David hits rock bottom in his faking insanity before the Philistine king, Abimelech. Yet, God hears and answers David's pleas for help. Psalm 34 is David's outpouring of thanks to God for His dependable deliverance. We're taught that God's deliverance is the boast of the humble, the bounty of the poor and the bedrock of the righteous.

We find it difficult to place our valuables, our children and our families into the hands of others. Why can we confidently place ourselves in God's hands? This psalm explains that God's Word, work and watch provide abundant cause for us to trust Him. This trust leads to joyful praise and confident prayer to Him.

Guilt and shame are both crippling. As John Bunyan illustrated in his Pilgrims Progress, it feels as if you are carrying a heavy burden that you cannot relieve yourself of. David rejoices in Psalm 32 that God is a merciful and forgiving God. He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west in His Son, the Lord Jesus.

We often find ourselves in a rhythm in the Christian life. Trouble comes our way which brings us distress and then we run to God for refuge. This is a rhythm of trust. Psalm 31 explains this is a normal rhythm. It is in this rhythm that we commit our souls to God and courageously wait on Him as our Rock and Fortress.

Have you turned up to worship on Sunday morning internally wondering, "Why exactly am I here?" In Psalm 30, a song David penned for the dedication of the temple, we are reminded why we come to worship God. We gather to praise Him for lifting us up out of the pit of sin, to be brought down from thinking life is all about ourselves and to turn back God's blessings to His praise.

This psalm confronts us with the all-glorious, all-powerful God who is described as a storm that levels everything in its path. How can we stand before this God and not be consumed? It is only through Jesus who opens for us the glory of heaven, faces the storm of God's righteous wrath for our sin at the cross and gives us peace on earth by reconciling us to God.

A pacemaker is a wonderful piece of medical technology that keeps a heart with an irregular rhythm beat at a settled pace. David finds himself in need of a pacemaker in Psalm 28 as he is unsettled by God's silence, the plight of God's people and being caught in the crossfire of God bringing His righteous judgement on the wicked. However, God settles David's heart by reminding David that He is David's strength and shield. We too find a pacemaker for our unsettled hearts in the Lord's anointed, Jesus Christ.

This psalm is a paramedic's psalm because like a paramedic's systematic approach to treating a patient, David gives us a systematic approach to our troubles confidently. We are called to trust in the LORD, seek Him, pray to Him and wait on Him.

When have you last asked God to judge you? David prays this in the very first line of this psalm. We might wonder how anyone could be found innocent under the holy gaze of the true and living God! This psalm reminds us that we must begin with the original author (King David), look to Jesus and then, apply it to ourselves. It's only in Christ that the guilty can pray an innocent prayer.

Psalm 25 is an acrostic poem with each line beginning with a subsequent letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It is structured this way to aid in memorisation. David understood that when we are distressed, we often forget the basics. This psalm provides us with a GPS in our trouble. We're taught to come to God praying, "Guide me; pardon me; secure me."

Psalm 24 asks the question 'Who is the King of Glory?' The answer is that the LORD is King of Glory. He is the King of creation, the King of holiness and the King of heaven. Incredibly, this great King invites us into fellowship with Him through His Son. The eternal Son of God descended from the holy hill of the LORD. He came down and rescued us from our sin through shedding His blood on the cross. Then, He ascended back up the holy hill with His redeemed people in His train.

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most well-known and well-loved passages of Scripture in the Bible. Yet, it raises an important point that we may miss due to familiarity with the psalm: you need a shepherd. David tells us that it is only when the God of the Bible is our shepherd that our souls can be restored, that comfort in death can be found and that we can have certainty about our future. We're reminded that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and because He laid down His life for us, we are always assured of His presence and have the bright hope of calling God's house our home forever.

The beginning of this psalm is one of the most well-known verses in Scripture. Jesus cries it from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Perhaps this cry is so familiar because it is exactly what we feel when we're suffering. Psalm 22 points us to the suffering of Christ and reminds us that there is always suffering before glory; a cross before the crown. However, because the Man of Sorrows rose as the King of Glory, we are assured that God will also deliver the King's people.

This psalm celebrates God's strength given to and God's blessing poured out on His king. The result of a blessed king is a blessed people. We have experienced this in Jesus' kingship. The blessing of His rule and reign means we can find salvation, comfort and hope in Him. We are also warned that there is a day coming where all of King Jesus' enemies will be defeated. If we haven't closed with Jesus, we will be swallowed up in God's wrath. The only way we can be saved is if Jesus takes the wrath we deserve at the cross. If He is our Saviour and Lord, we too can sing and rejoice in God's power.

This psalm is written for a special occasion: a king set to go to war. The people pray that God would protect the king and the king prays that God would give him success in battle. We're reminded in this psalm that our deliverance is bound up in God's blessing of our King, the Lord Jesus. Thus, this psalm reminds us to rest in Jesus' victory and bring others before the throne of grace in their days of trouble.

The creation proclaims constantly, universally and wordlessly the glory of God, its Creator. We can see in the beautiful canvas of creation a glimpse of what its Artist - the true and living God - is like. What is even more extraordinary is that God has entered into His own painting to speak to us. It's through God's Word that we know even more of who God is; especially that He is a saving God. Jesus, the Word who became flesh, is God's ultimate, special, personal revelation of Himself. God's revelation in creation, His Word and in Jesus calls us to respond by valuing His revelation and listening to it. We also pray that God would reveal our hearts and that we would rest in Him as our Rock and Redeemer.

David reflects on God's hand in throughout the course of his life in this psalm. God has powerfully delivered him, kept his walk blameless and gave him strength over his enemies. This psalm is an account of our history, our life because Jesus is our King. He leads us in singing this psalm as our Deliverer, righteousness and strength.

With a culture that is becoming more and more anti-Christian, it's not hard to feel oppressed and vulnerable just opening the newspaper. Whether it's the culture or a personal circumstance, how do we pray to God when we're being mistreated? David teaches us to pray, 'Hear me! Hide me! Help me!' We take confidence in the fact that God hears us because He is just, He answers prayer and He is the saving God. We look to Him for refuge and protection, confident that He will never let us go. We also pray that God would help us to remember the end of the wicked and our own end: being satisfied when we see God face to face in glory.

What do we do when the world is turned upside down? Psalm 46 gives us three answers in response. First, don’t be afraid because God is our refuge, strength and help. Second, look to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem - that is where your citizenship is registered in Jesus' blood. Third, this looking points us to beholding and being still before our God.

Psalm 16 exposes our need to be preserved. In David's prayer to be preserved, he recounts all the way that God has kept him. This leads him to thanksgiving and also the assurance that God will preserve him even in death. We too can know this security and confidence because of Jesus' resurrection.