05/24/2026
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Day 144: Psalms 108–110
Pressed Between Glory and Grace by Cara Vanderkolk
There are some Scriptures that feel polished and triumphant from beginning to end. Then there are passages like Psalms 108–110 that feel deeply layered… almost like God intentionally placed heaven’s glory around the rawness of humanity so we could see both clearly at the same time.
As I read these Psalms today, I could not help but picture the original Oreo cookie. Long before the dark chocolate version most of us know today, the first Oreo was made with two golden cookies surrounding a white, sweet center. And strangely enough, that picture became such a beautiful reflection of what is happening in these chapters.
Psalm 108 opens with the golden framework of God’s sovereignty. David’s eyes are lifted upward. God is exalted above the heavens. His glory fills the earth. There is confidence, worship, steadfastness, and remembrance of who God is. The Psalm feels firm and immovable, like a solid foundation that cannot be shaken.
Then Psalm 110 closes the reading with an even greater revelation. Suddenly we see the prophetic picture of Christ: the eternal King seated at the right hand of God. The victorious Priest. The sovereign ruler over all things. The Psalm points beyond David and anchors everything in the authority and reign of Jesus Himself.
Those two Psalms become like the golden outer layers of the cookie… firm, glorious, unmoving, and eternal. They frame everything else. They hold everything together.
And right in the middle sits Psalm 109.
Here we see the dark reality of the human heart exposed. David does not hide his emotions. He pours out betrayal, anguish, frustration, and words so raw that, if acted upon outside of God’s sovereignty, they could lead to destruction. We see wounded humanity in real time. David is honest about what is stirring inside him.
And honestly, that is part of what makes the Psalms so comforting.
God is not intimidated by our honesty.
The danger is not that humanity feels darkness. The danger is when humanity clings to darkness instead of surrendering it to God. David does something profoundly right in the middle of all his raw emotion: he brings it to the Lord. He does not enthrone his emotions as truth. He lays them before the only One righteous enough to carry them properly.
And there, pressed between the majesty of Psalm 108 and the reign of Psalm 110, sits the dark middle of Psalm 109… humanity in all its brokenness.
But it does not remain dark.
Pressed between the sovereignty of God and the salvation of Christ, the dark heart of man does not remain dark. It is transformed.
That is the Gospel hidden in these Psalms.
The golden outer layers become a picture of God Himself: His glory, righteousness, holiness, sovereignty, salvation, and eternal nature. Those truths do not bend or crumble. They hold everything together.
And in the middle is humanity… wounded, emotional, broken, sinful, and unable to transform itself.
Yet when surrendered to God, something miraculous happens.
What was hardened becomes pliable.
What was bitter becomes sweet.
What was stained becomes white.
What was unstable becomes held together.
Not because humanity purified itself, but because God surrounded it with Himself.
I think that is one of the most beautiful truths found in the Psalms. God never asks us to pretend we are already whole. He invites us to come honestly, bringing Him the darkness we cannot fix ourselves. He is not repelled by surrendered brokenness. He transforms it.
And maybe that is the invitation for us today too: not to hide our rawness from God, but to bring it fully into His presence and allow His sovereignty, His goodness, and the finished work of Christ to transform what we could never change on our own. When held between the glory of God and the salvation of Christ, even the darkest parts of humanity can become something altogether different… something softened by grace, made clean through surrender, and formed into something beautiful, sweet, and deeply desired by the One who created us for communion with Him from the very beginning.
