Anyone who by God’s grace can humble himself to receive Christ’s work as a free gift will be forgiven and glorified and will enjoy the new heavens and the new earth. But the only way in is to get low. The proud—those who believe they deserve heaven—are the very ones who do not.

Jesus endured the agony of separation from the Father so that you and I can stand under the fountain of a loving God. All it takes is asking for it. Opening yourself up to it. This is who he is.

God’s grace and our obedience are not equal balances on a scale. God’s grace is inexhaustible, endless. God’s grace always outpaces any grateful response on our part. It is precisely for this reason that we delight to live in holiness and reverence.

Consider your life. Have you compartmentalized the Lord of heaven? Have you set him off as one part of your life, as you have your finances, work, entertainment, and so on? Return to what you know to be true.

We are sinners. We sin. But in Christ our basic identity is not sinner but cleansed, whole. And as we step out into a new day in soul-calm because of that free gift of cleansing, we find that strangely, startlingly, we begin to “do his commandments”.

The grace of God grants a significance that transcends our brief little lives. For we have been united to Christ. His future now determines our future.

It is impossible to move through life with a primary focus on the things of this world yet still grow in integrity. But when one keeps one’s eyes focused on God—his character, his promises, his mighty rule, his heart of grace for sinners—all of life comes into accord. Things fall into place.

Your pain never outpaces his love. Your difficulty is surrounded by the deeper reality of his goodness. He proved it by sending his own Son for you. Even in the pain of life, we lift our hearts and our voices to the Lord.

We today are led by the psalmist to “exalt the Lord our God”, but we do it with the greater knowledge that we are priests to the world—and this is true only because God sent his own Son to become the true and final great high priest, the priest who offered the ultimate sacrifice of his own life.

God’s global grace is reason for deep encouragement. Anyone can get in on this—as long as he does not try to barter with God but rather humbles himself enough to simply receive his love freely.

Is your vision of God diminishing? Do you find the ceiling of your view of his glory lowering? Confess your small-mindedness to God and perhaps also to a trusted Christian friend. Consider who he is. Glory in him again.

At the cross of Jesus Christ, God has already taken care of your own sins and need for judgment. Final judgment is now to be anticipated with eagerness, not feared with trepidation.

Are you grumbling today? Murmuring? Do you find yourself nursing wounds, wondering why God has made your life so hard? Repent. Consider that God is the one who formed the earth and made you. Above all, consider the divine “work” that you have experienced: the gracious giving of his own Son to suffer for your sins and restore you to himself.

If you are in Christ, you have in full sight the supreme consolation of God—the coming of Jesus Christ to love and deliver you from all your sins, and his indwelling Spirit to comfort and direct you all your days.

This psalm speaks of the earth as God’s throne. On it he sits, ruling, comfortable, issuing commands and decrees. He orders the world; the world does not order him.

Bring to Jesus your worries, your cares. Unload your burdens on him. Above all, give him your sins.

Amid the storms of life, God is a safe and serene harbor. Have you experienced this? Or are you internally frenetic?

Love those whom you see today. Dignify them. Rejoice in them. You are planting seeds that will grow and blossom into eternity.

Jesus is the king, the leader of God’s people whose throne truly will never come to an end. And if you trust in Christ, his fate belongs also to you. You will share in his resurrection, his glory, his rule.

For us today, we see with the full light of day the length to which God was willing to go to ensure that we would never be truly alone, no matter our folly, no matter our stupidity. For Jesus endured Psalm 88. He really endured it. On our behalf.

Throughout the Bible, God’s city represents a place of safety and refuge. Indeed, the city of God becomes one of the chief metaphors for salvation itself. “Glorious things” are not spoken of Zion simply because of architectural beauty or geographical location. Zion represents God himself, in all his mercy, offered to sinners. In him we take refuge.

As you ponder your sinfulness, ponder his graciousness—a grace that ever outstrips even your sin.

Are you feeling dead and dry? Pray Psalm 85. Meditate on it in the morning and in the evening. After all, God has proven that he will not let such a prayer go unanswered.

God is above you, illumining—“a sun.” God is before you, protecting—“a shield.” God is for you, dignifying—he “bestows favor and honor.” God is with you, lavishing—“no good thing does he withhold.”

In Christ we are invincible, for Jesus was raised bodily, and we are now united to him by faith. Our future could not be brighter, whatever adversity washes over us in this fallen world.