The LORD God is our refuge. He alone is our ever-present help in our time of need. And when is that time? When is the time that we most need God? Is it when we're single? When we get married? When we have children? When we lose our jobs? When people speak well of us? When people speak ill of us? When?

Our "time of need" is all the time. Every living thing's time of needing the Almighty begins from the time life begins. Unfortunately, not all of us know that, or, are mindful of it as often as we ought to be.

We need the LORD our God when we rejoice and when we mourn; for without Christ our God, we don't know how to do anything without sinning. Without Christ, our rejoicing is in ourselves and we do a "Yay me!" dance in our souls and with our mouths. We joy in proclaiming our own goodness and jubilantly share our successes as if we could ever do, or give anything good to anyone without the only One who IS good—GOD Almighty.

Therefore, the only One in whom we know we can wholeheartedly entrust our hearts to, is the LORD, and not another sinner like us. Too often we think our parents, our best friend, our spouse, or even a counselor is the one person that we should and do bear our entire souls to. This is not only a foolish practice, but also sinful one. It is a practice of idolatry. For in this very act of giving all of oneself to anyone except the LORD God, is to break the Greatest Commandment: To love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength.

No human being, saved or unsaved is qualified to bear everything you have to offer. They will either misjudge and hate you for what you've shared, or they will misjudge and hate those whom you've wrongly spoken ill of. Don't tempt others to sin. Bear your entire souls to the LORD alone, and prayerfully consider what you ought to share with others in accordance with Ephesians 4:29.

Our gracious and compassionate Father's timing is always perfect. It just so happens that today's Psalm (61:1-3) is exactly what my heart needed to hear and my soul needed to be reminded of.

No matter the battles, heartaches, and losses that come my way, I know because the LORD my God is my refuge; the Rock that is higher than I, all is always well with my soul.

Though I can never do anything to be worthy of God's holy and perfect love, I am always loved by the Father because of worthiness of Jesus Christ the Son. Therefore, whenever my heart is faint due to external circumstances, my soul delights in magnifying the LORD for giving me all the good I don't deserve (grace) and withholding the evil that I do deserve (mercy). When I remember this truth and speak it to my soul, it is difficult for me to plunge into the depths of self-pity. Rather, my heart rises to echo the last verse of today's Psalm (v.8), "So will I ever sing praises to your name [O God], as I perform my vows day after day."

There is no heartache, no suffering, no loss in this life that is greater than God's gracious gift of eternal life—found only in Jesus Christ the Lord.

"How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss -
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory." ~Stuart Townend

Evil will always do what evil does—deceive, destroy, devour. But thanks be to God that He is good, and therefore, always does what is good—deliver us from darkness, and into the marvelous light of Jesus Christ where truth, justice, and mercy reign.

Though a tumult of wickedness may surround us. Though we have distress within and war without; those of us who repent of our sins and trust wholly in the name of Jesus Christ, the only and holy Son of God, alone, are free to find refuge and peace in Him. For in this world, Christ promised that we will have trouble, yet, we are of good courage because we do not fear all that is frightening, but rather, we fear the Almighty alone, and therefore, we are safe and have the peace of God that transcends all understanding (Jn 16:33, 1 Pet 3:6, Php 4:4-7).

We are wild olive shoots, whom God has had mercy on, so that we may be nourished and strengthened from the Root of Jesse who was cut open, that we might be grafted in Him, and receive grace upon grace (Rom 11:17-18, 15:12-13; Jn 1:14-16). Therefore, let us trust in the steadfast love of LORD our God forever and ever, no matter the trials, no matter the heartaches; for He has already given us all that is good, and He will continue to give us reason to rejoice in Him forever and ever.

Today's Psalm is a beautiful expression and demonstration of what true repentance looks like—an honest look at self, in the sight of the only living, holy, and awesome God.

In Psalm 51, King David pours out his heart to God Almighty; taking full responsibility for his sins against the Lord, Bathsheba, and her now deceased husband, Uriah. He makes no excuses. And he asks for nothing but God's forgiveness, knowing he is powerless to redeem himself.

King David was a mighty warrior. He was a man of valor. He was also very arrogant, an adulterer, plotter of evil, a murderer, a lackadaisical father. Essentially, he was a wretched sinner like the rest of us. But then why did God give him one of the greatest compliments by calling him a man after God's own heart? The heart of the Almighty does not murder, is not arrogant, lackadaisical in regards to His children, etc.? Why would God refer to King David as someone who chases hard after the LORD? My guess is because King David had a broken and contrite heart. Every time David was confronted with his sin, rather than make excuses or try to help others understand why he sinned, how he really didn't mean to do that, but what he really meant to say or do was...and so on; David humbly received rebuke. And David repented.

Whether in hardships or pleasantries, David delighted in praising the name of the LORD. May David's prayer in this Psalm, also be ours: That God would open our mouths to praise Him and that He would help us to walk in, and bear the fruit of repentance. For it is only a heart that is broken and contrite before the Lord, that He will never despise, but rather, He will always receive (Rom 10:13).

Peace is not the absence of conflict with people. Peace is the absence of conflict with God.

Leviticus 7:11-15 says, "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the LORD. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil. With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving he shall bring his offering with loaves of leavened bread. And from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering, as a gift to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning." (ESV)

Those of us who have been granted the gift of repentance that leads to saving faith in Jesus Christ, had the only acceptable peace offering made on our behalf, when the Son of God suffered and died for our sins. Because Jesus alone is God, He alone can completely satisfy the wrath of God that is due every sinner...which is every single human being that has lived, is living, and will live. Through Christ, we who repent of our sins and trust wholly in Jesus' name, now have what we could never attain for ourselves—peace with God.

What a glorious joy it is to know that while we were enemies of God, living for ourselves, hating Him, and hating others; Christ died for us. Therefore, let all who call on the name of the LORD, rejoice in His holy name! Let us lift up our hearts and our voices to proclaim the excellencies of Christ Jesus our Lord! And let us demonstrate our utter gratitude and love to God the Father for giving us His Son, by offering Him a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for continuously humbling us, so that we will never forget our depravity without Christ.