Daily Meditations

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...

Psalm 139:24 Know me and all my faults “See if there is any offensive way in me.”  The Satan has been very clever over the centuries, he knows that sin produces shame, and shame leads to a cover up. We only have to go back to the Garden of Eden to discover this. After Aam and Eve had sinned we read,  “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”  Genesis 3:7-8. Do you see what sin and guilt do? They bring shame and we cover it up from one another and then we are driven to hide away from God. David’s Psalm is the antidote to all of this, instead of hiding he urges us to reveal ourselves, to be open with God and to permit Him to have full access to all our secrets, after all the Psalm has shown that...

Psalm 139:23 Search me, God We are coming to the climax of this extraordinary Psalm, we’ve been walking with King David as he investigates the full knowledge that the Lord God has of each of us and frankly, it’s a bit scary! As we have seen, He knows us better than we know ourselves, He reads us like a book, He even knows what’s in the next paragraph before we get to it! There’s no escaping the scrutiny of our God and so, with David, we must now dare to ask Him to search our hearts. It’s all very well having a rant against the enemy but what if we too are acting in opposition to the Lord?  Dare we ask the Lord to, “Search me, O God, go deep, look at my motives and my selfish heart. Take note of my empty promises and misguided intentions. Seek out and expose the real truth behind what I say and do. Uncover my secret thoughts and my purposes. Show me who I really am and what has made me this way. Uncover the deepest parts of my heart and mind and show me all that I am and have done t...

Psalm 139:22 God's enemies are my enemies This is the last throw of the dice in David’s indictment of God’s enemies, and it is no less condemning than what has already been said. There is a point to this that we have not considered, and it has to do with taking sides.  It’s always a joy to travel to new destinations and to seek out a congregation of believers amongst whom we immediately feel at home. We’ve never met these people before, but it feels like we’ve always known them! Many years ago, I was a travelling preacher and regularly visited churches and chapels that were previously unknown to me. The welcome offered and the reality of fellowship turned these into special occasions, especially when I was invited back! The point is that God’s friends are our friends, His children are our brothers and sisters, we are family. If that is true, then the opposite is also true; believers in Jesus Christ have no place amongst the idolaters, the liars, the blasphemers or any who openly re...