In the Lord I Take Refuge: 31 Days in the PsalmsSample

The Psalter ends on a triumphant note of praise: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” (v. 6). The picture given by this psalm is one of complete celebration of who the Lord is and what he does. Instruments are played, and the psalmist even calls for dancing (v. 4). As the Psalter comes to an end, we are being led as the readers of Scripture to ponder the character of God and the extent of his great grace toward his people, as reflected throughout the entire Psalter.

Given the God who is portrayed throughout the Psalms—a God who is merciful and gracious, a God who will not ignore the needy or helpless, a God who hates wickedness and will execute perfect justice one day, a God who heals the brokenhearted, a God who is a refuge and shelter for his troubled people, a God who understands his people’s internal highs and lows of living in this fallen world—what can we do but offer our lives and hearts unreservedly to him? He is our Shepherd, our Friend, our Deliverer.

And in his Son Jesus Christ, he has proven himself as tangibly and certainly as possible to “be our Shepherd, Friend, and Deliverer. The God of the Psalms—the God who meets the desperate and hears the distraught—took on flesh and blood. He came for us. He came for you. This is who he is.

Praise the Lord.

This devotion was excerpted from In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions through the Psalms, written by Dane C. Ortlund. (https://www.crossway.org/books/in-the-lord-i-take-refuge-hcj/ )