“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3.16, 17, ESV)

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1.4 – 6, ESV)

We’re winding down our year in the Wisdom books, coming to the end of The Psalms, just five to go after today’s meditation on Psalm 145. It begins:

A SONG OF PRAISE. OF DAVID.

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. (Psalm 145.Introduction, 1, 2, ESV)

“Every day I will bless you…” That sounds like a useful habit. Daily, intentional praise.

The psalm’s emphasis is on God’s works. We’re not subscribing to a set of ideas. We worship a real God who does real work. (I wrote about that recently.) If we don’t teach ourselves and the next generation about God’s power, we and they will look for power elsewhere.

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145.4, 5, ESV)

• I am praying Philippians 4.19 for a brother, a generous donor to God’s work, who has recently lost his job. He’s over 70 and isn’t hopeful that he can find another. But God works. I’ll let you know when God provides.
• I’m praying for the reunification of a couple who were together and now they’re not.
• I’m praying for effective disciple-making at two churches I’m working with. Not just talk – action!

“On your wondrous works, I will meditate.”

All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.(Psalm 145.10 – 13, ESV)

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom…” Sounds like Daniel who came later (Psalm 145 is a psalm of David).

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2.44, ESV)

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4.34, ESV)

Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues; he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, he who has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6.25 – 27, ESV)

Back to Psalm 145, which closes with a promise:

• The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
• He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
• The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. (Psalm 145.18 – 20, ESV)

God will meet the needs and desires of those who “call on him.” It’s not automatic.

You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4.2, ESV)

As a guy trained by The Navigators (and now “I are one”), I’m a firm believer in scripture memory. Dallas Willard said if he could practice only one spiritual discipline, it would be scripture memory. My blog from October 31, 2025, Beth…don’t forget talks about how scripture memory is encouraged in Psalm 119.9, 11:

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119.9, 11, NKJV)

The blog contains links to other blogs. Please check it out.

But as I come to Psalm 144, there’s another good reason for scripture memory: it makes you an “instant expert” in a part of the Bible you might not pay much attention to. Decades ago, I memorized the opening:

Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. (Psalm 144.1, 2, ESV)

I’m not a literal warrior, but I took it as God helping David do his job. And when I come to Psalm 144, because I’ve memorized part of it, it feels like coming home. Likewise the ending, a promise, which I also memorized at a different time:

Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the LORD. (Psalm 144.12 – 15, NIV)

That’s a good word.

Psalm 143 opens with a prayer for deliverance (again!)

A PSALM OF DAVID.

Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. (Psalm 143.Introduction, 1 – 3, ESV)

Many (most?) of David’s psalms are for deliverance from enemies. What does that tell us?

• That having adversaries and adversity is normal
• That David’s response to adversity was to write a psalm! Did he write more under duress than “in the sunshine”?

And he writes not just about the situation but about how he felt:

Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. (Psalm 143.4, ESV)

There’s a lesson for those of us who aren’t feelers. Who say, “Why worry? God will take care of you! Why are you so down in the dumps?” No. Godly people suffer emotionally.

But David knows a cure:

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah (Psalm 143.5, 6, ESV)

Meditating not just on the word but on God’s actions. “I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.”

The prayer continues. Prayer for deliverance, assurance of God’s love, and guidance.

Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143.7, 8, ESV)

Repeated prayer for deliverance and guidance:

Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! (Psalm 143.9, 10, ESV)

He bases his prayer on the character of God:

• “I have fled to you for refuge” – verse 9
• “For your name’s sake, preserve my life” – verse 11

As we move through Advent season, it’s useful to remember why Jesus came:

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19.10, ESV)

Jesus said that in the context of an outcast, Zacchaeus, the tax collector.

Another outcast would have been Mary Magdalene. There’s a nice piece floating around FaceBook without attribution that’s worth the read. I offer it without further comment:

Mary Magdalene is the girl. I don’t care what anybody says—she was ride or die for Jesus. And y’all, don’t skip over her story just because it makes religious folks squirm a little. Some say she was a prostitute, some say she wasn’t—but what we do know is this: she had seven demons cast out of her (Luke 8:2). SEVEN. That’s not a bad day… that’s a spiritual ICU.

But here’s the part that wrecks me: Jesus didn’t avoid her. He delivered her.

He didn’t shame her. He saved her.

And after He set her free, she never left His side.  She wasn’t just around for the miracles and the crowd—she followed Him all the way to the foot of the cross when everybody else was bailing out and hiding. And when they laid Him in the tomb, she stayed close. And on resurrection morning? She was the first person He appeared to. Not Peter. Not John. Mary. The one with the past. The one nobody saw coming. The one He called by name in the middle of her heartbreak (John 20:16).  And I say all that to say this:

If you’ve been through hell…

If you’ve battled addiction, abuse, trauma, shame…

If you’ve ever thought you were too far gone to be used by God… Remember Mary.

Because Jesus didn’t just clean her up—He trusted her with the message that He was alive. Let me tell you something: that same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in YOU (Romans 8:11). He can heal what tried to destroy you. He can restore what was stolen. He’ll meet you in your lowest place and call you by name. So don’t you dare let the enemy use your past to quiet your calling. If He used Mary Magdalene—He can sure enough use you.

My friend David Shropshire, one of the godliest, Spirit-filled men I know, wrote a provocative comment about Artificial Intelligence (AI) from my blog that included a comment about AI music artists:

I hate to admit this, but recently my college-freshman, godly, grandson recently asked me what to do in a situation. I prayerfully thought what would be the wise thing, and offered some things to consider. Just before hanging up, I suggested he ask AI.  The second I hung up the phone, I realized the foolishness of my suggestion.  I told him later I was wrong, and that I should have told him to ask the  Holy Spirit what He wants him to know and what He wants him to do.

When I wrote David to say I used AI for book and article summaries or to “write a short bio,” he responded with:

I use AI daily and appreciate the time it saves, especially for things like writing code for MS Word macros, and asking it questions I asked Google in the past.

So what are we learning? AI, like any tool, can be useful. We just have to know what to use it for.

He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”…No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” (Isaiah 44.14 – 17, 19, ESV)

Shall I ask advice from 1s and 0s?

There’s a lot to write about: we’re finishing the psalms, it’s Advent Season, and there always observations about life like Spreading Joy about the smiling employee bussing tables and It’s Daily about a veteran NFL kicker completely missing the ball. But I don’t want to miss one of the best known and loved psalms: 139. I offer it without much comment. It’s hard to improve on the inspired text, which begins:

TO THE CHOIRMASTER. A PSALM OF DAVID.

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139.Introduction, 1 – 6, ESV)

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” True. This is a hard concept to get hold of. God’s infinite and intimate knowledge of all of us as individuals. We can’t get away, we can’t hide!

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139.7 – 12 ESV)

God’s detailed knowledge of me started in the womb?!

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139.13 – 16, ESV)

Compare the Apostle Paul’s observation:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2.10, ESV)

David summarizes…

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. (Psalm 139.17, 18)

And concludes with a prayer:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139.23, 24, ESV)

Our God is infinite…and intimate:

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57.15, ESV)

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1.39 – 44, ESV)

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2.10, 11, ESV)

The fruit of the Spirit is…joy. (Galatians 5.22, ESV)

We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations— “GOD was wonderful to them!” GOD was wonderful to us; we are one happy people. (Psalm 126.2, 3, MSG)

I don’t like to write about sports “too” much, but when something happens that’s never happened before and is unlikely to ever happen again, it’s worth nothing.

Did you see the Monday Night Football game between the Giants and the Patriots on December 1? The Giants are having a terrible year: 2 – 10 when the game started, 2 – 11 after. But while the game was up for grabs, they had an opportunity in the second quarter to close the gap from 17 – 7 to 17 – 10. A makable field goal. Except, wait for it, the kicker completely missed the ball!

That’s his kicking toe embedded in the turf. In the next frame (not shown), the kicker is in front of the holder, and the holder still has the ball.

Earlier, bad kicking  by the Giants was a factor in Denver’s historic comeback.

…backup kicker Jude McAtamney cost the team a potential win by missing kicks during the collapse in Denver and Koo now missed the ball entirely. – Matt Ehalt, NY Post

The guy who missed two extra points in Week 3 is long gone. But Koo?

Koo, 31, is a veteran kicker. He began his career with the Los Angeles Chargers. Koo is best known for his multiple seasons with the Atlanta Falcons (2019-25). He was the NFL’s scoring co-leader in 2020 and made the Pro Bowl that season. – Andrew Olson, Saturday Down South

A veteran kicker. Formerly the NFL’s leading scorer. All-star. Now he’s done something he will never live down. I don’t know if it’s related, but when the Giants scored a touchdown in the second half, they went for two instead of letting Koo attempt an extra point.

So what’s the lesson? Maybe it’s this: my friend Fisher DeBerry, former head football coach at the Air Force Academy, had a sign in his office:

You’re only as good as your last play.

Ezekiel said something similar:

The soul who sins shall die…If a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live…But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. (Ezekiel 18.20 – 24, ESV)

For perspective, please review two blogs on backsliding from a few weeks ago.

But take a lesson from Koo. Yesterday’s successes don’t count. Ask anyone in AA. Yesterday’s discipline doesn’t count. Ask any elite athlete. It’s daily intentionality.

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psalm 5.3, NKJV)

When June and I went to the Celtic Woman concert in Denver last week, we stayed overnight at the downtown Hampton Inn. As is my custom on such occasions, I went downstairs to fetch June some coffee, and I was pleasantly shocked by one of the brightest smiles I’ve ever seen. A young black man lit up when I came into his field of vision. Huge smile, “Good morning, sir!” His job? He was bussing tables.

Later, when we came down to breakfast, he was still hard at it and still smiling. We called him over, thanked him for his service, and complimented him on his cheerful attitude. His name is McCullough, and he comes from the Congo. He was probably in his mid-30s. He’s been in country for six years, but his wife was just able to join last year. He was a war refugee.

So there he is, with a harder life than most of us will know, and he’s serving at what some consider a menial task, but doing it well, bringing joy to all of us.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3.23, 24, ESV)