This Psalm teaches us about life’s travails, and that Israel fails, but that Christ prevails.

David has two problems. There is David’s sin and there is David’s self. He faces his guilt as well as his guilty feelings. His repentance finds its voice, as does his faith, in the hope that God’s grace is sufficient for both his problems.

Many Psalms of Lament conclude with confidence in God despite suffering.  However, Psalm 44 begins with confidence, followed by a complaint, concluding with a call for God to act.

The monk Martin Luther wasn’t looking for a gracious God but the real God.

In this wilderness journal King David records his experience of the steadfast love of the Lord in the face of deep suffering. His poetic witness points us to the love of Christ and the promised joy of abiding in the greater son of the great King David.

In times of distress, darkness, and hopelessness, the Psalmist exhorts believers to turn to the Lord and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty. God who is faithful will answer and will show his people His salvation.

Dr. Bitner reads through the letter of James in its entirety in this special morning devotion.

In the story we see the hopelessness of seeking salvation through the law and the beauty of salvation found in Jesus Christ. He is the merciful king who seeks, saves, and loves us.

James compares two forms of God’s law, the royal law that condemns us for just one sin and the law of liberty by which God shows us mercy. We who are under the latter law must speak and act mercifully.

James teaches how hearing God’s word and responding to it ought never be separated and how seeing and remembering who we are as sinners and objects of God’s grace draws the two together.

The wisdom we need is the wisdom God gives.