This is the last of 22 messages from the book of Psalms. Once again, it’s about forgiveness, a critical issue in David’s life. Come to think of it, it’s a critical issue in your life and mine! We are all in need of God’s forgiveness; we also are in need of showing forgiveness to others. We’re both! Forgiveness is really the gut spiritual issue of all of our lives! How has forgiveness or lack of forgiveness impacted your life? This week we talk about that from Psalm 143.

I’ve been told it’s a famous poem by Louisa Fletcher Tarkington, “The Land of Beginning Again”. It may express how you feel even today; you wish you could go back to the beginning of a specific time in your life and relive it. Does that resonate with you? There is a land of beginning again with the Lord God Almighty. What is it? It’s called forgiveness!

Do you have a “relationship” with the Word of God? You may have never been asked that question; yet it is a valid one! We have a relationship with the Lord, obviously. But we also are to have a relationship with the book called the Bible! The longest Psalm and chapter in the entire Bible is Psalm 119. It describes the kind of relationship we are to have with the word of God; we are to hide God’s word in our hearts! This week we explain what that means.

Have you ever posed an imaginary choice to say, “I’d rather spend one day with her or him, than to spend weeks, months, or even years with someone else?” The Psalmist says that he would rather spend one day on the periphery of the Lord’s presence than to continually be in the presence of people who don’t give the Lord the time of day! What would you choose? Your answer matters to Him!

Have you ever envied someone who seemed to disregard the spiritual in his or her life, and yet seem to be successful in every way? That’s exactly what Psalm 73 is about. It was written by a man named Asaph who has developed an attitude about the success of people who don’t follow the Lord. More people can relate to this Psalm than care to admit! One psychologist says this is the most evocative Psalm of all! What does it evoke in you?

I doubt seriously if there are too many things that you and I can point to in this world and say that having those things is “better than living”! And yet the Psalm writer David said, “Lord, your love is better than life!” Did he really mean that? He did. We explain how and why this week on CrossHope.

One of the commentators says this is the most precious of all the Psalms to him. We explain why.

Everyone has either said it or at least felt it. People feel the need to “fly away” from their circumstances, from other people, from some besetting problem. You may have expressed that recently. David felt that need in his life and talks about that in what we are calling the “most graphic” of all the Psalms in terms of describing his situation emotionally. He uses the words anguish, horror, fear, terror, and trembling! That’s pretty graphic, yet maybe you have felt the same way.

Every sermon series that airs on CrossHope usually has one message that stands above the rest. There’s something in the text or in the entire message that makes it the “flagship” of all the series. This week is just such a message. It’s one of what are called the “Penitential Psalms”, or Psalms of confession, repentance, and contrition for sin. David wrote this after his sin of adultery and murder. It is hymn or Psalm of repentance for his tremendous weight of guilt for his sinning against the Lord God almighty. It just may be what you need to read, pray, and practice this week!

What’s the biggest mistake that you have made in your life? Maybe you can think of several “big mistakes” that you have made. Maybe it’s only one, made years ago. Aside from rejecting Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God, we share a big mistake that many Americans make: not accepting the temporary as temporary and not accepting the eternal as permanent. Have you made that mistake?

The most commonly used text in American pulpits after the tragedy on September 11, 2001 was Psalm 46. Even then President George W. Bush quoted the passage in a message to the nation. It’s a passage that says when the worst case scenario happens, God is still God! It was not only helpful then 18 years ago, it just may speak to your life, your marriage, or your family.