TU’APULELULU SUNE 18, 2026

SAAME 58-65; SELEMAIA 17:5-8

Between the "already" and the "not yet," life is one big and continuing battle of trust. Your actions serve what your heart trusts.

‘I he vaha’a taimi ‘o e “ ‘osi ma’u” mo e “te’eki ai”, ‘oku tau fononga’i ‘a e feinga tau ‘o e falalaa. ‘Oku tau fakahoko ‘a e me’a ‘oku falala ki ai hotau ngaahi loto.

It is inescapably true that you are always putting your trust in something. Your decisions might be shaped by your trust in a friend. Maybe you are fearful and anxious because you don't trust your boss. Marriages rise and fall according to the level of trust that spouses have in one another. Maybe you act in certain ways because you trust your feelings. Perhaps you have too much trust in your culture and, because you do, you allow it to counsel and guide you. You might struggle to trust what your church teaches or the worldview that your parents sought to instill in you. Maybe you're discouraged and depressed because you don't trust anyone or anything.

Because our lives (our thoughts, desires, choices, words, and actions) are shaped by whom or what we trust, life on this side of eternity is an unceasing war of trust. An army of God-replacements constantly battles for our trust. So we must ask ourselves, "Trust in what or whom will shape my actions, reactions, and responses today?" Every scripture was given for our conviction, instruction, and transformation.

Regarding trust, Psalm 62 is insightful and practical:

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my salvation and my glory;

my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

Selah

Those of low estate are but a breath;

those of high estate are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

they are together lighter than a breath.

Put no trust in extortion;

set no vain hopes on robbery;

if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

Once God has spoken;

twice have I heard this:

that power belongs to God,

and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. (Ps. 62:5-12)

Do you have this kind of unbending trust in the Lord? Does God alone rule your heart? What causes you to question his goodness, thereby weakening your trust in him? Is your trust in the Lord built on the foundation of your experience or on his word? Psalm 62 calls us to "trust in him at all times." That includes the times when he seems distant and uninvolved as well as when he seems near. The "steadfast love" of the Lord is seen most clearly in the person and work of his Son. In Christ we have the grace we need to defeat our fears and to give our hearts to trusting God, no matter what. Today, look up and trust God.

 PULELULU SUNE 17, 2026

SAAME 51-57; 1 SIONE 1:5-2:2

One of the best things you can ask of God is a clean heart.

Ko e taha ‘o e ngaahi me’a lelei taha ke ke kole mei he ‘Otua, ko ha loto ‘oku ma’a.

Psalm 51 is beautiful prayer of confession and repentance:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps. 51:7-10)

David wrote these words after his sins of adultery and murder. He makes no excuses in this psalm, he does not minimize what he has done or shift the blame elsewhere, and he does not argue for his own righteousness. In verses 1-6 David acknowledges his sin and even confesses that this sin was not just a technical breaking of God's law; it was an offense against God himself. This is what true confession looks like. But at verse 7, the psalm takes a turn.

David has come to understand that he doesn't have just a temptation problem or a behavior problem; he has a heart problem. His actions went where his heart had already gone. So David needs the sort of forgiveness that only God can give-the kind that cleanses the heart. His problem was not that Bathsheba was beautiful; no, his problem was he looked on her beauty with an unclean heart. So he prays for something he cannot create on his own, something that requires divine intervention: a clean heart.

But David asks for something else. He prays, "Let the bones that you have broken rejoice." David acknowledges that, in order to reclaim and purify our hearts, God often leads us through pain and hardship. He does what we can't do for ourselves-create in us a clean heart. David is talking here about God's hammer of grace. Grace is not always a cool drink or a soft pillow. God's grace often leads us into difficulty and pain, not because God is evil or lacking in love, but in order to recapture our hearts. So, in perfect redeeming love, God may break things in our lives that capture our hearts and our worship. The beauty of a clean heart before God is far more valuable than bones that have to be broken to cleanse and free us.

Like all of the psalms, Psalm 51 points us to Jesus. God was willing to bruise, break, and sacrifice his Son so that it would be possible for us, in Christ, to stand before him perfectly clean. Now he works so that we will be not just positionally clean before him, but actually clean. And he will not relent until every atom of sin is removed from every cell of every heart of each of his children. What grace!

 TUSITE SUNE 16, 2026

SAAME 46-50; 1 KALONIKALI 29:10-13

Your world is not spinning out of control, careening toward chaos, because we have a King who rules over all the earth.

‘Oku ‘ikai ke ta’emapule’i ‘a e fo’i mamani ko eni, pe sīfā ki he ta’e’iloaa, he ‘oku kei ‘i ai pe hotau Tu’i ‘oku ne pule ki he kolope.

Does it feel as though your life is out of control? Family drama, violence in the world, the rapid coarsening of the surrounding culture-chaos appears to be all around us. Perhaps you're dealing with a physical sickness that you can't seem to get on top of. Maybe you suddenly lost a job or a friendship, or experienced a life-altering accident. Perhaps your daily responsibilities are a burden too heavy to bear. The unexpected, unplanned, and unwanted confront us with how little power and control we actually have. They reveal our delusion of selfsovereignty. When you must face how few things you rule, you either spin off into depression, fear, or panic, or you remember that you can rest, knowing that though your life is out of your control, it is not actually out of control. We have a King who sits on his throne above the earth. He rules with wisdom, holiness, and grace. His rule is always right, his plan cannot be thwarted, and his will is done in heaven and on earth. Nothing escapes his rule. Everything he ordains, he accomplishes. He delivers on every promise he has made. He is King.

Psalm 47 calls us out of our fear and panic and welcomes us to peace and rest of heart:

Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,

a great king over all the earth.

He subdued peoples under us,

and nations under our feet.

He chose our heritage for us,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

Selah

God reigns over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

The princes of the peoples gather

as the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

he is highly exalted! (Ps. 47:1-4, 8-9)

Psalm 47 tells you that you will never be in a situation, location, or relationship that is not ruled by your Lord. You will never wander outside of his rule. Not only does he rule, but he exercises his sovereign rule over all things for the sake of those whom he has chosen to be the objects of his love. Your world is ruled by one who loves you and exercises his infinite power for your eternal good. This does not mean that you will always understand what happens in your life, but, in the failure of your understanding, you can know that your life is in good hands.

Does your life seem out of control? Run again and again to Psalm 47. Remember, rest, and rejoice. The one who rules loves you and is exercising his kingship for your good and his glory.

 MONITE SUNE 15, 2026

SAAME 40-45; MATIU 5:1-12

Your body always moves toward what your heart has been longing for.

‘Oku nga’unu ma’u pe ho sino ki he me’a ‘oku hohoi ki ai ho loto.

If I could eavesdrop on the longings of your heart, what would I hear? Maybe you're single and long for the lifelong companionship of marriage. Maybe you have a job, but what you long for is a satisfying career. Perhaps in the midst of extended family chaos, you long for the sweetness of family peace. Maybe you're sick and long for physical health and strength. Perhaps you long for enough money to pay your bills or to afford a dependable car. You may be a student who longs for success in your upcoming exams. Our hearts are never free from longing and, as the Bible reveals, our bodies follow after the longings of our hearts.

Psalm 42 is about the beautiful and life-giving longing that God designed to rule our hearts and shape how we live. What is this longing? It is longing for God himself. Longing for God involves longing for his presence, his fellowship, his wise rule, his rescuing grace, and the gathering of others who long for him as well. But in order to long for God, grace must first inspire and empower that longing. At the center of what sin is and does is a longing to be God. This desire goes all the way back to the fall in the garden of Eden. And because we are born in sin, we are born with idolatrous longing. Rather than naturally longing for God, we long for his position, power, and rule. We all need grace to rescue us from idolatry of self, so that our hearts may reach up to the one who first reached down to us.

Psalm 42 is both convicting and encouraging:

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you,

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

O God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food

day and night.

while they say to me all the day long,

"Where is your God?"

These things I remember,

as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise.

a multitude keeping festival. (Ps. 42:1-4)

Be honest today: Do you hunger after and long for God? Are you like a parched deer, panting for water? Does longing for God propel your devotional life, your relationships, and your participation in public worship? Longing for God will always produce love for the people of God and joyful participation in  the public worship of God.

If you lack that longing, remember that Jesus came to restore what sin robbed you of. Pray that God would place longing for him in your heart. God delights when his people long for him, so he delights in answering our prayers  for that longing.

 SAPATE SUNE 14, 2026

SAAME 36-39; KALETIA 6:6-10

Willing and humble patience is a significant aspect of faith in God.

Ko e loto ke fa’a tatali ‘i he angavaivai ko e konga lahi ia ‘o e tui ki he ‘Otua.

In his infinite wisdom, God faithfully delivers, in his own time, what he has ordained and promised. God's timing is never wrong. Not only does he give us what is best, but he gives it at the very best time. This means that if, by faith, we place our lives in God's hands, then we must be willing to wait. Waiting is an essential element of biblical faith. This is hard for me. For reasons I don't completely understand, I am very time-oriented. I hate being stuck in traffic. I don't like waiting in long lines. I dislike waiting for my name to be called in the waiting room of a doctor's office. I have a hard time being patient as I am waiting to go somewhere with my wife and she is not quite ready. I do understand that impatience is prideful. It puts my needs, wants, and schedule first. Impatience is frustrated self-sovereignty, a desire for greater control over people and situations than God designed us to have.

Because patience is such a significant function of biblical faith, and because it is a personal struggle for me, I have found Psalm 37 to be both convicting and motivating:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass

and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. (Ps. 37:1-9)

What does waiting look like? It looks like not giving in to fear even when it seems as though the bad guys are winning. It looks like not envying the prosperity of those who break God's rules. It looks like delighting in the Lord while you are waiting. It looks like willingly committing your life to the wise rule of the Lord. It looks like not giving way to anger and believing that God blesses those who are willing to wait. Now, none of these aspects of waiting is natural for us. So, in order to wait with joyful, fear-free patience, we need God to meet us and empower us with his grace. If waiting is an essential aspect of true faith, then it is also a fruit of divine grace.

So, we wait. Ultimately, we wait for the fulfillment of the promise that we will be with our Savior face-to-face.

 TOKONAKI SUNE 13, 2026

SAAME 32-35; SAAME 103:6-14

As a child of God, you receive the blessing of complete and final forgiveness.

‘I ho’o hoko ko e taha ‘o e fanau ‘a e ‘Otua, ‘oku ke ma’u ‘a e tapuaki ‘o e fakamolemole kakato mo aofangatuku ‘a e ‘Otua.

What is the biggest blessing in your life? I know that I have been blessed in many ways. I have been blessed with a long-term marriage to my hero, my counselor, and my best friend, Luella. I cannot imagine what my life would have been without her. I have been blessed with four children, now adults, and the relationships of love we share with them. I have been blessed with six wonderful grandchildren. I have been blessed with a ministry life that has been more motivating and exciting than I ever could have dreamed. I have been blessed to always have food to eat and homes in which to stay. I have been blessed to be in wonderful churches that are committed to the gospel. I have been blessed with many faithful friends. I could go on and on with the undeserved and unearned blessings in my life, but one blessing is so amazing and life-transforming that I will celebrate it for the rest of eternity. This blessing gets me up in the morning and gives me hope. It has captured my heart and set the direction for my personal life and my ministry life.

What is this amazing blessing that outshines every other on my list? Psalm 32 captures it well:

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.

Selah (Ps. 32:5)

We are all born in a condition so deep, dark, and destructive that it always leads to death. This darkness pervades every aspect of our personhood. We have no power whatsoever to escape it. It captures our heart and controls every thought and desire. It is the cause of every moral and relational human dysfunction. It makes life hard and sad. Sin is the worst thing that could have ever happened to us. Therefore, God's forgiveness is the best thing that could ever happen to us.

David uses three words to characterize this dark condition: sin, which is falling short of God's holy standard; transgression, which is the rebellion that causes us to step over God's boundaries; and iniquity, which is moral uncleanness. 

God's forgiveness covers each aspect of what sin is and what sin does. It's an amazing blessing that we don't have to work to clean ourselves up or try to make ourselves acceptable to God in order to earn his forgiveness. No, he meets us as we are, asking us to come to him with humble words of confession and trust his forgiving mercies. Minimizing, denying, or excusing our sin never defeats it. Arguing for our own righteousness has never made us righteous. Comparing ourselves to others never breaks the hold that sin has on us. Our only hope in the face of this terminal disease is divine forgiveness. Psalm 32 looks forward to how that forgiveness will be finally secured for us by Jesus.

 FALAITE SUNE 12, 2026

SAAME 26-31; KOLOSE 2:6-10 

Theology can be deeply personal. It concerns our identity, our need, our provision, and our hope for the future.

Ko e Teolosia, ‘oku ‘i ai ‘ene fekau’aki vaofi mo kitautolu. ‘Oku lave ki hotau tu’unga fakaetangata, ‘etau fiema’u, tokonaki mo ‘etau ‘amanaki ki he kaha’uu.

Many believers associate the word doctrine with academics, intellectuals, and seminary students. They think of abstract theological concepts discussed and debated by the Christian elite. A counselee once told me, "Don't lecture me with that doctrinal stuff. Just tell me how Jesus can help me." She failed to understand that nothing is more practical for daily living, times of suffering, and spiritual struggles than the theology we find in the word of God. The beautiful doctrines presented in God's word are intensely personal. They help us think through who we are, why we do the things we do, how we should live, and how our hearts and lives can change. Most importantly, those doctrines introduce us to our Creator, our Lord and Savior, for whom we are meant to live and in whom we find redemption and eternal hope.

In reality, everyone is a theologian. Everyone seeks to make sense out of life. Everyone develops an identity and assigns meaning to life. Everyone carries around a system of "doctrine" that helps us interpret and respond to situations and relationships. You get your theology either from the Bible or from somewhere else, but you have a theology. Psalm 27 is one of my favorite psalms. Consider the theology of the first verse:

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1)

David wrote Psalm 27 when he was in the middle of heart-crushing trouble. He was trying to escape either the jealous anger of Saul or the violent betrayal of his son Absalom. But Psalm 27 doesn't begin with trouble; it begins with theology. In times of trouble, theology is meant to be our comfort and guide. We also see how doctrine is presented in this psalm. David doesn't say the Lord is light, the Lord is salvation, or the Lord is a stronghold, as though these doctrines are distant and removed from David's life. No, he writes, "The LORD is my light… the LORD is my salvation... the LORD is the stronghold of my salvation." These truths are deeply personal for David. They define his identity and depict where his help and hope are found. He is saying, "I have been connected to this glorious one by grace, and therefore he is all of these things for me." The theology expressed in Scripture introduces us to the one in whom life is found. It gives life to all who put their trust in the one who sits at the center of every doctrine in the word of God.