Psalm 70 captures humanity's universal cry for help in times of distress. Beginning with 'Make haste, O God, to deliver me,' this prayer acknowledges our need for divine intervention when facing enemies, difficult relationships, and our own shortcomings. While we often seek salvation in human relationships, control, or various forms of escape, true deliverance comes only from God. This psalm teaches us to bring our unfiltered selves before God while recognizing that He alone can save us. The Christian faith uniquely responds to this cry with God giving Himself completely through Christ's sacrifice, offering genuine hope and redemption.

Psalm 69 presents David's raw cry to God in the midst of overwhelming suffering, describing himself as drowning in floodwaters with no foothold. This psalm speaks powerfully to our experience in a broken world filled with natural disasters, betrayal, ridicule, physical suffering, and the weight of our own sinful hearts. David's initial response is understandable—he calls for justice and even destruction upon his enemies. While our desire for justice reflects God's character, Christ teaches us a more excellent way.Remarkably, many verses in Psalm 69 point directly to Jesus, who was hated without cause, consumed with zeal for God's house, and given sour wine on the cross. Christianity doesn't offer a neat intellectual solution to suffering, but rather a God who enters our suffering. The crosses we bear—those places where brokenness hurts us most—are not dismissed by God but intimately known by Him. Christ says, 'I will go to that place. I will know it intimately.' Though suffering awaits us everywhere in this life, we can approach it differently knowing that Christ bears it with us, and that through His resurrection, God promises to make all things new.

Psalm 68 celebrates God's deliverance of His people to the promised land, likely written by David for the Ark of the Covenant's procession to Jerusalem. The psalm portrays God as the defender of the vulnerable, father to the fatherless, and protector of widows. While addressing the difficult topic of the Canaanite conquest, it emphasizes this was God's divine judgment coupled with grace, as exemplified by Rahab's salvation. Ultimately, Psalm 68 points to Christ's ascension and the future where people from all nations will worship the true King who rules with justice and welcomes all into His family.

Psalm 67 speaks to a truism that exists beyond the Christian faith; that our primary relationship shap us to go out into the world and shape it for good or for ill. Yet, Psalm 67 speaks to the fundamental Fathering relationship, that between us and God. It's for this reason that it begins with echoes of the great Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6 where the Lord blesses his people, keeps his people and makes his face to shine on his people. It is in living into this belovedness as the children of God that the nations will sing for joy and creation itself will find the end of its groaning for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed!

Colossians 1:15-19 reveals four profound truths about Jesus Christ: He is God, Creator, Sustainer, and Head of the Church. As the image of the invisible God, Jesus possesses the fullness of deity and existed before creation. All things were created by Him, through Him, and for Him, meaning creation itself has embedded purpose. Christ actively holds the universe together and, as head of the Church, He is the beginning of a new humanity through His resurrection. Because of who Christ is, faith in Him isn't merely one option among many spiritual paths but the foundation of eternal life.

Psalm 66 is a psalm of praise. It is a psalm both praising God for who he is and what he has done and calling others to praise him. It begins wide, calling all the earth to praise and narrows down to the individual. It's a very fitting psalm for Trinity Sunday, as the call to the earth reflects the Father, the call to the church, the Son, and the call to the individual, the Holy Spirit.

In our eagerness to serve God, we often rush ahead without receiving what we need most—the Holy Spirit. After Jesus' resurrection, the disciples were ready to share the greatest story ever told, yet Jesus commanded them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. Despite having engaged with the true story of our world, experienced Jesus bringing hope, had their doubts addressed, been restored after failures, and received the Great Commission, they needed something more essential than their enthusiasm.This waiting was necessary because the Holy Spirit is the active agent of mission. As Lesslie Newbigin noted, mission isn't something the church does but something done by the Spirit who changes both the world and the church. Without the Spirit, our efforts are merely human striving. Additionally, the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—grow through waiting and abiding, not through rushing ahead. When the disciples obeyed and waited, Pentecost occurred, and they were transformed with divine power that enabled Peter to preach a sermon converting 3,000 people in one day. The early church was characterized by being 'filled with the Spirit,' which changed their economic life, care for others, and gave them confidence even in persecution.

When we feel rejected, even by Jesus himself, we can find confidence in Christ's unwavering love. The apostle John's experience in John 21 shows how he maintained his identity as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' even when seemingly overlooked. This confidence comes from remembering we are among the beloved community, recalling past experiences of God's love, and embracing the mystery of faith. With confidence in Christ's love, we can face rejection without questioning our worth, knowing we're hastening toward complete happiness in the One whose opinion truly matters.