Listen to this: If they can create a problem that makes you fear, then they can immediately turn around and sell you a hope-filled solution. It is a key to marketing, and we see this play out everywhere in our world today.

In conversation with a colleague recently I learned this valuable lesson about FEAR.

With a yearning heart of love, like the hound of heaven, he pursued us down the corridors of time. There was nowhere we could go where he would not find us. God’s love is unstoppable, his grace is unfathomable, and his will is unconquerable.

Have you ever been in that place where the charade was over, and everyone knew your sins and failures?

That is where David was. Even though he was the King – he knew he had done wrong; but it hit him even deeper than just being exposed on the outside - it hit him deeply inside of his soul.

They are the timeless words and melodies that transcend the shifting tastes and styles of sacred music. They alone are the songs we go door to door singing at this time of year. Year after year, decade after decade, century after century.

Christmas carols.

The same words. The same music. “Contemporary worship” is powerless to stop them. Smoke, loud noise, darkness and blinking fluorescent lights cannot drown them out. Or update them or modernize them.

It was improbable. The plot itself was bizarre. Was it creative or hair-brained? Intriguing or misleading? Realistic or fatalistic? Hopeful or desperate? The critics panned it. They said it was too dark. Especially for Christmas.

This year is its 75th anniversary.

It is the story of a good and decent man who was always helping others - deferring his own dreams - until the day he needed help. Not knowing where to turn, in desperation, on Christmas Eve, he attempted suicide for the life insurance.

A lunch room thief began stealing food from others at my company. A hidden camera was installed and the thief was caught… only to find out it was not someone who fortuitously saw something delicious in someone else’s lunchbox and decided to take it.  No, this person was merely hungry.  

Today, my wife reported to me that she had seen on the news a house which had been totally destroyed by the recent tornados with two exceptions – the grandmother and the three grandchildren were protected. Also, their Christmas tree and all of the presents under it had been disturbed although the rest of the house was gone. Clearly a miracle!

Have you been through a time when you feel like God is not speaking to you? No Bible verses are impacting you; no messages from the pulpit are impacting your heart; no worship song is getting through the fears and the darkness in your soul – it is a hard place. How tormenting that is - the quietness of God.

Death is the great equalizer. Death comes to every person whether we are prepared for it or not. We will all die – rich or poor. At that moment our lives will not be defined by how much we have accumulated - our houses or our lands, but our eternal destinies.

Psalm 49 reads more like a proverb than a Psalm as it lays out its deep and resounding wisdom for every living person – we cannot carry anything into the grave but our relationship with Christ.

A perfect example of God’s faithfulness and ultimate victory in the end is Jerusalem. As Psalm 48 says – this city will become “the joy of the whole earth”.

In Psalm 48 we see the ultimate heavenly city and the warfare surrounding it, but also the physical city of Jerusalem and the warfare of destruction that has always been around it and continues to this day. Ultimately these two realities and two stories will converge into a beautiful tapestry of God’s faithfulness and presence seen on earth.

That was it. No wallowing in self-pity, no sadness; no defiance, complaints or recriminations; no regrets.

Just gratitude. Thanksgiving for the blessings God had given him. Thanks for the people who meant so much to him - and to whom he had meant so much.

What a proclamation of praise and exuberance seen in Psalm 47 as the King of the whole earth is exalted and lifted up as the supreme ruler.

The command of the New Testament is to incorporate patience into our hearts as we wait for the Lord to return. This Psalm gives another picture to set in our minds as we wait patiently for everything to be made right and Jesus to give us our full inheritance as the Bride of Christ.

There is always a way into peace and joy even in the middle of tribulation. The nations can be raging, the kingdoms of power can be moving, but God will utter His voice, and everything will melt and stop.

This bride is one that is completely desired by the King. That kind of intense love and affection is what causes worship to spring up in the heart of the bride. It is a response to His great love.

The worship that comes out of her is pure and not afraid of rejection. It is this abandoned worship that makes the bride even more beautiful and more desirable to the King as she comes bringing gifts. He draws her close, entreating her to leave behind all worldly relationships and cleave only unto Him, her bridegroom to whom she is now betrothed.

We’re accustomed to politicians who see all sides, talk all sides, take all sides.

Personal ambition too often rises above principle. Fear weakens conviction. Indecision clouds courage. Apathy steals confidence. Deception covers surrender and confusion prevents judgment.

If we’re not careful, this can happen - to you and me.

Persecution is real.

Not only in ancient Israel did the children of Israel go through intense times of suffering but throughout Christianity especially in the dark ages – this Psalm has been used to bring comfort in the middle of Christian persecution.

Have you ever considered what it would be like to know you are going to be burned at the stake? 

Ben didn’t want to think the worst when the money came up missing. It had to be an honest mistake - not embezzlement. It wasn’t a big company - about 80 employees on average. There was a logical explanation, a bookkeeping error, an innocent oversight.

Trying to convince himself, Ben wrestled deep inside. This had never happened before. Ever.

Sometimes it feels like the world is against us. Many times – we feel the oppression and the pressure of a national crisis beating down on our hearts and minds. The Psalmist in Psalm 43 felt that too – so these five small verses were his way of dealing with the pressure.

Hunger for God – it sounds so deep and theological, but it can manifest in an ache, a longing, and a feeling of exhaustion without Him.

I can just imagine the deer without water for hours upon a time and panting at the edge of the brook for a drink. Finally, the deer has arrived after miles of travel to the source of life. It leans over and fully drinks. How refreshing it is!

God sustains us, cares for us, and watches over us with His love. He does not forget about us. He doesn’t stop praying for us. He upholds us.

So just like Him - the needs of the household of faith should always be a priority for us as believers.