I wanted to take a minute to say thank you. If you are reading this, I seriously thank you. I love to create, whether it be through words, photographs, paintings, graphics, anything really. I am learning that my creativity gets to be an overflow of what the Lord is doing in my life. I have to have this time because it really refreshes me. 

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So quick story- the other day I was on a phone call with a good friend. She was telling me about an experience with her toddler. They went on vacation and stayed at a resort for a few days. Very quickly her son became acquainted with the culture of the resort. He even knew to pick up the phone and order room service pancakes. The resort had excellent service, carried your bags, and even brought pancakes to your room. He knew the culture and the 5 star service of the resort. After a few days of staying at the resort they went to a hotel where there was no room service, pancakes, etc. He quickly picked up on the culture of the hotel and that they do not serve him warm pancakes in bed. This story will forever be precious to me because the culture that is created is picked up so quickly, even by little ones. I think of the culture of our lives. How are we speaking? What are we creating? What are clear values? What is a non-negotiable?

The Bible is full of the cultures people have created. You can walk in a room and feel when peace is cultivated. You can also walk in a room and feel when peace is not cultivated. I love the Psalms because I think David described a lot of different types of cultures that were being cultivated. There is a culture to our homes, our workplaces, our business, etc. What are we stewarding? What kind of culture are we allowing?

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I wanted to share a bit of what I have been unpacking lately. Grab your bibles and let’s head to Psalm 36. I want to quickly cover the first part of this chapter and then dive deeply into the second half. 

In the first half, David is showing us the culture of ungodliness. The wickedness/ungodliness of men can be through a variety of things but I love that David keeps it very simple with two main things.

I cringe when I read this because it sounds like a scary place to be. Even though I have walked through seasons where I was doing those exact things. Daily, I have to remind myself that life is not always about me and my lists. I think ungodliness creates a culture of no reverence to God. If you continue in the passage it even says that they openly and boldly speak of their evil plans. The flattering opinion of ungodliness creates a sense of someone being in high view and the Lord being in low view. Ungodliness creates a pattern of planning wrongdoing and ultimately spirals into not rejecting or despising evil. It leads to a culture of evil. It allows the wrong patterns to continue.

On the other hand, David might be surrounded by ungodliness but He chooses to focus on God. This is where the relief from all the evil in the world comes from. I think when we can pause and get in His presence and choose to focus on God, we find true freedom and relief. David was a king and had many treasures but takes time to mention that the priceless treasure he has access to is the faithful love of God. Woah! David recounts the immeasurable attributes of God. His righteousness is unmovable like the mountains. His judgement is so full of wisdom and so deep, as the ocean is full of water. We get the privilege to take shelter in his wings, it is like a hiding place. We benefit from being in that place with Him. 

David ultimately is creating a culture of remembrance. He is creating a culture of holding on to God and choosing to focus on what He is saying. We live in SoCal and so reading the verse about the mountains and the ocean really “hits home”. We have mountains and ocean surrounding us. It really makes the verse so real because the two can exist together. It reminds me that the heights and depths of God can be together all at once. His righteousness and his judgement go hand in hand and at the end of the day we benefit from what He so freely has for us. It is the culture that the Lord has created for us to live in. I think the former mention of ungodliness perceives to be freedom in the moment but His culture and His ways truly create a life of real freedom. So how do we walk in true freedom?

1. Notice when your opinions are becoming higher than the Lords- it happens, learn to realign your opinions.
2. Revere Him.
3. Create a culture of remembering/returning back to Him. It’s okay to return.