The Israelite God was different from all the other gods, thus, the worship of Yahweh differed from that of all other gods.
David finally found the truth that it was not his seed of kingship but the promise made to Abraham that made him holy. From that, David refused to be moved and wrote this Psalm by the necessity of the Spirit as the assurance of faith. The law never made a man holy, not even one as robust as David; yet faith did this great thing without lifting a finger.
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.

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Why would David write this psalm for all to read when he was no longer God’s greatest king, but rather God’s greatest sinner?
If Psalms 1 and 2 reveal the Christ who reigns, Psalms 3 and 4 reveal the Christ who remains.
The Christian answer to death is not a disembodied app, but a bodily resurrection.
It is by his perfect surrender that our true Exodus was accomplished.
When we fail, our first impulse is the same as that of our spiritual ancestors: to sprint headlong into the bushes.
Resurrection does not start in sunlight. It begins in the dark.
The acrostic psalms do not hold because of their perfect structure. Nor do our lives.
Grace isn’t fair. It’s reckless and lavish and handed out freely to those who don’t deserve a thing.
He has freed you from a selfish fixation on gifts. He has freed you to look to the Giver.
When faith seeks understanding—when belief is grounded in revelation and open to the light of reason—truth can travel.
Curiosity, while it might kill the cat, just might be one of the most needed virtues of our time.
This is the fifth installment in our article series, “An Introduction to the Bondage of the Will,” written to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will.