Recently I completed another reading of the 150 psalms in Scripture. Psalms come in myriad genres. Below are some of those types:

• Prophetic
• Royal
• Messianic
• Celebration
• Lament
• Wisdom
• Worship

There are other types, too, but those are some of the most common.

I was struck particularly by some verses from Psalm 145 recently:

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
    he also hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy. (Ps 145:17-20)

Several thinks stood out from these lines from David’s pen:

• The righteousness of God (v. 17)
• The fellowship with God (v. 18)
• The covenant faithfulness of God (v. 19)
• The salvation of God (v. 20)

Because I’m burdened for those who remain hostile to God, because I want to reach them with the good news of the gospel, I try to always understand their worldview. I think, for example, of how a person who rejects God deals with the reality of cancer or loss or divorce. As a person who believes God and believes these biblical attributes of God described above, I am promised the righteousness of God, fellowship with God, God’s fidelity to his covenant promises, and the salvation of God.

But the unbeliever who rejects these truths, where does he find hope? In psychological pep-talks? In bubblegum bromides? In horoscopes? In sundry forms of escape and endless distraction?

God’s nature is characterized by covenant faithfulness. God cannot lie. Unlike sinners, God cannot lie. That is crucial to understand. And it is a truth that brings the believer solace of soul. In a world drowning in deceptions, the balm from Gilead is covenant faithfulness found only in God, a salve for the pilgrim’s soul.