Daily Meditations

Psalm 145:5 Can we see God? We’re still pondering the question, what is it that generations of people have passed on to their successors about the greatness of the Lord. David uses a regal metaphor here, let’s imagine ourselves as spectators inside Westminster Abbey or Windsor Chapel at the wedding of a senior member of the British Royal Family. All the men are dressed in their best suits, the ladies resplendent in their finest dresses and hats, shoes shine and jewellery sparkles but none of this compares to the splendour of the royals as they parade down the central aisle.  God’s majesty is displayed in the central aisle of His creation from the buttercups that lighten a meadow in spring to the soaring power of an eagle over a mountain peak to the song of a robin in winter, to the majesty of a whale surfacing above the waves, to the setting of the sun in the evening and its arrival every morning, to the vastness of the star-filled heavens, to the humbling crescendos of the thunder...

Psalm 145:4 I will proclaim Your great deeds Later in this Psalm David will go on to name and proclaim the mighty acts of God, as this verse shows us, he believes this to be the responsibility of every generation –  “to commend the works of the Lord and to tell of His mighty acts. ” In particular we have a responsibility to do this to our children – to the next generation. It was not that long ago when churches in every village and town ran Sunday Schools and where Bible stories were recounted and the next generation grew up knowing about the mighty acts of the Lord. I regularly visited schools, with a guitar under my arm, having been invited to take an assembly. It was a joy to tell the ancient stories of God’s power and saving works. Sadly, this rarely happens nowadays.  That means that we all have a responsibility to keep talking about our God and all that He has done both in ancient times or about what He is doing in our lives today. Having had three miraculous healings in...

Psalm 15:3 Great is the Lord! This is a thankless task! Somehow we have to try to grasp the significance of these words, written by King David, and try to understand the greatness of the Lord! Obviously, that is impossible for finite minds that are vastly inferior to His mind and incapable of imagining just how great and wonderful He really is. But even if we’ve just meandered a few feet down the road of grasping the Lord’s greatness we will have had our minds totally blown, as David says, “ He is the most worthy of our praise.”  It doesn’t matter where we direct our praise be it to other human beings, family members, those we love, or those we revere for their gifts and skills; it I still the Lord who is most worthy, for His character and ability far exceeds any human greatness. So much so that it is impossible for us to fathom how great He is.  The Psalms have taught us that God’s mind is so much more powerful than all the world’s computers put together, in fact they are jus...

Psalm145:2 Eternal praise! What a brilliant statement and one for us to take on board. Do we want to be men and women of faith like David? Well, one way to start is to ensure that we praise the Lord our God every day. There are so many ways we can do this, by reading and studying His Word and being amazed at who He is and what He has done. By giving thanks for our daily food and necessities. By witnessing to others about Him. By playing songs and hymns that extol Him and by making music in our heart to Him. By praying and simply thanking Him for all He is and all He has done. By standing still for a moment and looking with awe-filled eyes at His creation or listening to the music of the birds, the trees, the ocean waves or the buzzing of insects and recognising that every bit of creation reveals His character and provision for us. By joining with others who love Him and acknowledging together His sovereignty and authority. By humbling ourselves so that we are completely dependent on Hi...

Psalm 145:1 Praise eternal This is the last of the Psalms that is ascribed to David and in that sense, we might feel a little bit sad. We have had the company of this great man and accompanied him through all His trials and moments of despair as well as sharing in his successes and identifying with his songs of praise. And that is what Psalm 145 is, it is described in my Bible as a “magnificent hymn to the Lord, the Great King, for his mighty acts and His benevolent virtues.” So, we will encounter the virtues of the Lord over the next few studies, His greatness, goodness, trustworthiness and righteousness. I’m looking forward to this, aren’t you?   V1        When we exalt someone (or even something) we elevate that person above others, we grant them a position of importance and authority over us. We proclaim that they are greater than us and we are lesser than them and that they are worthy of our obeisance. I suppose this is played out on ear...

Psalm 144:15 We are blessed! We use the Word “blessed” a lot in conversation; “Have a blessed day”, “God bless you”, even unbelievers describe themselves as “blessed.” The Hebrew word for “blessed” describes the happiness that comes from being favoured by the Lord God, so, maybe a good translation of “blessed” is “favoured.” We often use the term in the context of wealth or health, but it goes much further, when God blesses His people they have an inner quality, a spiritual state of joy-filled contentment that cannot be shaken by the trials of this world. David uses this word corporately of his people, Israel. The Lord has provided for them in remarkable ways; Psalm 33:12 says,  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance.”  The Psalm goes on to demonstrate that the Lord oversees all peoples and all events on earth! Best of all,  “His eyes are on those who fear Him, whose hope is in His unfailing love.”  Do we count ourselves...