An unfortunate truth in today’s society is that our food choices, our hunger cues, our taste buds and neurotransmitters are being hijacked by the food industry, addictive ingredients, marketing, chronic stress, + diet culture.

This is a spiritual battle. Our mind, bodies, and spirit are interconnected...Let's talk about it!

Psalm 81 begins with the psalmist calling on the people of Israel to worship God according to His law, to sing to Him and celebrate the prescribed holy days. As the Israelites were preparing to celebrate these feast days, the psalmist wanted them to look back at their history and the promises God had made to their nation. He encouraged them to give their hearts solely to God and worship Him alone.

In Psalm 80, the psalmist compares the nation of Israel to a vine. The vine once flourished in the care of God, but God had turned His back on the vine, leaving it to be burned, because of the sins of the people. The psalmist, sensing that Israel was ready to repent, asked God to restore the vine and to make His face shine on His people once again.

Psalm 79 is very reminiscent of Psalm 74 and appears to describe the same events, namely the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of God’s people by the Babylonians. Asaph’s main intention in writing this psalm was to call out to God to avenge His people and His honorable name against their godless enemies.

Psalm 78 is a summarized historical account of the nation of Israel, which highlights God's repeated acts of deliverance and the people's repeated disobediences. The psalm writer wanted to document this history to teach the upcoming generations about the mistakes of their ancestors and to encourage them to put their faith in God for a brighter future.

Psalm 77 was written by Asaph during a time of despair and distance from God. He was tempted to believe God had forgotten about Him and His people. To stave off his doubt, he meditated on God’s amazing deeds towards Israel in their history, specifically God’s great miracle in helping Israel escape the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

Psalm 76 is a psalm of worship to God for a victory He gave to the people of Israel and Judah. When the enemies invaded their land, God’s power turned them back and humbled them. Asaph, the author, advised all men to fear the Lord and hold Him in High honor.

Psalm 75 extolls God’s fairness and equity in judgement. God has appointed a time in which He will judge all men. He will exalt the righteous and those who trust in Him. In contrast, he will debase the proud and make them drink from the foaming cup of His wrath (Psalm 75:8).

Jerusalem was in despair. Psalm 74 begins with the psalmist mourning over the ruins of God’s sanctuary and holy places. The enemies of Israel had ransacked their sacred spaces and Israel had no recourse. The psalmist pleads with God to help them and to vindicate His name against those who were mocking it. Israel was helpless, but their God had the power to save them.

Asaph, the author of Psalm 73, was confused about the way the world worked. He saw righteous people suffering while wicked people flourished. He admitted he was tempted to live like the wicked, until he went into the sanctuary of God and found answers. God would eventually vindicate the righteous and punish the evildoers. There was no future in wickedness, but there was a glorious future for those who loved God.

Psalm 72 is a prayer of blessing over the King of Israel. The psalmist prayed that God would bless Israel and cause the nation to flourish under the king’s leadership. The psalm contains more than 10 specific prayers for the future of the kingdom and concludes with a statement of praise directed towards the God of Israel.

The author of Psalm 71 was growing old, and his strength was fading. He wrote this psalm to express his trust in God to help him fight his battles. He had trusted God since his youth and God had never disappointed him. While he didn’t have strength to fight anymore, he was ready to use the strength he still had to worship and teach others about God.

David asked God to run to his side in Psalm 70 to help him with his enemies. David’s adversaries relished in the thought of ruining him. David asked the Lord to shame them and thwart their efforts. David recognized that he needed the Lord’s deliverance. He needed God to help him because he was just a “poor and needy” man (70:5).

In Psalm 69, David shares his depression and weariness in dealing with his enemies. Men hated him because of his close association to God. These haters of God wanted to see him ruined, but David was confident the Lord wouldn’t allow it to happen. He waited patiently for the Lord’s deliverance, worshipping while he waited.

Psalm 68 is a psalm of David in which He praises God for His power and His care for the helpless (orphans, widows, etc.). David recalls God’s care for the Israelites when they travelled through the wilderness and the great display of God’s power seen at Mount Sinai. He speaks of a procession of worship, made up of the tribes of Israel and foreign dignitaries who honor the Lord. Paul quotes from Psalm 68:14 in Ephesians 4:8.

Psalm 67 has an unknown author and is relatively short at just 7 verses. The psalmist asks for God’s blessing on his people, so the surrounding nations would know they served the one true God of Heaven and come to know Him themselves. The author found joy in the fact that God judged the earth with equity and governed the nations of the earth.

Psalm 66 is a psalm of worship and thanksgiving for God’s love and great works. The psalmist calls on everyone to shout to the Lord with joy. The psalm recalls God's deliverance of the nation of Israel, invites people to worship, and concludes with a personal testimony about how God answered the prayers of the psalmist.

Psalm 65 is pure praise! David gives his readers multiple reasons to worship God. He is worthy of our adoration and our thanksgivings should be directed towards Him. The psalm speaks of God’s kindness, how He cares for His people and nurtures the earth to bring forth an abundant harvest.

In Psalm 64, David asked God to preserve his life from his enemies, wicked men who wanted to ruin him and other godly people. These wicked men worked super hard to lay secret traps for innocent people. They were clever in their craft, but God is cleverer. David wrote of His confidence that God would upend the traps of the wicked and destroy them with their own devices.

David wrote Psalm 63 to express his longing for God. He craved God’s presence like food and drink. He found satisfaction in going to the sanctuary, the Tabernacle, and meditating on God when he was laying on his bed at night. He anticipated a future where God defeated his enemies for him and exulted him on the throne of Israel.