Note: all Inspirations are uploaded, up until 24th July – scroll down for earlier posts…

Thursday 24th July – Psalm 32  ‘The Covering’

At this time of year, our family is usually getting ready to camp for at least part of our summer holiday.  Not this year, I must confess – the older I get, the more I struggle with thin mats to sleep on and stiff backs in the morning!  Though, sat outside on a warm evening with a (plastic) glass of good red wine and a glorious sunset to watch, there’s nothing like it.

Probably the most important part of our annual preparations is the ‘tent material check’ – i.e. the time spent in checking the seams and (usually) re-spraying it with water-proofing spray.  It doesn’t matter how much a tent appears to be water-proof – anyone who camps knows that a night’s rain finds relentless ways to drip onto your head!  The first rule of every camping trip is to be properly covered overnight.  If that happens, then you can cope with everything else.

The idea of a complete covering is central to today’s psalm: only this time, it’s our sins which are ‘covered’ by the Lord (v1).  The idea of covering works in three ways in this psalm: first (though not first in order), we see that King David does not ‘cover up’ his sins before God (v5).  This is crucial, because for God to ‘cover’ them with his forgiveness, we first must uncover them before him.  It’s so tempting for us to try to cover over our sins – the problem is that it doesn’t work.  Like putting on jumper over a dirty shirt, the stain is still there underneath the jumper.  I’m sure none of you have ever done that….!

God, however, can provide a much more effective covering for this universal human problem, one which brings both forgiveness (v1) and removal of guilt (v5).  This is the second, and life-giving covering.  Scholars have argued as to whether this ‘covering’ effectively means that the ‘stain’ is still there, but the removal of guilt surely suggests that the covering is so complete the stain is irrelevant.

But there is yet a third covering: the shelter of God’s mercy.  Or as David puts it: (v7) ‘you are my hiding place’.  Like the best tent, no matter how much the rain beats down, we are safe inside; we are covered by the Lord, surrounding and protecting us.  This verse has been made famous by Corrie ten Boom’s autobiography, called ‘The Hiding Place’, telling the dramatic story of how her family sheltered Jewish people during the war.  In her story, the hiding place was both what her family offered those at risk, and also how the Lord himself acted as Corrie’s ‘hiding place’ when she was eventually arrested and sent to a concentration camp (which thankfully she survived).

We may not face Corrie’s challenges: but the Lord remains our hiding place, too.  As we close this week, may we rest secure knowing that the Lord has not only covered our sins but surrounds us with songs of deliverance.  And may that cause us to rejoice and be glad (v11).

Wednesday 23rd July – Psalm 31  ‘The Committal’

A man is dying, more or less alone save for his mother and a few friends.  He is in distress, weak, not just from loss of blood and many physical injuries, but from sorrow at a broken world.  He grieves the betrayal of one friend and the cowardice of many others.  His strength is failing, and as he dies, publicly for all to see, he recognises that most of those who have come to watch are full of contempt for him.  If you really are the special one, they spit, save yourself from this predicament!  He feels forgotten, his body like broken pottery: many have plotted to take his life for some time, and now their wish has been fulfilled.

As his breath starts to give out, his troubled mind turns to the scriptures that have held him, nourished him, sustained and shaped him through his whole life.  These scriptures are the bedrock on which his feet can still stand in a spacious place, even while everything else collapses.  He knows his work is complete: he has already cried out to those watching that it is finished.  And so he utters one last audible phrase, a verse from a psalm which mirrors his situation – one last beautiful truth that no-one can take away from him: not the authorities, not his enemies, not even death itself: ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’  When he has spoken this out, declared it not just to those around him but to the world and all future generations that will succeed him, then he breathes his last….

Psalm 31 is not particularly well known, and it never appears on a list of people’s favourite psalms.  Its context is bleak, and (we might as well admit this) it’s one of the longer ones, too.  We like the ones which are 6-12 verses – but a 24-verser needs a decent ratio of upbeat stuff, and Psalm 31 doesn’t have quite enough of that to make it onto our ‘favourites playlist’.

But it is a vitally important psalm, for one verse alone – verse 5, a verse quoted by the Son of God at the climax of his life.  When Jesus seeks solace in the terrible agonies he is enduring, he comes here, to Psalm 31.  He knows his situation reflects exactly what David writes in verses 9-13, and we can look back and give thanks that David unconsciously – but prophetically – wrote words which were fulfilled by Jesus Christ a thousand years later, words which held him and gave him comfort even as he was dying.  Jesus committed his spirit into his Father’s hands, knowing that his work was done.

Ultimately, to commit our spirits into the Lord’s hands is not an act of death but of life.  Jesus knew that – three days later, the world did.  Likewise, we can also commit our spirits into the Lord’s hands every day: it is an act of trust (14) – trust in the Lord, who holds our times in his hands (v15).  And as we do that today, so may we know the abundance of the Lord’s goodness (v19) and the shelter of his presence (v20).

Tuesday 22nd July – Psalm 30  ‘The Exaltation’

In February 2023 a 19-month old toddler was rescued safely from a 50-ft well in Thailand.  The well had been newly dug, but had been carelessly left uncovered after it failed to strike water.  The toddler spent 18 hours at the bottom before being lifted to safety, thanks to a huge team, careful digging and a strong red rope. Her successful rescue made news around the world, and thankfully she suffered only minor injuries.

Today’s Psalm is all about lifting, too. Two liftings, in fact.  What occasioned the Psalm is David being ‘lifted out of the depths’ (v1) – by God.  We’re not sure if David is referring to specific physical danger, or if the image is primarily spiritual.  But, like the toddler, David sees himself as helpless unless it is God who lifts him out: (v2) ‘Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me… you spared me from going down to the pit.’

The pit is an ancient way of understanding death, and thanks to his survival, David too does some ‘heavy lifting’ of his own.  The word exalt means to ‘lift up’, and what David wants to do is exalt (lift up) the Lord himself.  As David has been lifted by God, so now he lifts up God’s name, and his glorious qualities: his capacity for healing (v2) and for mercy (v3), his holiness (v4), and most significantly in this psalm, his favour (v5).

What David says about God in v5 is such an important message for us to hear.  We often think of God as being, if not angry, then mostly disappointed with us.  But David says that the opposite is actually true: (v5) ‘his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime.’

The Puritan writer Thomas Goodwin draws the contrast between God’s ‘strange work’ and his ‘natural work’, when describing the text in Deuteronomy that God’s punishment passes down three or four generations, but his love lasts for a thousand generations.  In other words, as Goodwin interprets, God’s strange work is punishment, but his natural work is love.  Or, as David says here in this psalm: ‘his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime.’

Wherever you find yourself today, take heart from this beautiful truth.  If it is a time for weeping, remember that, in the Lord, rejoicing comes in the morning (v5).  If it is a time to wail, then eventually we will find ourselves able to dance (v11).  May this wonderful thought cause our spirits to exalt the Lord, too, that our hearts may sing his praises and not be silent (v12).  Amen!

July 2025 – ‘The Cloud of Witnesses’

Hebrews 11 is perhaps the greatest chapter celebrating the biblical heroes of the faith: Hebrews 11.  Over the next two weeks or so (13 Daily Inspirations) we’ll look at this amazing chapter a few verses at a time to see what real faith looks like in practice – feel free to go back to the original stories if you have time.  Either way, as we do so, may the faith of these great characters inspire us to keep living out our faith today!

Monday 21st July – Hebrews 12:1-3 (iii) ‘Faith fixes eyes on Jesus’

When our kids were toddlers we went to the park most days.  We were lucky to have two or three options nearby.  It was a great way for them to let off steam, have some fun and provide a change of scenery.  Any of you who have (or remember having) young children will know the drill at the park.  Lovely as it is to be there, and even if you take a few minutes to sit down or chat to another parent, all the time your eyes are fixed on a small moving object(s) which is in constant motion – your children!  Wherever they run, your eyes, like a guided laser, follow them round.

This is a skill it takes time to acquire: that capacity to follow your kids even in a crowd, or when ducking behind play equipment.  You learn their methods, their preferred locations, any surprises they might have up their sleeve.  The real childcare experts – and when you start at the park you are in awe of other parents who seem to have this sixth sense – manage to look unflustered, sipping their coffee or enjoying the sunshine, and yet always intervene at the right moment, just before their child gets themselves into trouble.

Learning to fix your eyes is a valuable skill – and we conclude our short series by making the same observation about faith.  Over the last two weeks, we’ve mined many valuable reflections about what faith is and how it works.  We’ve thought about how faith has energised people through the generations, and how it gives us inspiration to grow, to be courageous, to be hopeful and to endure.  But ultimately it comes down to one thing: it’s about where we fix our eyes.  Or rather, on whom.

In the end, the key to the life of faith is to fix our gaze on Jesus.  Why?  Because Jesus is the source of faith and the example of faith.   Our faith is in Jesus, and also modelled by Jesus.  And as Jesus faced all that life and death threw at him and overcame, so we too can do the same.

In Jesus we find the wisdom, the courage and the hope that we need.  Jesus gave his best, obeyed regardless and trusted the promises of God.  Jesus found grace to wait, and held nothing back when the time came.  Jesus blessed others throughout, overcame fear and found the seeds of grace in surprising people.  Jesus never lost sight that he was known, and precious to, God.  He faced his struggles because he looked forward to something better (‘for the joy that was set before him’), travelled light – both physically and spiritually – and persevered in every circumstance.  Truly the source and the example on which we can build our lives.

So the key to life comes down to this: ‘let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith’.

Faith is not easy – but we know someone who’s been there before us.   And that Someone is able to keep us and empower us in every situation, every day.  Amen.

Saturday 19th July – Hebrews 12:1-3 (ii) ‘Faith perseveres’

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.  Several hundred years before the author of Hebrews wrote this passage, Aesop wrote his famous fable about the hare and the tortoise.  The moral of the story: faithful, consistent plodding beats erratic and inconsistent speed every time.  

Jesus himself made a similar observation in the parable of the sower: the seed that fell on shallow soil grew quickly and then withered. Rapid progress followed by an equally rapid falling away.   This last story is pertinent to the situation faced by the recipients of this letter.  Times were hard for them, opposition to their faith was increasing, and some of them were tempted to give up; the cost was just too great.

The author of this profound letter is really making a simple point throughout: keep going!  Don’t give up – the challenge is worth it.  Faith perseveres.

During the course of this letter, the writer has made this vital point in lots of ways: the divine status of the Son guarantees that his saving work is effective; Jesus is both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice; Jesus is also human like us, and so is with us in our trials. 

And then we get to chapter 11, and the history of faith, and it is this chronicle of faithfulness to which the writer finally appeals here in this passage.  Keep going because… ‘since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.’  Better the tortoise than the hare.  Better the slow-growing seed in the good soil which bears abundant fruit.   True courage is not the absence of fear but overcoming our fear. 

Jesus persevered in every circumstance: ‘he endured the cross, scorning its shame.’  Consider this, the writer concludes, ‘so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’  Whatever challenges we face today, Jesus has been there before us.  He overcame: and we, Christ’s adopted sisters and brothers, can overcome too, in the strength of his Spirit.  Keep going: you shall overcome.

Friday 18th July – Hebrews 12:1-3 (i) ‘Faith travels light’

Most of you know that I love cycling.  I’m not a serious cyclist: I only potter about, mostly around the parish and rarely making journeys of more than a few miles.  But, apart from the pleasure of cycling itself, I do love to watch the Grand Tours and Track Championships as well, seeing the real pros at work.

And in the world of cycling, one of the big changes of the last 20 or so years is what you might call the ‘Law of Marginal Gains’.  Sir Dave Brailsford, erstwhile Head of UK Cycling, was very much a pioneer in this regard: the idea that the way to beat your competition was not by one massive improvement but by a huge number of small advances: slightly smoother clothing and better bike position to reduce wind resistance, exact timing of when a cyclist should eat to maximise the energy boost, and even (so the urban myth goes) rounder wheels!  I kid you not, this was actually the subject of an informal complaint by another team at the 2016 Olympics – the GB Track Cycling Team had wheels that were perfectly round, instead of being out by 0.1%.

The other huge area for ‘marginal gains’ concerns weight: every gram you can shave off the weight of the bike is one less gram for the cyclist to have push around the track or road.  Track bikes used for sprinting now routinely have no brakes, as this adds weight and possible friction with the wheel.  It’s all about travelling as light as possible.

And what’s true in cycling is just as true when it comes to following Jesus.  We are to travel light – Jesus himself famously told us this in one of the best-loved passages of Scripture: ‘My yoke is easy and my burden is light’ (Matthew 11:30). 

The author of Hebrews describes it in a different way here: ‘Since we are surrounded,’ he or she begins – and this signals to us that what comes next is the ‘so what’ of everything we’ve looked at over the last ten days – ‘let us throw off everything that hinders.’  Thankfully it’s not quite the same as taking the brakes off our bikes!  It’s more like taking the heavy rucksack off our back as we try and cycle, or removing the gunk from our brake pads which slows the bike down.

As we journey in faith, we pick up baggage.  Scars from failures, sins we struggle to shake, doubts that nag away at us.  Today’s encouragement is very simple: cast them off!  Keep asking God to heal your scars, forgive your sins (and have new hope to walk free) and give you courage to face your doubts.

Our baggage does not have to define us.  Our God is in the baggage reclaim business – let’s offer everything that weighs us down to him, so we can keep running (or cycling) our race.

Thursday 17th July – Hebrews 11:39-40 ‘Faith looks forward to something better’

Every year, in November, it is my privilege to attend the Milton Keynes Confirmation Service, where people from around the city – including from our team of churches – publicly affirm their faith in Christ, and their determination to live for him through the rest of their lives.  It is always an uplifting occasion, as we celebrate what God is doing here, especially in the hearts and lives of particular people.  This year, in fact, it will be our privilege to host it.

It is an inspiring reminder that faith continues to blossom and grow from one generation to the next.  God is still looking after His Church, and the kingdom of heaven continues to be at work on this earth.  Throughout this wonderful chapter of Hebrews we have told the stories of some of the great heroes of the faith, as well as honoured the unknown saints who served faithfully in their generation.  That story of faith continues to this day.  Who knows what heroes will be confirmed in November?

As the author brings this amazing chapter to a close, he or she summarises what energised the people described very simply and profoundly: even though they did not receive the fullness of what was promised (v39), they perceived with the eyes of faith that ‘God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be made perfect.’ (v40)

Faith is ultimately a forward-looking attitude.  Yes, it looks back to the saving work of Christ as a constant encouragement and source of our assurance.  Yes, it lives in the present outworking of our day-to-day lives – but it also carries us towards ‘something better’.   Coming full circle to where we started this chapter, ‘faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see ‘. (v1)

The full revelation of God in Christ was ultimately what the ancient heroes of faith were looking in hope towards – hence they also share in the benefits that Christ has won for all of us.  And this forward-looking perspective is what energises our present.  It is not ‘pie in the sky when we die’: but something real to carry us through all the seasons of life, both good and bad, light and dark, happy and sad.  As any seasoned walker will tell you, that moment when we see our end destination puts new energy in the legs, however far away it seems at the time.

Over the next three days, we’ll look at three practical tips that the author gives us to put this forward-looking perspective into practice.  But today, let’s give thanks that we do have such a hope – and may that future hope give us fresh energy for all we face at present.

Wednesday 16th July – Hebrews 11:32-38 ‘Faith is known to God’

I like to call today’s passage ‘the avalanche of faith’.  The chapter as a whole feels like the spiritual equivalent of a snowball picking up speed as it careers down the mountain.  The first 29 verses focus largely on a few central characters and only take us a third of the way through the book of Exodus.  Verses 30 and 31 speed us up to the book of Joshua – and then the avalanche really begins! 

In verse 32 we cover the rest of the Old Testament, with some accompanying description of the valiant deeds of this additional list thrown in for good measure in verses 33-34.  And then the perspective widens out completely to the great cloud of witnesses: the thousands upon thousands of faithful souls who lived and loved and served their Lord – unknown to history, but known to God.

Many of them paid a significant price for their faithfulness, as the passage reminds us in verses 36-38.  Even those who didn’t, however, kept the flame alight, kept the faith alive.  These are the people that Pete Greig describes so evocatively in his poetic vision which birthed the 24-7 prayer movement:

‘Don’t you hear them coming? Herald the weirdos!  Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.’

The frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes… children of another dimension.  Most of us know someone like this.  A quiet hero, who lived their faith in a way which inspired us.  Probably someone unknown to the wider church, but known to us – and known to God. 

And that’s the point: in the end whether others applaud our faith doesn’t matter that much – but God sees, and commends, and blesses.  Our faith is always known to him – and God is cheering all of us on.  Including you, and me.

So perhaps, today, give thanks for those quiet heroes, those children of another dimension that have inspired you.  And pray that you too might live faithfully, according to their example, adding your contribution to the continuing story of faith in our world.

Tuesday 15th July – Hebrews 11:29-31 ‘Faith is found in surprising people’

Today, in quick succession the author of Hebrews skates over two famous episodes – the Crossing of the Red Sea and the Fall of Jericho – and then reminds us of the role that Rahab played in the latter drama.  Rahab is one of those unsung heroes, who eventually merits a place in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).  Today I’m going to hand over the rein to Alianore Smith, who wrote this excellent reflection on Rahab a few years ago for an Advent series:

Sometimes it feels strange to tell people that one of my biblical heroes was a prostitute. It feels even stranger to tell them that this prostitute appears in Jesus’ genealogy. But that is the case with Rahab, the second woman to appear in Matthew 1.

As a prostitute, Rahab was the lowest of the low – especially according to Israel’s laws. And yet when two Israelite spies appear in her city, trying to work out how they can conquer it, she helps them. Instead of obeying Jericho’s king, she hides these men in her house and lies to the authorities, sending them on a wild goose chase across the desert.

Then comes the best bit. Rahab goes up to the men that she’s hidden on her roof, risking her own life by doing so, and says this: ‘I know that the LORD has given this land to you … For the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.’ (Joshua 2:9, 11)

For these words to come out of the mouth of a non-Israelite is completely unprecedented. The wording of this confession of faith in Joshua 2:11 is matched in only two other places in the whole Old Testament: the confession of Moses in Deuteronomy 4:39, and the confession of Solomon in 1 Kings 8:23. This woman, this prostitute, this ceremonially unclean, broken woman of the world has just made a confession of faith in the Lord which puts her up there with the likes of Moses, friend of God (Exodus 33:11), and Solomon, the wise King (1 Kings 3:12).

Not only that, but by bravely hiding these Israelite spies from the authorities and preventing them from being captured and killed, she is behaving in a way that chimes with the very heart of the covenant between Israel and the Lord. Her actions are completely in line with the deeds and quality of life that was supposed to distinguish the Israelite people from people like her. These actions and this confession lead her whole family to safety and result in her joining the Israelites after Jericho falls.

Rahab is a curveball in the story of Israel; another example of God’s plan deviating from what we might expect. But it is also a reminder – that God was at work in the most unlikely of places, and in and through the least likely of people. And he still is today.

Which unlikely people is he at work in around you?  Take a few minutes to pray, in faith, today.

Monday 14th July – Hebrews 11:23-28 ‘Faith overcomes fear’

What is the opposite of faith?  Many of us when asked that question, would say ‘doubt’.  But the bible’s answer is different. The opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear.  Fear is the thing that stifles faith the most.  It’s no surprise that when God meets people in scripture, the first thing he often says – whether it’s Jesus or an angelic being – is ‘don’t be afraid’.

We all feel fear to some degree.  Some of that is a biological necessity – as humans we learn to feel healthy fear whenever our physical wellbeing is in danger, that’s part of what keeps us alive – and why we tell toddlers not to wander towards a road or eat the litter they pick up from the floor!

So it could be said that one of the keys to flourishing in faith is learning to overcome our fear, whatever that might be: fear of failure, of unpopularity, of being wrong, of conflict, of appearing weak, of accepting help, of trusting a friend (or God).

Today’s passage surprised me when I read it.  Moses inspires me in lots of ways, but I hadn’t expected the way that Moses was described.  Events that are described in one way in the book of Exodus (you can read the full story in Exodus chapter 2) are re-cast here.  Moses is left in a basket not just because it was too dangerous to keep him hidden, but because his parents ‘were not afraid of the king’s edict’. (v23)

Similarly, Moses is ostracised from the royal court not just because he killed an Egyptian but because ‘he chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God.’ (v25)  And he left after the tenth plague not just because he was told to go by a duplicitous king, but also because he did not fear the king’s anger.  (It’s possible that v28 refers to Moses’ first flight, which makes the bold statement that he did not fear the king’s anger even more striking.)

Now we know that Moses felt fear at various points in his life, even during the famous Exodus narrative – he was reluctant to obey God’s call to go back to Egypt, and his initial response to the discovery of his killing was to be afraid (Exodus 2:14).  But this passage reminds us that Moses overcame his natural fear – it did not come to define him, or prevent him from fulfilling his calling.

The book of Hebrews was written to Christians under extreme pressure – far greater pressure than we face today.  But its encouragement is just the same.  We face fears, just as they did, just as God’s people have always done. But faith helps us to overcome our fear.  Faith keeps God on the throne, and lifts our eyes to see beyond our current circumstances, perhaps to do things we didn’t think we were capable of.  Faith is the antidote to fear, and calls us today to trust anew in both the power and the goodness of God.

Saturday 12th July – Hebrews 11:20-22 ‘Faith blesses others’

‘God’s people in God’s place under God’s blessing.’  This simple definition of the kingdom of God I learnt many years ago, and it’s a pretty good summary, which also allows us to track the progress of this amazing divine plan throughout the bible.  Adam and Eve begin very much as God’s people in God’s place under his blessing, but then lose those benefits through their rebellion.  When God calls Abraham in Genesis 12 he promises the restoration of that pattern – ‘to the land I will show you’ (v1 place), ‘a great nation’ (v2 people), ‘I will bless you’ (v2 blessing).

So far, so good – but there’s something missing.  It somehow feels a bit… introspective.  And in fact, helpful as this summary has been for my understanding of the bible and growth in faith, it neglects a fourth dimension: ‘All peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Genesis 12:3).

God’s people are blessed to be a blessing.  We pass it on.  The word for ‘love’ invented by the early Christians – agape – means selfless giving, inspired by Jesus’ own example.

So a huge part of the life of faith is the capacity to bless others: to pass on our blessings, to share them around.  And so we see, in today’s passage, that ‘by faith’ Isaac passed it on – he blessed his sons Jacob and Esau (v20).  Similarly, Jacob on his deathbed blessed his twelve sons, and also Joseph’s sons too (v21) – you can read this in detail in Genesis 49-50.

Even Joseph too became a blessing – while today’s passage looks forward to the return from Egypt several hundred years later (v22), it was Joseph’s wise leadership and gracious forgiveness extended to his family which saved their lives and allowed their lineage to continue.

As perhaps only becomes clear later in scripture, this lineage is special as it becomes the family through which God’s global promises are fulfilled – leading all the way to Jesus.  What this family only understood vaguely at the time of their lives takes on huge significance.

So often the same is true for us whenever we are called to take steps of faith.  Often we can’t see its true value at the time – but later we can see how God worked through it and brought a blessing.

And so, as spiritual descendants of this family – of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph – we too are called to bless others, in faith that the same God will work in us and through us, and that we also might be blessed, according to his infinite love and grace.

Friday 11th July – Hebrews 11:17-19 ‘Faith holds nothing back’

In recent years, it is noticeable how much more often we’re witnessing extreme weather, not just here in the UK but all around the world.  Record-breaking seasons are commonplace, an inevitable consequence of climate change – here in the UK, the wettest 18 months on record from 2023-2024 was followed in 2025 by the driest spring for more than 100 years, and the hottest June since 1884.  (As an aside, farming is under as much pressure as it’s been for generations.)  Average global temperature was the hottest ever recorded in 2024, beating the previous record which was… 2023.

As someone who has been involved with the environmental movement for more than 30 years, my sense is that the elephant in the room is the same as it when I first signed up in the late 1980s: there is no pain-free solution.  Technology will go some of the way to helping us out of this hole – but the rest requires a change of lifestyle on a huge scale.  Changes that our leaders are unlikely to commit us to, because they know that they are things which most of us still won’t accept. 

The reason we are where we are now is that we’ve always held something back – either as individuals, or as a country, or as a global community.  Our ‘faith’ in the future of the planet has a cut-off point.  There are sacrifices that we will refuse to make.   Today’s passage is profoundly challenging because it reminds us of a story in the bible where the central character held nothing back: he was prepared to surrender the most precious thing in his life if God called him to do so.

We know the end of the story – Abraham was spared having to go through with it.  But it remains disturbing, nonetheless.   Would God ever call us to something similar?  Thankfully for nearly all of us, the answer is no.  This passage is a prophetic foretaste, not of what God would ask of any other human, but what God would ask of himself.  Isaac points to Jesus, first and foremost.

But there is a spiritual lesson for us here: faith is about the surrender of self, the willingness to give everything to God, who gave everything for us.  We may never be asked to offer what Abraham did, but we are still called to hold nothing back.  And in doing so, there is true freedom.  The secret of surrender, if I can call it that, is that there is great blessing in the act of full surrender to God.  ‘They are no fool who gives what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose.’ (Jim Elliot)

And so, as we watch and pray regarding the future of our planet, may our ears as well as our eyes be open.  More generally, as we reflect on all of our lives, may God grant us grace to hold nothing back from him, and in so doing, to find fullness of life, both now and for eternity.

Thursday 10th July – Hebrews 11:13-16 ‘Faith waits in hope’

1st November – All Saints’ Day – is traditionally the day of the year when we celebrate the worldwide church, living and departed: the ‘cloud of witnesses’ who have lived by faith and borne testimony to their Lord in every culture throughout the centuries. 

Some of them are famous, and rightly so.  The vast majority are not: people just like us, who lived quietly faithful lives.  All of them/us are saved by the grace of God, since none of us ever achieve perfection this side of heaven.  There will be parts of our lives that remain ‘works in progress’, and certainly the societies in which we live will never be more than a partial reflection of the true kingdom of God.

After a brief tour of several of the most celebrated saints (and maybe a couple who are less well known) in the first part of the chapter, today the author of Hebrews pauses for a moment to remind us that, however much they achieved, ‘all these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.’ (v13)

Like us, these saints saw only a partial realisation of all that they lived and prayed and longed for.  Noah and his family were saved, but Noah had to trust the future of the human race into divine hands when he died.  Abraham and Sarah were blessed with a son, but had to trust that this son would indeed be the ‘child of promise’.  We know there were plenty of bumps along the way after that!

The author summarises by reminding us that to live by faith means to live as ‘foreigners and strangers on earth’ (v13).  It’s not that we cut ourselves off from society:  but there will always be a part of us that has a different home: ‘a better country – a heavenly one’ (v16). 

The assurance that this is our future is what inspired the saints of old – but it also inspires us, too.  We have the same inheritance, and we trust in the same glorious Saviour to lead us there.  And so, today, let us give thanks for the worldwide fellowship of the church of God around the world; and may we also give thanks for the future hope which awaits us, too.  May that future hope energise our present hours with faithful and fruitful service, this day and this season

Wednesday 9th July – Hebrews 11:8-12 ‘Faith trusts God’s promises’

Today we navigate better-known waters – the famous story of Abraham (Genesis 12 onwards).  Like Noah, Abraham was called to step out in faith.  Unlike Noah, the greatest promise of God was one for which Abraham had to wait much longer to be fulfilled.  God first promised Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child when he was 75 – it was finally fulfilled when Abraham turned 100.

Abraham’s journey was somewhat chequered, and not without its failings.  But the extraordinary faith he showed when leaving his homeland to head to the land to which God had called him (v8) and then to settle there (v9) proved a sure testing ground for the promises to come.  Indeed, he shared that faith with Sarah, who quite rightly gets equal billing in this text in trusting God for the family she was promised (v11).

We are the heirs of this promise – indeed all of us who worship our Lord are beneficiaries, a global movement ‘as numerous as the stars in the sky and countless as the sand on the seashore.’ (v12)

Not many of us have likely been given promises as huge as Abraham and Sarah.  But most of us carry smaller promises, special to us – and sometimes those promises take time to be fulfilled.  Abraham and Sarah’s story gives us faith and hope to believe that God will come through for us – even a mustard seed of that faith is enough.

Then there are God’s universal promises, the truths we find in scripture, the eternal realities of our faith.  The blessings promised to Abraham are ours: God has given them to us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14).  These promises have already been fulfilled – by faith we receive them and join God’s global family – both in this life, as well as in the one to come.

May God give us grace to trust his promises – for the one who promises them is faithful!

Tuesday 8th July – Hebrews 11:5-7 ‘Faith obeys regardless’

Many of you may be familiar with the film ‘Evan Almighty’ – apart from being very funny, the value of watching the film is that it is a modern-day re-telling of the story of Noah.  It visualises what it would actually be like to receive the sort of message Noah had from God, and to actually build an enormous boat in your garden while everyone around you pointed and laughed.  Like Chicken Licken in the child’s story, I wonder how many of us would have passed Noah’s home and believed that the sky really was about to fall down?

It’s easy to romanticise Noah’s story (Genesis 6-9), but the reality was hard.  Noah was given an incredible task, which required unusual faith to obey.  Indeed today’s passage soberingly reminds us that Noah’s faith did not just save him and his family but also condemned the world (v7).  Not that this was Noah’s fault, but the stakes were high – and we know that at the end of the story God gives Noah assurance that he would never have to ‘start again’ with humanity in the future: the rainbow would be a sign of blessing to remind us – one we can still see and give thanks for today.

Noah teaches us that faith obeys God in all circumstances: much of the time that will be reasonable, but there will be times when God asks us to do something unusual.  It is wise to check with trusted friends and companions, and to seek assurance in prayer –but we should not rule out such prompts.  We are all heirs of ‘the righteousness that it is in keeping with faith.’

A word, too, about Enoch (vv5-6).  Perhaps not a character you’re familiar with, but Enoch belongs to a very select group of people in the bible who were taken directly to be with God – as far as I can recall, there are only two others: Elijah and Jesus.  So this puts Enoch in very exalted company, which might cause you to wonder why he is so little known?

In fact Enoch’s life only covers a few verses in Genesis 5:18-24, one of those long genealogical lists you find in the Old Testament.  But Genesis 5:24 is quite clear that Enoch had a unique end, which is picked up on here in Hebrews 11, and the author rightly concludes that this remarkable chap must have lived an extraordinary life of faith.  In fact, his name means ‘dedicated’, and so he passed on as he lived: dedicated to his Lord.

We too have a similar calling: may God grant us grace to be dedicated to our Lord, and obey him in all circumstances.

Monday 7th July – Hebrews 11:1-4 ‘Faith gives its best’

What is faith?  It’s a fair question to ask – it’s a word that lies at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus, but so often it is parodied today as ‘the blind leading the blind’.  Many compare ‘faith’ unfavourably to fact or reason, or dismiss it as a crutch for the weak.

But this is not how the bible sees it.  Faith is something strong, active, dynamic – in fact this great chapter begins with this summary: ‘Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance in what we do not see.’ (v1)

Note the words used: confidence, assurance.  Other translations use the words ‘sure’ and ‘certain’.  Words we associate more with facts!  And whilst we can’t ‘prove’ faith in the way that some would wish, what scripture consistently affirms is that we can rely on faith because: (a) we have good reasons to believe; (b) we have our own experiences and convictions which we know we can’t deny; and (c) we have the examples of others to inspire us.

Which brings us to Hebrews 11: in this one chapter, the author (whose name we don’t know) brings together many of these inspiring examples in one extraordinary narrative: the 1^st-century equivalent of a coach’s pep talk.  ‘Look at these people,’ the author says, ‘if they can do it, so can you.  So keep going!’

And this list of inspirational figures begins at an unexpected place.  If I were to ask you who the first hero of the bible is, I bet most of you would say Noah.  But Hebrews gives us two heroes before that, and the very first is the one we read of today: Abel (you can read his story in Genesis 4).  Most of us simply think of Abel as the first murder victim of history, but what this passage does is remind us why that happened. 

Abel gave God his best – the firstfruits of his flock.  That is what put him at odds with his brother, but it is also why he is a hero of the faith.  Despite what happened to his parents, Abel knew that God deserved his worship, and so he gave God something precious – which in turn showed that his heart was fully given to God.

Faith is sometimes caricatured as a free pass – but nothing could be further from the truth.  Yes, faith is always our bedrock – but to live out our faith means to live with gratitude, and therefore to give of our best to God.

It is easy to get weary of doing good – but may Abel inspire us: how can you give God your best today?

June 2025 – Psalms 90-106

The Psalms are songs for the journey.  To paraphrase a well-known ad: ‘A psalm a day helps you work, rest and pray.’  Let’s be nourished with the humility, the honesty, and the heartfelt faith of the psalmists, and may we find a voice to draw near to God each day.

Saturday 5th July – Psalm 106  ‘History lessons’

I’ll admit it – I’m biased. I studied history for my university degree – I love it. I find it fascinating, and will happily read books on most historical subjects now.

I also know that not everyone enjoyed history at school.  Memories of rote-learning monarchs, or obsessing over outdated parliamentary laws, or perhaps the very grim subjects of the 20th century, have put a lot of people off.  Much better to live in the present, many have concluded.

But today’s psalm – and yesterday’s – give us a different perspective.  If I can put aside my own enthusiasm for a moment, there is still great value in learning the lessons of history.  As we observed earlier in our series: ‘Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them,’ was once wisely observed by Churchill, paraphrasing the philosopher George Santayana.

But we need history for more than just education.  We need it for faith, too.  Israel is constantly being given history lessons to remind themselves of who God is: how much he loves them, what he’s done for them, what it means to be the people of God: known, called, loved.

History matters.  So here in Psalm 106, as elsewhere, Israel gets its own, very personal, history lesson: God’s faithfulness, their disobedience, but also God’s forgiveness and restoration.  ‘Remember who God is – and remember who you are,’ is the repeated reminder.

We, too, can benefit from this advice. The Church, too, has a history.  Sadly, we tend to think nowadays only of the shameful seasons of that history.  But that is not the whole story – there are also many wonderful seasons and myriad stories of the power of God at work.  Maybe now is a time for some of us to read (or re-read) a good Christian biography, or a story of renewal, led by the people of God, which has been forgotten.

Whenever we celebrate a family birthday, we often spend some of the day sharing memories, digging out old photos.  We spend time remembering, because remembering builds relationship.  Let’s learn that history lesson with God too – in the end, we need history because it helps us to affirm with the psalmist: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.’

 Loving Lord, who can proclaim your mighty acts, or fully declare your praise?  You are amazing.  Help me to remember all you’ve done for me today.  Thank you for your faithfulness and love, for your goodness and mercy.  I give you my heartfelt thanks.  Amen.

Friday 4th July – Psalm 105:8-44  ‘His covenant for ever’

In the area of Streatham where we used to live (in south London), there were no pubs.  The reason is that, back in the 17th century, the land was owned by a Quaker family and they had attached a covenant to the land, which forbade it.  As a covenant, it was permanent – it lasted forever: even 300 years later it could not be changed.  If you wanted a beer, you had to walk a bit further!

The word covenant is little used now, but of immense importance.  It means a solemn and unconditional promise.  It denotes something permanent and – when formed between two parties – represents something mutual, founded on love.  It is how God deals with his people – and also how we are designed to relate to each other in our closest relationships. 

Thankfully we still have the word in a Christian marriage service, and this is the biggest difference between a Christian and a civil wedding.  In a civil ceremony you have what are called the ‘contracting words’ – this is when the wedding becomes binding, but note the use of language.  A Christian marriage, on the other hand, is a covenant – an unconditional vow: ‘That which God has joined together, let no-one put asunder.’

Of course, not all marriages last for life: but the principle of the covenant remains its great strength.  And, in biblical terms, marriage is a picture of God’s relationship with us – permanent, faithful, unconditional, mutually loving and giving.  Because a covenant can’t be broken, the psalmists and prophets return to this theme repeatedly.  For all that we humans let God down, God ‘remembers his covenant for ever’ (v8) – even one made hundreds (or, by now, thousands) of years ago with Abraham.  And this is cause for praise and rejoicing.

God’s covenant is likewise good news for us!  God remains faithful, God watches over his people, God keeps giving us second chances and fresh starts.  And in Jesus, God cements the covenant once and for all. Jesus fulfils all God’s promises to Abraham, and in Christ (and filled with God’s Spirit) we become the covenant people God always designed for us to be.

If the second half of the psalm makes for more challenging reading, behind it lies one simple point: God honours his promises.  He promised his people a place to live: and then delivered one.  He promised to bless them: and did so, at every turn – even feeding them miraculously when occasion required it (v40-41).

God remembered them – and he remembers us, too.  We are part of God’s covenant people now.  Which means that you are not forgotten.  God too gives us his presence (v39) and meets our needs.  How we need that each day – so today, spend a few moments delighting in the fact of God’s covenant to you.  Claim his promises.  And renew your determination to live in that covenant this day, and always.

Thursday 3rd July – Psalm 105:1-7  ‘Seek his face always’

Here in our household we are big fans of University Challenge.  Never mind that we only manage a few correct answers every time, while what appear to be gangly teenagers seem to know everything about everything!  (How? I always find myself asking.)  It’s a lot of fun pitting our wits against the brightest and the best.

Recently we had a particular treat.  Having caught up with all the latest episodes, we watched an old one that we hadn’t seen from Children in Need, where a team from the BBC lined up against ITV.  Needless to say, the questions were a lot easier; but the treat for us was seeing the face of the chap who announces all the names of the participants when they press their buzzers.  For 23 years Roger Tilling has been doing this, week in and week out – and I’ve never seen his face.

But now I have.  There’s something important about faces, isn’t there?  ‘I just want to see her (or his) face’ was been a heart-rending cry during the seasons of lockdown a few years ago, as relatives were denied contact with those in hospitals or care homes.  Conversely, one of the great benefits of technology during that crisis was precisely that – unlike previous generations – we could speak to loved ones and see their face: whether via Zoom or Facetime or Whatsapp, or whatever.

Although our whole bodies are unique, it’s faces which most identify us, from a physical point of view.  You can’t really describe someone, or say that you know them, unless you’ve seen their face.  I speak to lots of people in my line of work, but it’s always good to meet and to ‘put a face to a name’.

It’s like that with God, too.  Today’s Psalm encourages us to ‘seek God’s face always’ (v4).  It’s an image of both hunger and intimacy.  Literally, of course, God doesn’t have a face – but we can still long to put a ‘face’ to God’s name.  To be face-to-face with someone is likewise a place of intimacy: it’s where we get to know them as they are.    

There’s a difference between knowing about God, and knowing God directly.  This image invites us to move from place to the other.  God becomes more than beliefs and ‘truths’ – God becomes a friend, a companion, a loving Lord.  God wants us to seek his face because he wants to be known by us – deeply, intimately, personally.

A wise old Christian once advised me to ‘seek God’s face before you seek his hand’.  It’s good counsel.  Our temptation will always be to ask God for stuff – and that’s good and right.  But let’s resolve again today to seek God’s face first.  To worship him, to love him, to ‘tell of all his wonderful acts’ (v2), to ‘glory in his holy name’ (v3).

And as we do that, then our requests will flow naturally from our hearts to his.

Loving Lord, I praise you today.  You are great, and glorious, and I thank you for your constant love.  Help me to seek your face always, that I might know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, this day and every day.  Amen.

Wednesday 2nd July – Psalm 104:19-35  ‘All creatures look to you’

Very few of us like wasps.  In fact, most people hate them – and certainly fear them.  Wasps like are like the evil twins of bees – where bees create and bring life (through pollination), wasps just cause pain and destruction.

Or do they?

Watching a nature programme a couple of years ago, I was amazed to hear the BBC presenter Chris Packham extolling the virtues of wasps.  In particular he showed us the nest of a certain African wasp. This wasp looked even scarier than the ones we have here – about twice the size of our native wasps, with a long red tail.  It also eats (and feeds its young) by dissolving caterpillar larvae with a particularly foul chemical which it injects into its prey.  Just be glad we don’t have them here.

But, as Packham described, we have only recently come to understand their value.  These wasps eat caterpillar larvae, which mean that the savannah is not overrun with hungry caterpillar grubs in the rainy season, which means that the foliage is not all eaten by these insects, which allows other animals to graze and to live.  In other words, as Packham looked out on herds of wildebeest, and magnificent giraffes, zebras, deer and antelopes – these in part owe their existence to the wasps that eat the caterpillars who in turn don’t eat all the food they need to live on.  And that also means that the great predators – lion, leopards, hyenas – can likewise survive, because their prey do.  So, the iconic East African habitat works, in part, thanks to those horrible red-tailed wasps.

Our world is amazingly finely tuned.  Every creature plays its part in creating a balanced ecosystem.  Even wasps – which also pollinate by the way, it’s not all bees and butterflies.  (Wasps get a rough deal, I think.)

Who do we thank for this extraordinary abundance?  Modern science has done wonders in showing us how our world works.  Species are interdependent, and the more we understand, the more we marvel.  But sometimes science forgets that it is not a closed system – there is One who set it up in the first place, and continues to watch over it.  The psalmists knew this, and time and again we are invited to marvel at the wonders of the natural world, and to praise their Creator.

The second half of Psalm 104 is a fabulous hymn of praise to God our Creator: ‘How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.’  And all creatures are invited to praise the Creator.  It is God who sustains them: ‘All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time’ (v27) – whether it’s the birds (v17), the goats (v18) or the predators (v21-22).  God’s Spirit is at work in all of Creation: ‘When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.’ (v30)

So today, let’s offer our thanks and praise too to our Creator.  We also look to Him – and may this great and glorious God meet all of our needs today.  Amen.

Tuesday 1st July – Psalm 104:10-18  ‘The land is satisfied’

After the deluge of water referred to in yesterday’s verses, today’s verses show the benefits of water in our world: springs which ‘flow between the mountains’ (v10), watering the fields (v11), quenching the thirst of the animals (v11), and cultivating crops for animals and people (v14).

I’m conscious as I write this that the UK has just had the driest spring for 50 years, and the sixth driest in the last 200.  In contrast, an 18-month period from 2023-2024 was the wettest on record in the UK.  In other words, today we might well be nodding our heads vigorously at the image of water pouring into the ravines – whereas last September, or during the winter of 2023-24, we would have found the picture much harder to appreciate!

Yet it’s worth reminding ourselves that much of Israel faced a yearly battle to get enough water – as indeed do many parts of our world.  There is a wonderful African song which is called: ‘Rain, rain, beautiful rain.’  This year excepted, it’s hard for many of us Brits to understand why anyone would write such a song.  But it’s in this context that the psalmist is so excited about God’s provision of enough water.  Without water, we simply cannot live.

It’s no surprise, then, that water is presented as one of the greatest of God’s gifts, one which blesses all of his creation.  It is through water that ‘the land is satisfied’ and teems with life.  Through it, humans are blessed with other essentials, too: bread, oil and (dare I say it) wine which ‘gladdens our hearts’ (v15).

So today, let’s focus on water – and perhaps allow it to inform our prayers in various ways: first, to renew our thankfulness for the ease of access we have to it – much of the world would love to live somewhere with the amount of rainfall we usually have in an average year; second to pray for those negatively affected by too much water or too little, especially those victims of flooding and drought; third, to pray for health and renewal of all creation which relies on water.  This psalm describes so many glories of the natural world, and we humans remain those primarily tasked by God with looking after it.

And as we do this, may the Lord also fill our hearts with his living water, ‘a spring welling up to eternal life.’

Monday 30th June – Psalm 104:1-9  ‘Clothed with splendour’

The lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, for all their challenges, also birthed plenty of new gifts.  Many of us used the confines of the season to learn a new skill.  For my daughter, that meant making her own clothes.  She began with simple tops; then progressed to creating her own school shirts, stitching together two different fabrics – and pleased to reuse some of my old work shirts, which no longer see the light of day! – and finally graduated to making dresses.  She is also discovering her own style, which I think is admirable.  When social events began again, she was certainly splendidly clothed!

The first part of today’s psalm takes the clothing analogy and applies it to God.  How do we describe the greatness of the Lord?  Often words fail us, and therefore very often the writers of the psalms – as we have noted before – use human images to help us picture the awesome majesty of the Almighty.  So, here in verse 1: ‘Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendour and majesty.’

Whilst God has glory within himself, it can be helpful to picture God’s attributes as things we can see or touch.  Verses 2-9 describe two types of clothing, two facets of the glory of God.  First, light: ‘The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment.’ (v2)

As days lengthen through spring each year, we are blessed with the joy of ever greater amounts of light.  For many of us, this lifts our spirits – and for the psalmist, they let a similar idea – that of heavenly light – point them back to God.  The heavens are stretched out like a tent (v2), as God makes the clouds his chariot (v3).  The glorious light of the sky points us towards an even more glorious God.

Similarly, water is the other form of clothing we see in this psalm, only this time it is a garment for God’s world.  ‘You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment.’ (v6)  Whilst the image is perhaps more unsettling, it reminds us that the powerful fundamental forces of nature are in God’s hands.  To imagine God wrapped in light, as the earth is wrapped in water, is a picture of majesty and magnificence.  We gaze in awe at the power and greatness of God.

Global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic make many of us feel small.  But sometimes it’s not a bad thing to feel small, if we know where to look for the One who is huge.  That would be God.  The world always faces major challenges.  But we worship an even bigger God – a great, big God, in the words of the famous children’s song.  A God wrapped in light: light enough for the darkness of the world, even the darkness within our own lives.

Lord my God, you are very great.  Help me to find comfort in your greatness.  I feel small in the face of all that life throws at me at present.  But you are glorious, and I pray for your light to shine into my life again today.  Amen.

Saturday 28th June – Psalm 103 (iii)  ‘Not as we deserve’

On 12th December 2024, one of outgoing President Biden’s last acts was to grant presidential pardons to 39 people.  The list makes interesting reading.  Whilst some are politically motivated, the majority take into account evidence of life-change or subsequent good works.  A number have raised significant amounts for charity, or re-trained after serving time in prison.

Whatever we think of any particular president (and each one traditionally issues pardons at the end of their term of office), there is still something powerful about the act of forgiveness enacted through a pardon.  All these individuals had received, or were about to receive, the punishment their sins deserved – and then were shown mercy.

This goes to the heart of our text for today, and reminds us of a deep but glorious biblical truth about our relationship with God.  All of us have fallen short of the life we were designed to have.  All of us deserve the consequences for that.  But God, in his great love and mercy, ‘does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities’ (v10).

In fact, the psalmist goes further – declaring in one of the great texts of the Old Testament: ‘For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.’ (v11-12)

It is as if, the psalmist says, God has picked up our sins, flown across the Atlantic and buried the whole lot of them in the Nevada Desert.  That’s how far God has taken our sin away.

God compassion is rooted in both our status as his children (v13) and our fragility as mortal beings (v14-16).  God forgives because he is our perfect, eternal Father.  We don’t need to earn it: we just have to receive it.

So today, as God’s beloved children, let’s remember what we have been forgiven.  Let’s receive the gift of God’s new life, slowly transforming us from the inside out.  And may these glorious truths cause praise to rise on our lips, as it does for psalmist at the end of this psalm:

Praise the Lord, all his works, everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Friday 27th June – Psalm 103 (ii)  ‘Crowns you with love’

‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown.’  This quote (or rather slight misquote!) from Shakespeare’s Henry IV is a great observation about the challenges of leadership and responsibility.  Such things weigh upon us.  Indeed, a literal crown for most monarchs is usually a heavy object: the King Edward Crown of King Charles III weighs nearly 5lbs!  Try wearing that for a long ceremonial occasion.  The King might well have neck muscles like those on a Formula 1 racing driver.

But there is a crown which does not weigh heavy.  It is the crown mentioned here in verse 4: the crown of God’s love and compassion.  What a beautiful phrase this is!  God does not just offer us, or give us, these things: he crowns us with them.

The image suggests that these things are of great value – both to the giver and also to the wearer.  To wear a crown is be bestowed with great worth.  And so we are to God: the Lord thinks the world of us.  He made no-one else like us.  We bear his image.  We are of infinite worth to him.  So yes, we can rightly describe God’s love and compassion as a crown – just let that thought sink in for a moment, and warm your heart.

But let us also remember that to give us this crown, God also wore one while on earth.  The only crown God ever wore was one of thorns: the ultimate act of self-giving love.  A crown which weighed little in grams but weighed everything in cost.  When God crowns us, let us never forget what crown God kept for himself.

We may never get to wear a physical crown.  But today, let us rejoice that we wear a spiritual one.  One given to us at such a cost: the crown of God’s love and compassion.  And may that crown be worn not just in our heads, but also in our hearts.

Gracious God, thank you that I am worth everything to you.  I gladly receive your crown of love.  Fill me with your compassion, too, that I might also pass that on to others.  Bless the Lord, my soul.  Amen.

Thursday 26th June – Psalm 103  ‘All my inmost being’

‘Bless the Lord, my soul!’  This joyful beginning to one of the most famous psalms is both much loved and also sometimes causes a little head scratching: surely God blesses us, and not the other way round?  The fact that most modern translations render the word as ‘praise’ is a sure sign that this idea troubles people.  So, let’s begin with a short explanation as to why we can bless God as well as rejoice that God blesses us: ‘When the Lord blesses us, he reviews our needs and responds to them; when we bless the Lord, we review his excellencies and respond to them.’  (J.A. Motyer)

In other words, it is not an equivalent action: to bless is to bestow God’s goodness on someone or something: so when we do that to God, we are not bestowing anything he doesn’t already have!  In that sense it is fair to translate it as ‘praise’: however, it’s worth keeping the original meaning as it reminds us that we are to be people of blessing.  This goes to the heart of God’s promise to Abraham way back in Genesis 12: whenever we ‘bless’ God (and others) we fulfil that wonderful promise.

So let’s bless!  And let’s also observe today the true source of this blessing on our part: ‘all my inmost being’ (v1).  This throwaway phrase takes on profound importance as the bible develops, culminating in Jesus’ own teaching.  In essence: to praise God with our lips and our lives requires us to start with our hearts and minds.  It is the inner life which fuels the outward action.

Here, King David feeds his mind by reminding himself in verses 3-5 of all the reasons he has to praise God: a God who forgives and heals, of love and compassion, who satisfies and renews. 

This list is both uplifting and unsettling.  Many will ask: why does David say that God heals all of our diseases when he patently does not?  There is much debate over how to explain this: some try and change the meaning of ‘all’ to ‘all kinds of’ or to spiritualise the word ‘disease’ so that it might mean something other than its plain meaning.  Both explanations are inadequate.

Instead, let’s observe first that these psalms are poems and songs written in a culture which likes to emphasise things through hyperbole.  When Katrina sings that she’s walking on sunshine, we don’t assume that she has literally levitated on a warm day.  It’s a powerful phrase which conveys an inner truth.

That’s a good place to start; but then, let’s go further and rely on the vital principle that we let scripture interpret itself.  So when we see a set of declarations here, what else does the bible about these things?  In this case, Scripture consistently affirms that in Christ God forgives every sin; that God does satisfy every godly desire, though not always as we expect; and certainly that God is love in the core of his being.  We can accept these wonderful phrases of David literally.  Healing is more complicated: but what we can affirm is that in the new creation everything (and everyone) will be healed.  Ultimately, this phrase is equally true, but its meaning is only realised at a later point.

As we close, let’s call to mind those we love who have died ‘in the faith’, and let’s take comfort and hope that this word is gloriously true for them: that now they are fully healed and with our Lord in glory.  And may God stir our hearts afresh today, that with ‘all our inmost being’ we too can bless God’s holy name.  Amen.

Wednesday 25th June – Psalm 102 (ii)  ‘The Lord will rebuild’

We live in a season of what appears to be general decline.  And if you read the newspapers, or some other form of media, you’ll often find this question asked: how will we recover? What will unlock a new period of growth and renewal?  You may or may not feel optimistic about that, though you will probably assume that it is the job of national governments and international agencies to do these things.

But they’re only part of the answer.  There are deeper questions to ask: about wellbeing, about pain, about loss, about damage to relationships at different levels; and also (positively) about the increased hunger for God, for community, for meaning.  Who will rebuild these?

This Psalm is worth a second look, for all kinds of reasons.  Its honest lament is probably one we could offer most days at present, and that would be enough in itself, although you might feel a bit short-changed if my reflection for today was: ‘read yesterday’s!’

Instead, let’s direct our attention to this important question which the psalm addresses: who will rebuild our spiritual and emotional wellbeing?  Who will bind up our wounds?  Who will bless the growth of the kingdom and community?  The answer is clear: ‘the Lord will rebuild’ (v16). 

Zion is biblical shorthand for the visible kingdom of God on earth.  When everything seems hopeless or broken, God is still at work: God rebuilds; God responds (v17); God releases (v20); God remains (v27).  God, and only God, can do this deeper work of rebuilding. 

The journey of secular recovery is long, uneven and far from guaranteed.  There will be failures and frustrations.   Kingdom work, too, is costly.  But the difference is the architect.  Our confidence is that the Lord will rebuild.  And our Lord calls us to partner with him in this work – in prayer, and, in time, through action.  Governments come and go: but the Lord remains the same. (v27)

Today, let’s call on our eternal God to do this work of rebuilding: in our lives; our churches; our communities; our nation; our world.  It is, and will be, challenging: but we worship a great big God.

Lord of all the earth, life is hard.  But you are good.  Do your work of rebuilding, I pray: in me… in those around me… and in my community….  Appear in your glory in our fractured world, that, in time, all might assemble to worship you.  Amen.

Tuesday 24th June – Psalm 102  ‘But you, Lord…’

This reflection was first written during the 2021 lockdown – however with all the bad news in the world at the moment, perhaps this current season is not so very different…

This is a season of lament.  Everywhere I go (which isn’t far at the moment, obviously), everyone I talk to, the sense is the same: a profound sadness and weariness.  For some, it’s the acute grief of loss of someone close to them.  For others, it’s other forms of loss:  loss of contact, of pleasurable activities, of variety in life, of hope that things will get better anytime soon.  But, with rare exceptions, for pretty much all of us: it is a season of loss.  And therefore a season of lament.

In good times, we avoid psalms like today’s one.  Too gloomy, too melodramatic: ‘my bones burn… reduced to skin and bones… like an owl among the ruins… thrown aside.’

But these are not psalms for the good times.  We need language for the bad times too. For seasons like this.  The great Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann once said that his image of the psalmist was of ‘a little old man shaking his fist at God.’  And the fact that we can shake our fist, that we can pour out our cry, that we can describe our sadness and our grief and maybe even our anger at God, is a great comfort.  God is not insecure.  God can take it – like a parent who holds their distraught child even as the child beats their fists against the parent’s chest.

And like all outpourings of grief, eventually the tears dry up and we are emptied.  It’s what comes next that is significant.  Sadly, for some people, there is nowhere else to turn, hope is limited entirely by human factors.  But for the psalmist, verse 11 is followed by the great affirmation of verse 12: ‘But you, Lord, sit enthroned for ever.’

The world lets us down – repeatedly.  But God isn’t going anywhere.  God is still on his throne.  And God’s character doesn’t change: ‘You will arise and have compassion.’ (v13)  That’s a promise for us, too, and not just the people of the psalmist’s day.

It’s not a magic wand.  But it helps us both to look down and to look up.  To look down at the sure foundation beneath our feet.  To look up to God’s throne, and know that there is something – Someone – greater than ourselves, in whose shadow we can find rest.

So if you resonate with this psalm today, don’t be afraid to pour out your lament to God.  And then read v12 and 13, and ask God to fix your gaze where you might find hope: in the Lord of heaven and earth.  Amen.

Monday 23rd June – Psalm 101  ‘Eyes on the faithful’

‘I’ve got my eye on you!’  That’s what my old vicar said to me a year or so after I’d joined the church.  I was in my late 20s and had started helping out in various ways.  I didn’t think much about what he said at the time, though looking back maybe he saw something about my future which I didn’t pursue actively for some years yet.  I’m pretty sure he wasn’t worried about his job!

But the idea of ‘keeping an eye on’ something is a familiar phrase to us.  We use it in lots of ways – it can denote positive interest or (negative) suspicion.  What do you keep an eye on?  Breaking news, the weather, some shares you own, your neighbour’s frisky dog, the hairline crack in your wall?

The truth is we keep our eyes on lots of things.  Today, though, King David encourages us to keep our eyes on something – or someone – else.  ‘My eyes,’ he says, ‘will be on the faithful in the land.’ (v6)

This is a less well-known psalm, and unusually focuses much more on the lifestyle of the psalmist than the greatness of God – though there is praise as well, and to a large degree the two are linked in this psalm.  David’s desire is to lead a holy life, and to promote holiness within his people too.  So he wants nothing to do with wickedness (vv3-4) but rather to lead a blameless life, which welcomes the presence of God (v2).

As part of this ‘holy culture’ he also directs his attention to those who, like him, want to do God’s will.  Those are the people he not only wants to hang out with, but who will themselves ‘minister to him’ (v6). 

It’s a useful reminder that we walk this journey of faith together.  As we long to grow in our relationship with God, so we find encouragement and strength from doing so with others who want the same.  Let’s receive the words of this psalm as an encouragement to turn our eyes towards our faithful brothers and sisters, finding creative ways to ‘dwell’ with them and minister to each other.

That might be a phone call, or a time spent in prayer for particular people, or perhaps both.  But, however we do it, let’s rejoice that we walk together, under God.  Let’s keep our eyes on those who are part of our family of faith, that God, too, might come to us.

Thank you Lord, for the family of the church. Thank you for all those who long to walk in step with you.  Help us to keep our eyes on each other, that we might minister your love, and dwell as your people wherever you have put us.  Amen.

Saturday 21st June – Psalm 100  ‘Through all generations’

We live in a culture which focuses largely on the now.  ‘The past is a foreign country,’ and the future is a crystal ball.  Only the present matters.

Whilst we inevitably have to live in the here and now, we also lose so much if we get caught up with this attitude.  And not just in practical terms: ‘those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them,’ as the old saying goes.  It is a spiritual problem, too.  One of the historic strengths of Jewish culture – and many other cultures, too – is the sense of ancestry, of a spiritual past.  Time and again, God’s people are encouraged to remember the past, what God has done throughout history.

This sense of collective remembrance has a spiritual purpose.  It reminded them – and us – of who God is.  The actions defined the character.  How do we know that God is loving, or good, or faithful?  Look at what He’s done.  Creation, covenant, and then miraculous rescue, time and again.  And this is before we even get to Jesus!  As we honour the past, so we see God’s faithfulness writ large.

It applies at a small scale too.  We will have personal stories that form part of our past, as well as the famous stories of the heroes of the faith.  Never forget them.  Take time occasionally to remember them, to declare them.  Perhaps today might be a moment to do so for a few minutes.

As we reflect on this short but wonderful psalm, it feels like its ending is really the beginning.  This is our bedrock, as it was for God’s people thousands of years ago when this psalm was written: ‘The Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.’ (v5)

This is why we can be encouraged to ‘shout for joy’ (v1), to relate to God as our Good Shepherd (v3), to spend time in his presence (v4).

God has been faithful.  He is faithful.  He will be faithful.  May that make us glad today.  Amen.

Friday 20th June – Psalm 99  ‘Between the cherubim’

When I was a student one of the pictures I had on my wall was part of a famous painting by Raphael (The Sistine Madonna) depicting two small angels looking up at Mary.  You’ll probably recognise the image.  I studied Raphael, and always found the nonchalance of these two cherubs charming, and perhaps slightly subversive.

But there’s a problem with this kind of image.  Take the word ‘cherub’ and this is usually the kind of image we think of: lovable, childlike, dare I say it ‘cute’.  So, when we read in today’s passage that God sits ‘enthroned between the cherubim’ (v1) – plural of cherub – we might imagine a scene which pictures God as a Sunday School teacher on a plastic chair surrounded by lots of adoring (or bored) young children on a mat.  A vision which seems to jar with the first line of the verse, too: that this God, surrounded by all his cherubs, is so majestic that the nations ought to tremble.  We don’t tend to employ Sunday School teachers like that anymore – though maybe we did once!

The underlying issue here is that we’ve got our image of cherubs rather wrong.  Although there is a long-held Jewish tradition that depicts cherubs with children’s faces, the rest of them is not so, well, cherubic.  Cherubs are magnificent, awe-inspiring creatures.  They appear as divine guards in Genesis 3:24 when Adam and Eve have been banished from the Garden of Eden. 

Their ‘guarding’ role is also at the heart of God’s relationship with his people: in the Most Holy Place a pair of cherubim flanks the ark of the covenant: one each side, each 15 feet high with a 15-foot wingspan, touching in the middle.  And between them, the ark of the covenant: holding the tablets with the Ten Commandments, and with the atonement cover on top, where, once a year, the High Priest sprinkled the sacrificial blood, which atoned for the sins of the people.

So, the description that God sits ‘enthroned between the cherubim’ is one of majesty and mercy.  It reminds us of God’s awesome holiness – so holy that, under the Law, only one person once a year could enter his presence, and even then only when the room was filled with the smoke of incense. 

But also merciful: the place ‘between the cherubim’ became known as The Mercy Seat – the place where this majestic, holy God lovingly forgave our sin and restored us to his presence.

The place between the cherubim is the place where God met with the world on earth, in majesty and mercy.  No wonder, then, that this is one of the ‘awe-some’ psalms, where our response to this glorious God is reverence and praise.  It also explains why most of the rest of the psalm talks about God’s justice, and also the famous priests who ministered on God’s behalf.

The wonderful good news of Christ is that he was the perfect sacrifice at the mercy seat – for all people, for all time.  We can all now have the freedom and confidence to approach the Most Holy Place of God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19).  It’s easy to forget what a privilege this is: let’s claim that freedom again today, in Jesus’ name, and bring our lives and our prayers to God, the One who graciously answers (v6,v8).

Mighty God, who reigns forever, thank you that we have access to your glorious presence.  We worship at your footstool today. Hear our prayers, especially…..   Thank you that you answer.  Help us to hold onto you.  Amen.

Thursday 19th June – Psalm 98  ‘The work of salvation’

‘Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing: power and majesty, praise to the King.  Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of your name.  I sing for joy at the work of your hands.’

Some of you will recognise those words as the chorus of one of the most popular worship songs of the last thirty years: ‘My Jesus, my Saviour.’  They’re taken directly from the verses of this psalm (v4, then vv7-8, then v1).  And yet, these words were written hundreds of years before Jesus – which begs a useful question: what is ‘the work of God’s hands’ being referred to here?  What ‘salvation is being made known’?

The psalm itself doesn’t tell us, but by and large whenever the Old Testament writers – especially the psalmists and prophets – refer to a saving act which God has already done, they’re usually referring to the miraculous rescue from Egypt, especially the two saving acts of Passover and the Crossing of the Red Sea.  These were acts of literal salvation which decisively showed the Israelites that this God was their God, and they were his people. 

The annual Passover celebration instituted from that moment reminded every generation of what God had done, and instructed the people to ‘make that salvation known’ (v2) afresh.  They are called to remember, even as God remembers his love (v3).

But God’s saving work didn’t end at a point in history.  God continued to rescue his people: in the time of Gideon, or David, or Hezekiah, and even after exile through the courage of Esther.  God always remembers his love for his people.

And so we fast forward several centuries to a new Passover, a new Crossing from certain death to promised life – this time seen on a cross and then in an empty tomb.  A new marvellous work of God, whose holy arm works salvation.  Our God is the same: yesterday, today and forever.  He continues to save, and Jesus is the true and greatest fulfilment of this psalm of praise.  What was enacted for a particular people at the Red Sea was enacted for all people for all time at Calvary.  There Jesus revealed God’s righteousness to the nations, so that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of our God.

So it is quite right for that famous song to put Jesus at the heart of this psalm.  And perhaps, if we know it, we too can sing the song in response.  Let us sing a new song today, and be inspired to make his salvation known wherever God grants us the chance.

Loving Lord, I sing for joy at the work of your hands.  Thank you that you always remember your love for me.  Help me to abide in that love, and know your continuing saving work in my life.  Amen.

Wednesday 18th June – Psalm 97  ‘Good foundations’

Some years ago we tried to buy a house in Manchester.  My sister lives there and the idea was that once we’d bought it, she would have the security of long-term tenancy and (reasonably) nice landlords.  However, when we had the survey done we discovered huge problems with subsidence.  It was a Victorian end-of-terrace at the bottom of the slope and over the last century had been very gradually sinking.  We sadly had to withdraw.  Thankfully my sister is well housed elsewhere!

It was a harsh lesson in the importance of good foundations.  Every good edifice rests on them.  And in today’s psalm, we learn that God’s throne has vital foundations, too: they are ‘righteousness and justice’ (v2).

It’s easy to see these words as being ‘cold’ or abstract, but that would fall short of their original meaning.  Biblical scholars have emphasised the relational meaning of both of these words.  Here’s how one described each: ‘righteous action is action which conforms to the requirements of the relationship and in a more general sense promotes the peace and wellbeing of the community’; justice [is] the strongly ethical notion of action which is to be legally upheld because it is productive of communal wellbeing.’

That might sound like a mouthful, but it’s a valuable insight because it earths these foundational words in God’s relationship with us.  When God is righteous, he is righteous for the good of his creation – including us; when God is just, he is just towards us. 

Although we might instinctively have preferred something a bit cuddlier like ‘love and peace’ as the foundation of God’s throne, in fact what we get is something even better.  God’s righteousness assures us that his love is perfectly directed.  God’s justice is what secures our peace.  As the old liberation slogan reminds us: ‘No peace without justice.’  Wonderfully, in knowing God we get both.

So, we can be thankful for these words!  God’s throne is founded on two pillars which ultimately secure our wellbeing, too – righteousness and justice.  The heavens proclaim it (v6); and we are called to model it too (vv10-12).  We are called to live just and righteous lives because we are made in God’s image and therefore reflect our Maker’s intentions.

In our shifting world, God’s throne is secure.  And we too can rest secure in these same unchanging qualities.  May those qualities shine on us today (v11), producing joy and praise in our hearts and on our lips.

Just and righteous Lord, thank you that your foundations are secure.  Help us to rest firm on those same foundations.  Guard our lives today, and deliver us from evil.  Shine on us, we pray, and in all the dark places of our community.  Amen.

Tuesday 17th June – Psalm 96 (ii)  ‘The splendour of holiness’

Holy people have this thing about them, don’t they?  To come into the presence of someone who really walks closely with God – it’s a strangely affecting experience.  I knew a person like that in London.  He had a huge impact on my spiritual life: I must confess when I first met him I found him a bit scary – but I also felt drawn to him.  There was just something magnetic – you might say splendid – about this person.

Others have testified to similar experiences when meeting other, more celebrated holy people.   Great humility or love has something of awe about it.  It was even said that the birds used to flock to St Francis of Assisi just to land on him!  Who knows if that’s true – but it’s a lovely image, nonetheless.

Today, in this second reflection on Psalm 96, we are invited to ‘worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness’ (v9).  I’ve always found this phrase interesting, because in modern thinking, being holy is not thought of in that way at all.  We tend to think of it negatively: being a killjoy, or disapproving, or self-righteous.  Not a very splendid thing. 

Of course, such parodies are way off the mark.  And today’s psalm invites us to recapture the real essence of what it means to be holy – i.e. ‘set apart’.  God’s perfection is magnificent.  To be holy as God is holy means to be perfect in love, in wisdom, in joy, in patience, in gentleness, as well as in authority and justice.  It is, quite literally, awe-some.  It carries with it the weight of glory. 

When we meet truly holy people today, we see something of that reflected light.  It’s why saints in old paintings are always pictured with haloes – auras of light around their being.   They reflect the glory of the One who is truly holy: God Almighty – perfect in power, in love and purity, as the old hymn would have it.

Amazingly, this is our calling too.  Most of us feel that we haven’t got very far with that – and yet, because Christ dwells with us, in our hearts, so we too are being slowly transformed into his likeness ‘with ever-increasing glory’.

So today, let’s delight in the splendour of God’s holiness.  Let’s pray for eyes to see its glory and magnificence, to bask in its reflected light.  And, by God’s grace, may some of that light rub off on us too.

Loving and mighty Lord, you reign.  You reign over the earth.  You reign in my heart.  You have all glory and strength, and I delight in your magnificent holiness.  I offer you myself today, the only worthy offering I can make.  Fill my heart anew with the light of your presence.  Amen.

Monday 16th June – Psalm 96  ‘A new song’

Some years ago we took out a subscription to Amazon Prime’s ‘Music Unlimited’.  Generally our family are always late to any technological party – I still mourn the demise of beacons on hillsides as the primary means of communicating news.  Admittedly, many of my peers had already been users of a music subscription channel for 5 or 10 years.  But by our standards, this was a revolution.  Suddenly almost every song that had ever been published – 50 million or so pieces of music – was available for us to listen to: anytime, anywhere.

Today’s psalm begins by inviting us to ‘Sing to the Lord a new song.’  In today’s world, this could be considered straightforward when you’ve got 50 million songs to choose from – but how do we lift our hearts in faith to sing a new song every day?  Surely words are limited?  Feelings are finite?  What does a ‘new song’ really mean?

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to minister to some wonderful old saints – people who inspired me far more than I ever did them.  And what’s noticeable about such amazing people is that, no matter their age, their faith is young – it is childlike, enthusiastic.  They wake up with God every morning as if they found faith just yesterday, and it still causes them wonder.  They speak of God with the joy of the newly-in-love.  They remember answers to prayer with excitement and thanksgiving, as if this was something that had just started to happen to them.

I think this is what the psalmist means by a new song.  God does not change. His character is steadfast, constant – always loving, faithful and good.  He remains the same, yesterday, today and forever.  But whilst this is true, one of the keys to faith is that we receive these truths as ‘new every morning’.  They remain fresh, exciting, awe-inspiring.  They put praise on our lips, peace in our hearts and joy in our spirits.  They cause us to ‘proclaim his salvation day-after-day’ (v2), and ‘declare his glory among the nations’ (v3).

It’s easy to get tired and stale – in faith as in life.  Which is why the infectious joy of the psalmist is so valuable.  I need a bit of whatever he or she is having!  Maybe you do too.

So today, can I encourage you to pray this psalm, and offer your praises to God.  And may God renew our hearts as we do, so that we would, this day and every day, sing a new song to the Lord.

Saturday 14th June – Psalm 95  ‘Above all gods’

As many of you know, I’ve always loved my football.  I played (not very well) till I was 40, and Match of the Day remains a staple of my viewing habits.  I’m too old now to stay up till midnight on Saturday watching it ‘live’, it’s a with-breakfast pilgrimage on Sunday and Monday mornings for me!

My favourite part of the show has long been ‘Goal of the Month’.  The show picks 6 or 8 of the best goals of the previous few weeks and then the winner is chosen at the end of the show.  It used to be by the presenters themselves, though now you can vote online.  The winning goal gets shown again, and also goes into the draw for ‘Goal of the Season’.

Many people think about matters of faith a bit like Goal of the Month.  In the end, all ‘gods’ are like these good goals – fundamentally the same, you just pick whichever one you like the best, or that your team scored.  It doesn’t really matter which, because a goal is a goal, isn’t it?

Today’s psalm reminds us that, when it comes to ‘things eternal’, this way of thinking isn’t really an option.  There is only one God – the Lord, ‘Yahweh’ (v1,v3) – and this God is ‘above all gods’.

The psalm also reminds us that there are good reasons for ascribing ultimate authority to this one God.  He made the whole world (v4), even the powerful seas (v5) – and, crucially, he forms a loving relationship with his people (v7).  Unlike the other capricious deities of the time, this God wasn’t unpredictable or tyrannical.   Nor does this God just wind the clock up and let it run: he engages with his world, he takes pastoral care of us. 

Shepherds in ancient Israel lived and travelled with their sheep, protected them from danger (no paddocks or fenced fields in those days), fought off wild animals, walked miles to find water and pasture – in other words, gave everything for their wellbeing, because their flock was precious.

This is the God we worship!  And it’s helpful sometimes to reflect on whether we’ve unconsciously allowed other things to divert our gaze from adoring this God.  We might not have ‘idols’ or shrines as such, but a ‘god’ can be anything that takes our attention away from our Creator.  Money, popularity, an all-consuming hobby, an addiction – you name it.

Today, we can declare with confidence, that God is above all these gods.  This God –our God – is the true and only ruler of the earth.  ‘If only we would hear his voice’ (v7) – and of course, when we read this psalm, we do!  And this voice tells us that God is our Rock, our salvation, our shepherd, and that we are precious to him.

May these glorious truths inspire us to thanksgiving and worship today.

O Lord my Rock, you are the great God, above all others.  I gladly put you first, and worship you with thanks and praise.  Truly I am in your care – be my shepherd today.  Amen.

Friday 13th June – Psalm 94  ‘Founded on righteousness’

I must confess that I’m too young to remember the classic 1960s TV series The Avengers.  On the other hand, I’m also too old to have watched all of the recent Marvel film series, also called Avengers.  So, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of cultural reference points in this whole area!  What is true, though, is that, while many of us watch or read stories about people who avenge on behalf of others, in this day and age we feel uncomfortable ascribing this kind of behaviour to God.

Today’s psalm is one of those that doesn’t get read much nowadays.  Psalm 91, 95, 96, 97 and 98 – the ones all around it, in other words – are very popular, and are often read or quoted.  Psalm 94…. not so much.  The reason is there in the first line: ‘The Lord is a God who avenges’.  It’s ironic in some ways because we don’t have a problem with the idea generally, as the popularity of ‘avenger’ motifs in culture makes clear.  And avenging is different to revenging, which is a critical distinction to make.  Revenge is something we do personally to someone else in the face of something we have suffered.  Avenging is more objective: it is justice meted out, usually on behalf of someone else – i.e. not as a result of our own injury.  So, we do need avengers – those who enact justice on behalf of others.

What’s important about these ‘avenging’ psalms – and there are plenty of them – is that by asking God to act, we are removing our own right to do so.  When faced with injustice, we take it to God, rather than take the law into our own hands.  This is the value of these psalms – they provide an outlet for our cries for justice, and take those cries to the one true source of justice and righteousness: the Lord God Almighty.

I’m sure it will have been hard for many of us to read the words of this psalm – which particularly addresses the issue of bad governance – and not find ourselves thinking of particular countries or situations in the world at present.  It is not for me to comment on any of those directly: but what this psalm does is provide us with a blueprint for how to face issues of corruption (v20), injustice (v5,v7, v21), hubris (v4) and violence (v6) in our world and turn them back to God in prayer.

Ultimately we go back to the ‘Rock that is higher than I’ – we ask God to intervene.  Psalm 94 gives us permission to name injustices and pray for God’s will to be done.  We seek God’s justice, mercy and righteousness.

And as we do that, we find ourselves able to claim two wonderful promises hidden in this psalm: we find consolation in our anxiety (v19), and refuge in a time of trial (v22).  How many of us need that at present!

One day, ‘judgement will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it’ (v15).  But until then, let’s be thankful for these psalms, which give us words to approach God with the very real problems of our world; and remind us that God cares enough about his world to intervene.

Lord, in our fractured world, we ask you to bring your justice and mercy to wherever it is needed.  Protect the vulnerable, frustrate the wicked, promote justice and grant us your consolation and refuge today.  Support us, O Lord, with your unfailing love, and bring us joy.  Amen.

Thursday 12th June – Psalm 93  ‘Robed in majesty’

Not many people have robes nowadays – at least , I don’t think they do!  It’s a garment associated with authority or magnificence, isn’t it?  The King even has his own Master of the Robes, a post which dates back to the 16th century, albeit now it’s more ceremonial than literal.

And this is the language of today’s psalm, which begins: ‘The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty.’  Whilst God is Spirit, many psalms and other scriptures like to imagine God as a physical monarch, with suitable imagery for authority and magnificence.  ‘Robed in majesty’ is a wonderful, evocative phrase, but it’s no mere window dressing (pardon the pun).  In this short psalm, we’re invited to sample the evidence for God’s majesty.

First, there’s our earth.  A stable planet, which even the ancients knew to be ‘firm and secure’.  I love playing records, and am always surprised to discover how many of my collection are older than I am.  I can take out a piece of black plastic that’s still in pristine condition aged 60 – if only that would be true of me in time to come! 

But these silly human comparisons pale when compared to the age of the earth.  People often quote modern understandings of the age of the earth – approximately four billion years – as being an argument against God.  But here the psalmist – 3,000 years ago, remember – uses it as an argument in favour of God.  He made something that can last four billion years.  Puts every empire, every construction, every piece of human ingenuity into the shade, doesn’t it?

Then there’s his throne, which is likewise established ‘long ago’.  Whilst we can’t point to a literal throne, we know that God’s authority has been seen in his dealings with our world for thousands of years – God has been God for as long as humans have existed.  God is, as the psalm says, ‘from all eternity.’ 

Next, there are the seas – which in ancient thought symbolised all the forces of chaos and darkness.  But in this marvellous poetic image, even the seas ‘have lifted up their voice’, because God is mightier than even the greatest waves.  In other words, even the strongest force in nature is as nothing compared to the greatness of God.

Finally, there are God’s ‘statutes’ – that is, his laws and promises.  These, too, stand firm.  There is an air of permanence about everything God does, and his character (his ‘holiness’) does not change.

In our shifting times, our uncertain world, how good it is to reflect on the unchanging majesty, might and authority of God.  It is this God into whose loving hands we place ourselves today.  And may that thought give us the confidence of hope, the strength of joy and the peace that passes understanding.

Father thank you that you are robed in majesty.  I lift my voice to you, even as the great waves do.  Help me to stand firm and secure upon the rock of your promises.  Abide with me today.  Amen.

Wednesday 11th June – Psalm 92  ‘Good to praise’

‘Dear Optimist and Pessimist, while you were arguing about whether the glass was half full or half empty, I drank it.  Yours sincerely, The Pragmatist.’

This great little note was written on the door of the staff room at the cafe for the homeless in Bristol where our church used to take teams regularly.  It always put a smile on my face before we opened the doors, and then at the end of the evening when I came to get my coat.

I wonder how you would describe yourself: are you naturally a glass half-full or half-empty sort of person?  It’s not a moral judgement to answer either way, the world needs both.  Half-empty people are more naturally inclined to effect change, even if those changes are more likely to be appreciated by half-full people!

But when it comes to approaching God, it’s quite helpful to be a bit of both.  ‘It is good to praise….’ begins our psalm for today.  It was a song specially written for Sabbath worship, but its application is universal.  It is a healthy attribute of faith and life to praise God – from first thing in the morning to last thing at night (v2).

There’s no caveat to this declaration: it’s not just for the good times.  It might be said that praise is especially important in the not-so-good times.  In that sense, it’s good to be half-full people – we can praise God’s character (v2) and what God has already done (vv4-5).  Things that don’t change, things that form the bedrock of our lives.

We need to praise.  Praise lifts our hearts and our spirits.  Praise restores a sense of gratitude and wonder.  Praise renews our faith, and gives us courage to believe that God is still God, that he still loves us and will remain faithful, and that, one way or another, things will be OK. 

Far from being an escape from reality, praise anchors us in reality, and balances our perspective again.  What is interesting in this psalm is how open the psalmist is about having enemies, and being surrounded by wickedness (vv6-11).  These sections of the psalms are never easy to read to our modern sensibilities, not least because these enemies are usually described as particular people – but it’s possible to generalise the idea of enemies as being all the bad things that we face in the world, and especially those things which drag us away from God. 

Whilst we may not wish to visualise particular people, we can all imagine other challenges or situations where we can declare God’s victory and find hope and inspiration once again.  That’s why I still read the whole psalm, rather than the edited highlights!

In that sense, this type of praise in all situations is for the half-empty people too, those of us who are naturally wired to notice difficulties and problems.  The pattern of the psalmist reminds us that we can take these honestly to God and declare his victory.  We live our faith in the valley as well as the mountaintop.

Praise ultimately is what helps us to flourish (v12-13).  It gives us a healthy perspective: celebrating the good, finding faith to face the bad.  May God inspire us to praise, as we commit our day to him – why not pray through this psalm for a few moments, declaring God’s praises, that we too might flourish ‘in the courts of our God’ today.

Tuesday 10th June – Psalm 91  ‘Under his wings’

This psalm has long been a favourite of many people, but during the global pandemic it took on an added poignancy.  Verses 3-6 seem to capture the prayer that most of us wanted to pray – we did fear a ‘deadly pestilence’ and it’s natural to pray for protection from it.

I myself have often returned to this psalm over the years, and prayed it for key seasons of my life.  The imagery of divine protection is profound and beautiful: ‘resting in the shadow of the Almighty’, ‘finding refuge under his wings’, ‘no disaster will come near your tent’ (a phrase beloved of campers everywhere!), ‘lifted up in angels’ hands…’

I remember hearing of one lady who memorised this psalm, to use as she went into an MRI scanner which diagnosed a brain tumour.  It’s that kind of psalm, and in recent times Psalm 91 has gone to the top of many Christians’ most used scriptures.

Yet we need to sound a note of caution.  Fundamentally, it is good and right to pray for protection in anxious times – and this psalm gives us the words for that.  But we must beware using this psalm as some kind of magic charm.  To pray it is not to guarantee that we’ll never catch Covid-19, or something equally nasty.  There must have been people who’ve been severely affected by the virus, or even died from it, who read and prayed this psalm.

Above all, we must avoid the conclusion that somehow we have to pray this psalm to be protected.  It is sobering to remember that the devil quoted – or rather misquoted – this psalm when tempting Jesus to put God to the test (Matthew 4:5-7).

In matters of sickness and healing, there is a mystery to these things.  In many ways, this psalm is a natural partner to the previous psalm (90), which equally recognised our fragility in the face of bigger forces at work.  What such threats and dangers do is to cast us back upon God’s mercy and protection: we recognise that our illusion of control is exactly that, and we seek with fresh urgency God’s love and favour, his divine sustenance instead.

Treated in that way, this remains a glorious psalm, one which practises true humility in the face of all kinds of dangers, be they viral (v3,6), physical (v5,7,10), emotional (v5) or spiritual (v2).  Let’s pray the beginning and the end of this psalm, and may it be the air that we breathe today:

Lord, grant me grace to shelter under your wings.  Be my refuge and fortress today.  Answer me in trouble, rescue and protect me, and show me your salvation.  For you are my God, in whom I trust.  Amen.

Monday 9th June – Psalm 90  ‘A heart of wisdom’

It’s not easy to read the first half of this psalm.  None of us really like to be reminded of the fragility of life, especially when we have pointed reminders of it in our daily news.

And yet the enduring appeal of the psalms is precisely their raw honesty.  The psalms allow us to tell it like it really is, to express what is really going on inside our hearts, sometimes even to say the unsayable – and we love them for it.

It is a great comfort to have 150 songs, poems and prayers of such depth and honesty right at the heart of our scriptures.  They tell us that our God is not a tyrant whose ego cannot tolerate criticism, but a loving parent who can withstand our rants and tears as well as our successes and cries of praise.  They earth our doctrines in lived experiences.  They make faith real.

Personally, give me honesty over platitudes any day.  I imagine most of us feel the same.  So in this series, we’ll take a walk through a section of the psalms – and my hope and prayer is that in them we will find a voice which echoes our innermost thoughts and feelings, and grounds them in God’s love and goodness.

What we also notice is that, in the worldview of the psalmist, God is always the main actor – at the centre of the stage.  Things happen because God wills it.  And whilst that sometimes makes for uncomfortable reading, on balance it is a healthy counterpoint to the modern view (even among Christians) which often relegates God to the sidelines of the drama.  At its root, there’s an infectious humility which we all need in our daily lives.

So, how does the writer of Psalm 90 respond to their reflections on the fragility of life and the challenges of suffering?  They ask God for several things: to accept their mortality (v12), which they describe as the ‘heart of wisdom’; to be satisfied with the sufficiency of God’s unfailing love (v14); to find joy again after a season of sorrow (v15); and for their work to bear fruit, according to God’s blessing (v17).

It’s not a bad perspective to face any season of our lives, is it?  It strikes me that verse 12 onwards is a great prayer to pray – and I invite you to join me, that we might all gain the humble trust of the psalmist:

Lord, teach me to number my days rightly, that I might gain a heart of wisdom.

Lord, so often I do not allow myself to be satisfied with the assurance of your love – so today, I pray, satisfy me with that glorious truth and plant it in my heart.

As your love dwells in me, make me glad and grant me the gifts of gratitude and unexpected joy in this season of sorrow.

And may your favour rest upon me, that all I do might bear fruit for you.  Amen.