“True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections”
-Jonathan Edwards

This Week

The Psalms express and teach us a lot about confidence and peace in God. David gives us two important insights in Psalm 18.

1. God’s power is evident throughout Scripture and the world around us.

David finds his confidence and peace through considering the evidence of God’s power. He looks to how he has experienced that in his own life. Then he dwells upon the evidence of God’s power in creation. Here’s the fancy theological word for what David portrays in the first half of his Psalm: omnipotence. All that means is that God is all-powerful. He can accomplish anything that does not go against his character. This is an overwhelming truth, but why does it matter to us?

2. God’s power gives confidence and peace to those who trust in Him.

The greatest source of our anxieties stems from powerlessness. We feel vulnerable to the sources of our stress, but the good news is that with God, we have the most powerful one in the entire universe on our side. David finds his confidence in the fact that his omnipotent God watches over him and empowers him for whatever lies ahead: “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.”

We can find freedom from our anxieties and the confidence to face whatever the world throws at us if we will remember God’s power and his constant presence with us.

Intro:

In his work on religious affections (desires & emotions of the will), Jonathan Edwards asserts, “True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections” Unfortunately, not all affections are as enjoyable as the one’s we have looked at so far. Life in a fallen world leads us to doubt and discontentment at times. What does it look like to express these kinds of emotions in a way that honors the Lord and, ultimately, to combat them?

This Week

As we look around at the realities of this world, we recognize clear injustices all around us. As a result, Satan can often lead us to a place of doubting God’s character or being discontent with what God has given us. Psalm 73 gives us some perspective on just these things.

1. Know that it’s right to be discontent when we recognize evil and long for justice, but we must always turn to God for understanding.

Discontentment with the injustices of our world is a good thing. When we recognize that the unjust often are the one’s who come out on top, we can even face the temptation to doubt that God is just or that He is powerful. That’s what the Psalmist seems to be wrestling with in the beginning of Psalm 73. He can’t wrap his mind around it. He’s tempted to either doubt God or long for what the unjust have gained for themselves.

Struggling with these temptations is normal. We live in a fallen world with more injustice than we can possibly fathom. The key is to go to God for understanding rather than allow Satan to undermine one’s confidence in the goodness of God. This is exactly what the writer does in v. 17—“until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” We must turn to God and His Word in order to gain a proper perspective.

2. Ultimately, we must ground our satisfaction in God and our hope in His final justice.

By going to God, the Psalmist is reminded that God is the ultimate source of his satisfaction (not the things that this world has to offer) and the final source of complete justice. Check out the final verses (25-28):

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

May we be reminded of this same truth and hope when the injustice of this world leads us to doubt and discontentment.