Daily Meditations

Psalm 140:6 You are my God! It’s no coincidence that we are confronted here by David’s heart cry to God, something that the next few Psalms will replicate, for we all need to stop at times and ask, “Who is our God?” Most Christians would look indignant when asked this question and reply, “The God of the Bible of course. The God we worship in our church. The God of our ancestors. The God who created heaven and earth. The God of the Christian faith.”  And yes, our God is all of those things but is He truly God of you and me? Is He the One who we worship above everyone and everything? Is He the One we turn to in trouble? Is He the One we think of when we lay down to sleep and when we awake? Is He Lord of all that we possess or own? Is He God of our families, our relationships, our work and our play? Is He our God when we sit in front of the TV or scroll through Apps on our phones? Is He the God who made every tree and blade of grass that grows around us and every cloud in the sky...

Psalm 140:5 Traps and snares This verse puts us in the territory of poachers and gamekeepers, especially those who do not use guns. In ancient times there were no guns, prey had to be caught with bows and arrows which could be a tricky business. Therefore, the hunters became very proficient at setting traps and snares, using nets and cords. There are many skills involved, you must study the habits of the prey and work out the tracks that they regularly use.  You need to know at what level they travel, for instance a fox trap needs to be higher than say, a rabbit. It’s best to avoid ditches and water courses of any kind and you need to prepare nets and cords that will hold the prey once it has been caught. The methods and equipment vary from animal to animal, and a successful “trapper” has to be able to outwit the animal he is hunting. All the above demonstrates that guile, deceit, experience and an amount of satisfaction in catching and killing prey, has to be part of the qual...

Psalm 140:4 There's always a battle This is a personal plea for the Lord’s protection, and like David, we need to pray for our own security before we can pray for the safety and defence of our families, friends, churches, even our nation. In David’s world the threat was physical and tangible, his enemies at the time he prayed really did want to physically hurt him, and they devised all sorts of devious plans to cause harm to him and to his reputation. If we read his life story in the books of Samuel, we will see that David faced enemies and persecution almost every day of his life. There’s no doubt that true disciples of Jesus Christ suffer for their faith. It is not a popular thing to be a Christian and to wear that badge of honour with pride. We will always be misunderstood, treated with contempt by some and mistrust by others. Our faith will seem to them to be a pointless fantasy, based on scientifically and historically proven fables. They may like us, but they treat our belief...

Psalm 140:3 All about  snakes! The serpent is not a popular animal in the Bible. It usually spells trouble, and it all begins, of course, with the serpent who appeared to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the UK, the only poisonous serpent is the Adder, and few people have ever encountered one of these simply because they are extremely timorous creatures. David was, of course, writing this Psalm in Israel, a country that has over 40 species of snakes, 9 of which are venomous! These include vipers and cobras but most of the snakes to be avoided live in the southern deserts. There are two poisonous vipers to be found in the north named, maybe appropriately, as the Palestine and the Lebanon vipers. (The former is the national snake of Israel.)  There are very few people who really like snakes and even fewer who would go out of their way to handle them! All snakes have forked tongues which allow the animal to collect chemical particles to interpret scents, their tongues are s...

Psalm 140:2 Devisers of evil There is a certain kind of person who continuously plots evil. Psalm 36:4 says, “ Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong.”  Proverbs 6:12-14 talks about “ A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart – he always stirs up conflict.”  Isaiah broadens the picture by describing corrupt institutions and even nations where, “ No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.”  Isaiah 59:4. The problem is that we live in so-called times of cultural tolerance where excuses are made for those who are evil, and are brainwashed into believing it is not fair and right to point the finger. Devious practices are accepted in all areas of ...

Psalm 140:1 Protect me from the violent Oh dear, at first sight this Psalm is the absolute antithesis of those beautiful songs of joy that we have studied over many months. There is not much to celebrate here, no popular verses to commit to memory. However, the truth is that none of our lives are permanently lived on the mountain tops where we sing songs of joy all day long. The reality is that most of us struggle through the valleys of life, and the heady mountain top moments are a welcome relief from either the ordinariness of our days or the constant battles that we are engaged in. The toughest times are when the battles involve family, friends, colleagues and contemporaries who are utterly opposed to who we are, what we believe and who we believe in. These conflicts can bring us down, not least because they are often orchestrated by the Satan who launches relentless attacks on our minds, our integrity and on our faith. David knew the human cost of all of this, and he writes on beha...