Psalms

1. Rewrite a Psalm:

            Psalm 91:

            As I live in the arms of my Papa

I will never fail to find rest in His that place

For I know that the Lord

Is the only one who can bring peace to my weary soul and always comfort.

He is my Daddy. He keeps His promises.

He holds my hand as I walk through the dark times

And protects me from every attack that comes against me.

He envelops me in His loving embrace

And holds me until the storms have passed.

He has promised to always be there for me, to walk through the depths with me.

Because of His constant presence I do not fear anything. Because my God is with me I have victory.

I am not afraid of the tormenting spirits as I lay down to sleep,

The lies and the doubts that flood my mind throughout the day,

Or the anxiety and fears that creep in my moments of weakness.

Though everything around me seems overwhelming and those around me don't understand,

Though the torment attacks day to day,

They will never touch me.

I look around and see how far away they actually are because His light sends them away.

            As I chose to stay close to His side,

            And at every opportunity defeat the thoughts,

I have victory.

Nothing can ever come against me.

For He is always with me,

Offering His hand of strength.

He asks me to follow Him, to trust Him. To let Him walk with me.

And when I do, not even the slightest image or word can tear me down.

I have the authority to overcome all that comes against me,

I have the power to walk through each day with ease and in peace.

Simply because He loves me. He loves me!
And when I acknowledge His presence,

Understand His love for me

And move forward with courage and faith

He is faithful no matter what little strength I can muster up.

He fights for me and always will!
OH WHAT LOVE!

2. Write your own Psalm

Oh Papa, my faithful Papa!

How gracious and merciful you are!
You've never left me, you've been by my side the whole time.

In the pain and agonies when I couldn't see you, couldn't understand Your character and became overwhelmed by my circumstances you cleared the fog.

I confessed my sings, crying out for mercy.

But the heaviness lingered and the pain continued.

And You showed Yourself faithful.

You rained down truth and took the heaviness away from my heart.

Though my faithlessness and the lies of the enemy overwhelmed me, You were stronger.

You lifted me from the murkiness.

You said to me, “This pain you feel? This burden you're carrying? You weren't meant to carry this.

I freed you from your sin, I've taken all the heaviness. My heart breaks as you are overwhelmed with confusion.

Give me your cares, let me take them off your shoulders. Do you remember my cross? Do you remember what I did for you? That is far greater than any sin you could ever commit or any distance you could be taken from me!

I forgive you! Will you forgive yourself?”

You extended a hand of mercy to me.

You looked at me with tear-filled eyes and said, “Do you not know who I am?

I am your Daddy and I love you SO much! Can you embrace that? Can you rest in that? I never asked any of those things of you!

Come with me as we go to the depths. Let Me restore the years that the locusts have eaten. Let Me walk back through the pain and agony with you. Let Me bring restoration and healing to those places of brokenness.

I'm more faithful to you than you realize.”

Oh Lord. Your peace brings me to tears! All the times that I wrestled and was overcome- If only I'd looked to you! How much more beautiful those situations would have been.

Thank you for not letting go of me. For fighting for me when I couldn't fight for myself.

Thank you for bringing restoration to my heart and mind. For casting all my fears away in the light of Your glorious presence. For saturating my life with Your unconditional love.

Thank You for refining my knowledge of Your character. For replacing lies with truth.

For giving me victory.
For loving so perfectly.

What an amazing Father You are!
Let me never forget these moments of weakness where You swooped down and rescued me.

You stand over me as the heaviness tries to press down, but you take the weight. They can do nothing to me!

Continue to show me Your faithfulness! Let me never forget WHO YOU ARE!

3.) Characteristics of David in Psalms and Samuel

Dependent- Through out Psalms we see David's heart in a more intimate light. He is continually turning to the Lord and asking for direction, guidance, wisdom, insight, help, and peace. He is completely reliant on the Lord for everything He needs, no matter how big or how small. Psalm 57 he says, “I look to you for protection”, I cry out to God most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose for me”, “My heart is confident in You oh God.” And also in Psalms 142, Psalm 64, and Psalm 22.

Confident- So many tragedies and hard ships came over David. He seemed to always be being attacked by someone, accused of something or dealing with a close to home pain, but in the midst of all of it he remained confident in God. Confident in the promises of the Lord and His protection of him. Psalm 57, specifically verse 7 where he says, “My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident.”

Humble- David was not a perfect man, he made mistakes but we always see that he finds himself before the Lord in repentance and humility. In 2 Samuel 24:17, He cries out to God saying, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep- what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” He knows he's sinned and insists that the punishment be inflicted on him and his family, not the people. And we also see his humility displayed in Psalm 19:12-14.

Awe-struck/worship filled- David is continually declaring the goodness of the Lord, proclaiming His greatness and faithfulness. He at times seems to be in complete awe of who God is, as seen in Psalm 8. “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers-the moon and the stars you set in place- what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority- the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents. O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!”

faithful- The biggest issue throughout all of the Old Testament was the people falling to the worship of foreign gods. This is what ultimately brought complete destruction on the people and why the Lord banished them from their land. But see that David only worships God and refuses to worship any other gods, just as God has commanded him. “Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for I pray to no one but you.” Psalm 5:2.