Daily Meditations

Psalm 145:10 Let His faithful people extol Him Most people associate the sounds of creation with the natural order of the seasons, for instance birds sing more prolifically in spring because they are attracting their mates. (This was found to be untrue when certain warblers were tracked during migration from Europe to Africa and it was found they sing the same songs when they are resting up, and just as regularly as they do in spring in the northern hemisphere.) Find time to go outside today and listen to creation. Maybe the breaking of waves on the seashore, or the sound of wind in the trees, or the calls of wild animals and the sound of countless species of birds, as previously mentioned. As I write, a Robin is singing in the garden and will continue to do so throughout each day. There is the buzz of insects to add to the catalogue and, my favourite, the song of a skylark that produces more music in a few minutes than Beethoven produced In a lifetime. And those tiny birds compose sou...

Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good We need to be reminded at times, of the extent of God’s goodness. It’s easy to stick our chests out and walk proudly in the knowledge that God is good to us, His children, those that believe in Him and have accepted salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. But God is good to everyone. He created a beautiful world for us all to inhabit, He provides food and drink to every one of the 8.142 billion people who live on this planet (as at 2024). God’s goodness is reflected on the land, in the seas, throughout the heavens and in the very air that we breathe. Our miraculous bodies are all the evidence we need that God is good and the beauty and wonder of all creation is given to us to enjoy and to carefully manage. Oh yes, God is good to all. He is not only good, but He has a benevolent compassion towards all human beings. Are they not made in His image? Are we not at the peak of the food chain, given brains and physical abilities to watch over the complex world th...

Psalm 145:8 Slow to anger and rich in love Do you remember how Moses carried two stone tablets down Mount Sinai and then smashed them in disgust when he witnessed the Israelites worshipping a Golden Calf? The Lord instructed Moses to return up the mountain the following day, alone and with two freshly chiselled stone tablets.  We read in Exodus 34:4-7 that “ The Lord came down in the cloud and stood with Moses and proclaimed His name, the Lord. And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished, He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation .”  This is sobering, coming in David’s Psalm directly after the instructions to tell the next generations of the goodness and majesty of God. By copying pa...

Psalm 145:7 God's abundant goodness and righteousness Here are two more themes for our worship and praise that should drive us to tell the next generations of the glory of our God. Firstly, we should have occasions when we celebrate His abundant goodness; times of praise and worship in our corporate gatherings are such occasions but we can also set apart moments with children and grandchildren when we celebrate too. Most of us have a rich history of walking with the Lord, there must have been some “high” or mountain top moments, if so pass them on and tell of the goodness of the Lord. The Psalm also encourages us to “ Joyfully sing of the Lord’s righteousness.”  In other words, we embrace and explain just how perfect He is and how holy are His ways. Children and adults need to grasp this or else they will never understand the need for repentance or the wonder of all that Jesus did for us at the cross. It is His righteousness that makes the Lord our God unapproachable and a Being to...

Psalm 145:6 God's awesome works and great deeds We have been looking at the way in which generations pass on what they know of the Lord to those who come after them. So far,  “they commend Your works and tell of Your mighty acts ,” and “ They speak of the glorious splendour of Your majesty.”  This verse now adds another layer to the rich testimony that we should be passing down to those who succeed us, we have a responsibility to “ tell of the power of God’s mighty works and His great deeds .” It strikes me that there is an agenda here for every Sunday School and church-based children’s work.   We have to excite the young with amazing accounts of all that God has done and who He is, let’s paint Him in vivid colours and big Him up, as if that were necessary. Let’s stir their fertile imaginations with images of a great and powerful God. We can certainly do that with many of the stories in the Bible but, hopefully, we have some of our own to pass on too! Anything that glorif...

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...