Daily Bible Reading Plans to help you read and understand God’s Word

Scripture Reading: Psalm 23:1-6, Psalm 24:1-10, Psalm 25:1-22, Psalm 26:1-12, Psalm 27:1-14, Psalm 28:1-9, Psalm 29:1-11

When I was in high school, my mom and I lived in a one bedroom apartment together. She slept in the living room, so when I would go out at night, I had to pass by her in order to leave. There she lay on the couch. Silent. The room dark except for the glare of the television. For as long as I had been aware, my mother had a broken heart, and I never saw it more clearly than I did on those nights walking out of our home and leaving her there to fester in her despair alone.

The darkness that enveloped my mom was deep and impenetrable. The eyes of her heart had adjusted to the absence of light, and she passively accepted the pall that hung over her life.

I recognized the despondency in my mother’s empty gaze, and I heard the desolation in her voice. My mom—like so many people—had set up camp in the valley of the shadow of death. She didn’t know it yet, but she needed a shepherd to guide her out of her umbral existence and to lead her to living water.

Today’s septet of psalms offer a powerful picture of the kind of shepherd that my mom didn’t even know she needed and the kind of hope we all desire.

God is so beautifully characterized here that we are compelled simply to cry out, “Glory!” along with all those gathered in the sanctuary of His Holy presence (Psalm 29). It is clear that God, our shepherd, is in the business of rescuing the lost, vindicating the broken, and restoring life to the dead.

My mom stared at a glowing screen in the darkness of those long lonely nights, bereft of all hope and enrobed in the unholy vestments of her tenebral despair. Praise God that she encountered Jesus years later—only eight weeks before her death. Simply being near Him, contemplating the Lord Himself instead of gazing vacantly into an unplumbable abyss—this nearness to Jesus in her final days altered the trajectory of eternity for her.

I am comforted even now as I consider the reality that she confessed with her lips that Jesus was Lord, and that in her heart she declared: “The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom should I dread?” (Psalm 27:1). 

For her and for all of us, there is no darkness the light of Jesus cannot illuminate, no life too far gone for His salvation to reach.

This Lenten season, let us be refreshed by the light of the Lord and be bold in our willingness to share the good news far and wide. We may not see it in the light of day, but the darkness within the people we meet may be silently, imperceptibly crushing their hearts. Praise the Lord, and do not let His light within you remain hidden.

Written by Alex Florez