does it actually matter? For many people, Christianity is irrelevant because they don't think they need God's favour. It’s a bit like a rainbow - very nice if you happen to like that sort of thing, a beautif...
Psalm 5:11
February 26, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.34 MBPsalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Here we get to the 5th and final type of prayer in this Psalm ... praise/rejoicing. Joy is in short supply in our house this morning. Between us all we are variously ill, tired, grumpy, missing people who we can't see, frustrated by the ones we can see, bored, busy yet achieving nothing significant, and disappointed - with o...
Psalm 5:10
February 24, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.62 MBPsalm 5:10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish no them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. So far in the psalm we've seen prayers of lament, request and worship. All things that are probably quite common in our prayer life, too. But what on earth is this verse? David is praying for the judgement and banishment of his enemies - we probably don't even know what to call that! (I had to look it up. The technical term is 'imprecation' ...
Psalm 5:9
February 23, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.48 MBPsalm 5:9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. Here David's attention returns to his enemies, who are clearly both wicked and dangerous. But what I find surprising is the weapons they are armed with. We might expect that enemies of a king would be notable for their violence and their weapons. And perhaps these men are the 'bloodthirsty' of verse 6, keen to attack him physically. But ...
Psalm 5:8
February 22, 2024 05:00 - 2 minutes - 2.62 MBPsalm 5:8 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies – make your way straight before me. We saw yesterday that because of God's great love, David (and we) can safely come into God's presence to worship him. But that's not the end of the Psalm. We might think that being in God's presence was the end goal, the final climax of the story. And one day, it will be. When we are physically in his presence and see him face to face. But until then David isn't only on his knees in w...