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How do you listen to the radio? Is the music just background noise, or do the songs transcend the moment? Have you ever allowed the lyrics to reach deep inside and dredge up emotions? We can ask the same of the Psalms. To some they’re nice poetry or lyrics meant to entertain. But have you ever let them sink deep into your soul?

These few lines from David’s song challenge us to ask some difficult questions. Who do I follow? What guides me? Who forged the path I walk on? David wanted to take God’s journey. He longed to follow Yahweh’s ways, and wanted the Lord to be his teacher.

I praise God for all the wonderful men and women He’s put in my path who’ve taught me amazing things. From reading and basic math to understanding the human psyche, I appreciate every teacher and professor. But David reminds me the Master Teacher still offers the best lessons. With all the variations of truth the current culture proclaims, only One brings the real truth. The voices of this world are loud, and sometimes they offer knowledge contrary to God’s Word. Do we listen to these lessons that seem to make perfect sense outside the Kingdom, or do we put our trust in Jesus? Not only does He know the truth, He told us He is the truth.  (John 14:6)

When Yahweh becomes the only God we follow, when we accept his sacrifice and grant Him Savior status, He transforms our vision. We see things from a Heaven perspective. Jesus becomes our hope because we understand that every other path is hopeless, as if we’re walking toward a dead end corridor in a maze.

I smile when I read David’s call to remember. He’s not talking to you and me; the great king is talking to God, as if the Creator who set the stars in place and knows all their names could forget. The closer we get to Perfection, the more we see our flaws. The light gets brighter and our dark places, the spots that don’t reflect the Son, grow more obvious. We become more self-conscience, and only the forgiving nature of Christ can alleviate our self-loathing. As we come to the realization that the love of God has covered every sin, joy takes over. The tighter we embrace the mercy of our heavenly Father, the easier it is to believe our sin has been separated from us. (Psalm 103:12)

As we begin to understand the depths and heights of God’s love (Romans 8:38-39) we realize we don’t want forgiveness like humans forgive. We want our Savior to forgive us according to His great love. His love doesn’t remember our sins. (Hebrews 8:12) His love embraces us in spite of our sins. And no sin is beyond the reach of His love.

Remember, God sees you today through the lens of His love. He just waits for us to be like David, to put our hope and trust in Him and to accept the height and depth of His marvelous mercy, grace and love.

Would you like more devotions that challenge you to
put yourself in the scripture?
Check out Devotions for Church Leaders and Small Groups
available in print, PDF, Kindle and other formats.