Thursday Psalms: You're Covered!

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

Today we'll look at the first seven verses of Psalm 32, one of several Penitential psalms in the psalter.  As we look first at verses 3-5, all of us will say "Oh yeah, that describes me every day."  Soak in these verses today; I'm sure you'll find them very relevant & personal.

Psalm 32:1-7

¹ Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, 

     and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; 

    I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” 

      and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

⁶ Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You 

    at a time when You may be found; 

      surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach Him.

⁷ You are a hiding place for me; You preserve me from trouble; 

     You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Keeping silent, keeping sins unconfessed and hidden is never a good idea.  Doing so harms us and those against whom we've sinned.  We feel God's heavy hand upon us a when our guilty conscience steals our peace.  Unconfessed sins entirely disrupt our relationships with others and especially with God.  David paints vivid pictures of this:  wasting bones, constant groaning, our strength gone.  These are terrible places to be, yet how often do we keep going there!

In verse five, God gives you the solution to these results of sin:  acknowledge, confess, stop covering up.  Our sinful natures hate doing these things, but we know we must.  Then, God does the really hard part:  He forgives your sins, all of them!   This takes us back to the first verse.  Blessed are YOU whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!  

There's another beautiful discovery here for us; consider the word covered in verses one and five.  In verse five, our covering does nothing except prolong our guilty shame and suffering.  Our covering only extends our separation from God, and reinforces the divisions in our relationships.  But in verse one, God the Father covers your sins with the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son!  Jesus covers your sins, having redeemed you, paid your debt and taken your punishment on Calvary's horrid cross!  God covers your sins with the white robe of righteousness which will be given to you and is described in Revelation 7:14.

O, how blessed we are, that God covers our sins!  Give thanks, you're covered!

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS    Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188 

We are Pilgrims with a Purpose:  

     Sharing God’s Love & Mercy with Each Other & the World.

Pilgrim Website       Pilgrim Facebook page

Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is a stronghold in times of trouble."  Psalm 9:9

Pilgrim Worship Sunday August 30, 2026

 
 Pilgrim Lutheran Church

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 30, 2026

We're thankful you've come here to watch our service and to worship the one true God!

This was another exciting Sunday at Pilgrim Lutheran Church!  Our Summer Sunday schedule has started with our Worship service beginning at 9:30 am.  Afterwards, around 10:30 or so, please join us and enjoy food and conversations together.

If you live in the Burton area, please consider joining us on Sunday mornings!  Anyone can watch our services live on Facebook or on Pilgrim's website.

Here is information about this worship service:

SCRIPTURE READINGS

  Old Testament:  Jeremiah 15:15-21

               Psalm:  Psalm 26

              Epistle:  Romans 12:9-21

              Gospel:  Matthew 16:21-28

THEME FOR WORSHIP

In today’s Gospel reading, we see that Peter didn’t want Jesus to suffer and his bad advice would have derailed God’s salvation plan.  From this side of Jesus’ cross, we like the fact that Jesus suffered and died for us, but we don’t want to join Him in suffering.  Two different perspectives, both result from the same problem:  minds which are set on ourselves rather than on God.  How can we overcome this?

To watch the video of today's service, please click HERE.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS    Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188   

We are Pilgrims with a Purpose:  

       Sharing God’s Love & Mercy with Each Other & the World.

Pilgrim Website           Pilgrim Facebook page

Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is a stronghold in times of trouble."  Psalm 9:9

Thursday Psalms: Walk in God's Faithfulness

  

Blessed Thursday to each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Savior!

In our Psalm for today, David speaks a lot about how he has walked his daily life.  Of course, neither David nor any of us walk perfectly, but David highlights what is God-pleasing.  His list includes walking with integrity, trusting in the Lord, being tried and tested by God, and others.  David also encourages us to avoid sinfulness in verses four and five.  All of us join David, trying to walk in God-pleasing ways every day.

Psalm 26   Of David.

¹ Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity,

      and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.

² Prove me, O Lord, and try me;

      test my heart and my mind.

³ For Your steadfast love is before my eyes,

      and I walk in Your faithfulness.

⁴ I do not sit with men of falsehood,

      nor do I consort with hypocrites.

⁵ I hate the assembly of evildoers,

      and I will not sit with the wicked.

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, O Lord,

    ⁷ proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all Your wondrous deeds.

⁸ O Lord, I love the habitation of Your house

      and the place where Your glory dwells.

⁹ Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,

      nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

¹⁰ in whose hands are evil devices,

      and whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;

      redeem me, and be gracious to me.

¹² My foot stands on level ground;

      in the great assembly I will bless the Lord. 

But our most important walking is not found in the choices we make, what we do, nor where we walk.  Verse three tells us about this walking, but what does it mean for us to walk in God's faithfulness?  

Because God loves you, me, and all of His creation far more than we can understand, God is faithful to Himself and all His promises.  God's most important promise was made to Adam & Eve just after their first sin.  God promised to send a Savior, to redeem all people from the sins we inherit and those we commit ourselves.  Jesus, God's only Son, was born a human baby and lived a sinless life on this earth.  Furthermore, Jesus allowed Himself to suffer and be killed, so He could be faithful to His Father's will and take the sin punishment you and I daily deserve.  That's faithfulness beyond what we can even imagine!

In verse eleven, David was looking forward to the promised Savior as he prayed that God would redeem him and be gracious to him.  You and I are even more blessed, that we can look back in time and point to Jesus, our Savior.  God HAS redeemed you!  God HAS been gracious to you, and still is gracious and loving and forgiving to you every day of your life!

Today, let's join David in God-pleasing walking, to the best of our abilities.  Best of all, since God was and continues to be faithful, we walk everyday in His faithfulness, His love and His forgiveness!

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Mark

Pilgrim Lutheran Church, LCMS    Burton, Michigan

office:  810.744.1188 

We are Pilgrims with a Purpose:  

     Sharing God’s Love & Mercy with Each Other & the World.

Pilgrim Website       Pilgrim Facebook page

Soli Deo Gloria

"The LORD is a stronghold in times of trouble."  Psalm 9:9