Psalm 103 David’s psalm celebrates what the Lord does for us and speaks again of God’s mercies to his people, Israel. These mercies are showered on us, in and through Jesus. We meditate on the goodness of God and how we ought to worship the Lord because of his goodness. David expressed this in the opening words, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! David wanted …
Psalm 90: A Prayer of Moses, man of God The death column is never without names. It is said that the one thing certain about life is that we must leave it. Being confronted with death personally, our mortality confronts us. We are out of our comfort zone when we stand by a casket being lowered in the ground, never to be part of our family/friend circle ever again this side of eternity. Our lives …
Psalm 85 In Psalm 85, I am reminded that the words SILENT and LISTEN have the same letters. My Lord teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault me … Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get to[sic] used to the sounds of your voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away …
Psalm 73 Have any of us struggled with our faith, being perplexed by wicked prospering, often at the expense of us ordinary “Joe Bloggs” of this world, accepting also the ultimate justice and goodness of God, and soldiering on relentless? Psalm 73, written by musician Asaph, resonates with many believers, because it reflects the timeless human experience of grappling with doubt and finding solace in God’s presence. The psalm begins with a declaration of God’s …
Words of repentance The words of Psalm 51:10 are included in the Offertory liturgy of the Service with Communion, page 13 of LHS. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Those who are serious about repentance in today’s moral climate will be swimming upstream. In the world we live in, it’s not particularly fashionable to repent of anything. We’re encouraged to assert ourselves, be good …
Thirsty for God We know of the perils of being physically dehydrated; and not heeding the warning signs can have adverse health problems, even death. However, our alienation from God has an even more tragic consequence when we unknowingly are spiritually dehydrated. We only know of our need to drink of the Living Water, Jesus, when the Holy Spirit brings us to that realisation in his Word. As we reflect on Psalm 42: As the …
Psalms – Hymns and Prayers of God’s people How are we going, praying? Is prayer becoming more relaxed as we first reflect on his Word in our prayers. Can we get a sense of being in David’s shoes, for example, as we express the very depth of our being in very down-to-earth, even rhetorical language? A few thoughts in Psalm 23: God as the Shepherd dominates the psalm and is constant throughout. The emotional centre is v4 …
Psalms – Hymns and Prayers of God’s people Whilst reading Psalm 15, it could be so easy just to tick off all the attributes of a Christian and think to ourselves that we measure up. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! God measured up, in sending Jesus to the cross for us. Jesus paid the price and now we, as baptised children of God, live in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. We are God’s temple and the mercy …
Psalms 1 and 2 Psalms 1 and 2 work as funnels directing all the Law (through Psalm 1) and all the Prophets (through Psalm 2), into the way of prayer. By means of Psalm 1 we become a tree, putting down roots into well-irrigated soil of the Law. Psalm 1 concentrates our energies into mediative attention. A righteous life is blessed (1:1a) When we live a life like Christ – a righteous life – we …
Hymns and prayers of God’s people Most Christians over the centuries have learned to pray by praying the Psalms. The Hebrews with several centuries of a head start on us in matters of prayer and worship, provided us with this prayer book that gives us a language adequate for responding to the God who speaks to us. The Psalms as a book of 150 songs (or poems) which refer to events throughout the Old Testament …
God-given Gifts Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (1 Peter 4:10 NIV) I started learning to play the piano when I was about nine. I was never a good student and didn’t do much practice. However, my parents felt it was important that I kept learning, and they paid for my lessons for about six years. My teacher …
Good News But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people”. (Luke 2:10 NIV) We all love to share good news. When my children were born, I was eager to let people know and they in turn spread the good news to other people. To spread good news, we must talk about it. When Jesus our Saviour was born, an …