May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 NKJV.

This psalm, Psalm 68, is David’s praise to our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, who gives everything good. As we read these words we are reminded of events we can barely comprehend. We didn’t live David’s life. His psalms are in praise to his experiences of God whom David loved dearly. Can we see that our lives, too, receive new birth of understanding God’s love when we open our hearts to Him? Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him – his name is the Lord…A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling…God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. v. 4, 5, 6. Why a sun-scorched land? Our lives with God are rich with meaning as the world opens up anew – how could life without Him be anything but sun-scorched and dry in comparison? Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens…Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death. v. 19, 20. These are David’s words and we can read about his life and the difference God made in David’s life. What about our lives? What psalm would we write? One of the verses in this psalm, the Apostle Paul quoted in his letter to the Ephesian church – When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious – that you, Lord God, might dwell there. v. 18. What did Paul write? But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” Ephesians 4:7, 8.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and the Holy Spirit was given after Jesus ascended to the Father…and He was there in the beginning. He is with us now. There is a work that our Creator God is doing. He is working in the hearts and minds of people turning to Him in great need. There has always been great need! I want to understand! I’ve been reading the book Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, by Gordon Fee. He talks about how powerful was the presence of the Holy Spirit in the early church because they could see the work being done that had never been done before. He paraphrased succinctly what Paul wrote in Romans 8:3-4: – Romans 8:3-4, where God sent his Son to do what the law could not do in terms of securing salvation, and the Spirit does what the law could not do in terms of accomplishing righteous behavior in the believer’s life (“walking” = living in the ways of God).

The Son – securing salvation…The Spirit – accomplishing righteous behavior in the believer’s life! Neither one done by us because we can’t. We have proven that over and over and over again not only in our own lives but by humanity itself.

But, as we open our hearts and minds to our God, He enables us to understand His truth and we receive new birth in great Love. How new birth? Understanding is a beginning. Like a delicate seed opening up, we grow. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:14-15. Is that not a new birth delivering us from the sun-scorched land of ignorance of our Creator God who loves us? He dwells with us! Even among the rebellious…that He might dwell there. What great Love has the Father for us, His children! Jesus knows that…Holy Spirit knows that…and helps us know that by dwelling in our hearts and minds so that we can turn away from the sins that lead us to rebelliousness in barren, sun-scorched land. Are you tired of the sins of this world yet? There’s a better way and only God can help us.