Good morning my friends. Welcome back to the morning mindset. I hope this morning

finds you well and eager to get underway for the day by putting your mind on things of truth.

Because it is the truth that will set us free and we're going to do that by jumping right

back into the Psalms this morning. We're in Psalm chapter 18 or beginning in

verse 25. Let me set the stage here for what we're going to read in this section of Psalm 18.

We are going to read a series of responsive comparisons where the Psalmist says with

this kind of person you God respond this way and I want to prepare you for a little twist near the end of this

that strikes against some of how we like to think about God.

And yet we have to be very careful when we come across

sections of scripture like this because our tendency will be to let our discomfort push us or force us to redefine what God is like,

rather than letting what scripture reveals God is like

to define what we believe is true. I hope that makes sense to you. Now we're

going to dive right in and start reading in verse number 25 of Psalm

chapter 18 and it says this, with the merciful, you show yourself merciful.

With the blameless man, you show yourself blameless.

With the purified, you show yourself pure. With the purified, you show yourself pure.

And with the crooked, you make yourself seem tortuous.

Now do you see what I mean there by something at the very end kind of

smacking you along the face and making you take notice because it's so opposite

of the rest of the phrases because they kind of go along with each other in kind.

Merciful people, God is merciful toward them.

Blameless people, God shows himself to be blameless toward them.

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