If God has not given us a spirit of fear, why are so many in Church leadership in the United States fearful? Fearful of government, fearful of the media, fearful of the culture, fearful of public opinion, fearful of losing members – and with them donations.

God is our refuge. Our fortress. We trust in him to deliver us from the raging storms of life—whenever and however they come. Out in the world, the tempest surges with the dangers of the fowler’s snare—seeking to trap us into sin, despair, depression, and defeat.

He was sitting alone on a cot. The room was dark and damp. What light there was helped little against his failing eyesight. Short of stature, he was balding, but lean and sinewy. He squinted at the parchment. Oblivious to his sparse, inhospitable surroundings, he focused with a single-minded intensity on his writing.

He was introduced as “the moral leader of our nation.” He spoke at a time when eloquence counted and words mattered. So did morality, conscience, and leadership. These virtues were not yet mocked or dismissed; they were respected and valued. He was just 34 years old.

Is there a connection between kindness and healing? We influence people’s dispositions—their attitudes, their spirits, even their health—in so many subtle ways. A warm smile, a firm handshake, a hug or a tender word of thanks or encouragement can make all the difference in how somebody else gets through her day.

You’ve got to admit it. This guy had moxie. Anyone who takes on God directly—to his face, up close and personal—is either foolish, oblivious, blasphemous—or supremely confident of his position. Or perhaps he’s nuts.

Here was another conversation between friends. Moses talked with God with a greater familiarity than most.

The pattern of our spiritual history seems to be this -- God does a great miracle, we rejoice, we forget, and things return to a worldly normal, where God is barely acknowledged.

It’s the centerpiece of the sacred and joyous celebration of Christmas. It was a first. No other god had ever done it. No other god could have conceived it. It was an offence, a scandal, a puzzle. The Greeks mocked it. The Jews rejected it. The Bible prophesied it and then proclaimed it. Without it, Christianity wouldn’t even be a very good story, to say nothing of The Greatest Story Ever Told.

The happy music and conversation in the background was oblivious to the painful desperation of one man. He sat alone at the bar. He raised his hands to his anguished and weary face. Tears filled his eyes. He bowed his head and with a whispering intensity, struggled through a simple, heartfelt prayer. “Dear Father in heaven. I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me, show me the way. I’m at the end of my rope. Show me the way God.”

In the stillness of the night, darkness, like a heavy shroud, hung upon the world. A mournful despair held the nations in its grip. How long? How long would God’s people have to wait? At the appointed time, a shaft of light split the darkness. Mourning would turn to joy; despair would turn to hope… “A light has dawned.”

Throughout the Scriptures we see different times that God appointed for His people to come together. One such time for the nation of Israel was the Feast of Tabernacles. It was an annual feast when the people would praise God and remember His faithfulness and care for them during their time in the wilderness.

In Psalm 80, we can see the psalmist (Asaph) speaking on behalf of a community (the people of Israel) and asking God to intervene and save them/rescue them from their troubles. I think we could accurately call this a “corporate lament”.

Have you ever felt like you couldn’t take it anymore? That your suffering was too great to bear? Have you ever been broken hearted because the wicked were triumphing over God’s people? Asaph felt that way. He wrote Psalm 79 from a place of great despair, during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylon; from a place of unspeakable pain, he pleaded with God. Asaph addressed God humbly and honestly, and he gave us a model of prayer for when we are in distress.

This psalm shows that though we have experienced trouble followed by victories in the past, we are easily discouraged whenever the next challenge arrives on the scene. As the children of Israel did in the wilderness, the soul and the flesh are ever ready to forget God’s continuous flow of victories and provision.

Psalm 76 begins with declarations of honor to the name of the Lord. In this Psalm, God’s name is lifted high. His mighty acts, on behalf of His people and righteous nations that honor Him, are extolled.

It was a cool, overcast day in the city. The crowds were large and restless. People were taken by a great sense of despair and desperation. Many were hurting. They were discouraged. Still, they managed some hopeful anticipation on this important occasion. Maybe this really would be better. They steeled themselves against an unfounded optimism. They had been disappointed before. Millions had given up hope.

There was no caveat, or condition, or middle ground. There was no room permitted for compromise, accommodation, or splitting the difference. Sometimes, under certain circumstances, there can be give and take. That was not the case here.

“Christian Nationalism” is a pejorative that secularists (those that do not hold to a Biblical worldview) use to impugn the motives and actions of Christians who engage the culture and the government. Look no further than Wikipedia to find the lengths to which they will go to malign sincere Christians.

Psalm 75 is a song of thanksgiving. The Psalmist gives thanks for deliverance from the troubles of Psalm 74. This is a Psalm of faith because it anticipates a miraculous deliverance in the future. As one reads this Psalm, it seems to anticipate the events of the end times. In this Psalm we see parallels to the prophecies of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation.

That is why even a Psalm that is hard to understand and get our heads wrapped around about sea monsters and the destruction of a temple can speak to us today.

God is the same God who we can plead with, and He will NOT leave us.