Daily Meditations

Psalm 147:6 The righteous, the humble and the wicked. Now this is a dilemma, and one that we have encountered many times on our journey through the Psalms. It seems that the psalm writers had no compunction in labelling the righteous and the wicked. In this instance the righteous are the humble, those who have learned to depend on the Lord God and who admit that they cannot deliver, maintain or protect themselves, they have to put their trust in the Lord. The dilemma is that such people are few and far between, does this mean that everyone else is wicked? Yes, in the sense that they ignore God and despise the Gospel of His salvation, but would we go so far as to say that our family members, neighbours, friends and work colleagues who refuse to believe are the wicked? If so the judgement of the Lord, as described in the Psalms, is severe and brutal indeed. In this verse, the wicked are cast down to the ground or, more correctly, the grave. They are destined for eternal isolation from th...

Psalm 147:5 Great is the Lord!! Read this in conjunction with the previous verse, it feels as if the psalmist steps back for a moment, completely overwhelmed and breathless from the enormity of what has just been written. In the days before artificial lighting, the night sky was a common source of wonder and amazement to our ancestors, and for those who lived in lands where there are months without rain or clouds, the skies would provide a nightly source of bewildering complexity. To ancient minds, the extent of the heavens went far beyond human imagination; they were unapproachable and completely unfathomable.  Frankly, for all our scientific know-how and modern ingenuity, we have not progressed much further in our understanding of those other worlds and mysterious biospheres that may or may not exist far into the heavens. So, we must step back, like the psalm writer, and exclaim,  “Great is our Lord and mighty in power, His understanding has no limit.”  If our God can f...

Psalm 147:4 The One who can name all the stars! At 4.00am this morning, (I’m writing this in midwinter) I awoke and noticed how much light was shining through cracks in the curtains. I had a brief look outside and the moon was full and almost dazzling to the eye. I was not wearing my glasses so was astonished to note that there were many stars visible, in fact the entire sky was peppered with these pinpricks of light. It was a memorable moment! Apparently, we humans can see a few thousand individual stars with the naked eye, (fewer without specs) a half decent telescope will reveal millions more. Can we count them? The answer is, “no!”  Stars are not random; they are gathered together in clusters called galaxies. Our sun is a star in a galaxy called the “Milky Way” which contains around 100 million stars or suns. Beyond the Milky Way are millions of other galaxies! So, the task of counting stars is pretty pointless, it can never be more that guesswork. And yet! And yet, this b...

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted Even a cursory read of the book of Nehemiah will reveal the hardship and trials experienced by the exiles who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and re-establish its people. The pain of exile was followed by the broken-hearted wails of those who returned to see the devastation and destruction caused by the conquering Babylonians 70 years before. A few older people made it, the rest of the returnees had lived in hope for their elders had explained the beauty and wonders of the Holy City of Zion. What they came back to was nothing like the pictures that had been painted, the place was just a pile of broken rocks and stones, it had been razed to the ground. If they were to rebuild, they must start from scratch.  That was a national disaster, but some of us face very personal and private calamities where everything we built and treasured is taken from us and all the walls we erected around ourselves are brought crashing to the ground. The ...

Psalm 147:2 It will be! As we said in the introduction, there is some evidence that this Psalm was associated with the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah and Ezra. This verse tends to back up the theory! The Jews moved back to Israel from Babylon in tranches, the work of rebuilding both the city of Jerusalem and the Temple was also sporadic according to the dictates of the various Persian kings. However we may view the comings and goings of human rulers, there was another ruler who was keeping a close eye on progress and who was determined that the people should return, the capital city should be restored, and the Second Temple should be built. He watched with interest and more than a little personal involvement, for the God of heaven and earth had decreed that this should happen; it was all part of His plan and purpose for His people, their land and the Holy City. It was not necessarily a smooth or a speedy  process, but when God says, “It will be”, it will be!  The ...

Psalm 147:1 Another hymn of praise to the Lord   We do not know the author of this Psalm, but some relate it to a Levite associated with the choirs who sang regularly in the Temple Courts and ensured that pilgrims would be surrounded by songs of praise on each and every visit. Some scholars attribute the contents of this song to the time when Nehemiah and Ezra dedicated the rebuilt walls of Jerusalem, following the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. (Nehemiah 12:27-43.) A glorious occasion indeed. Whatever the background story; this Psalm is full of praise to our God and extols His deeds and His glory not just over Israel but over the whole earth.    V1        Another Psalm that encourages us to “Praise the Lord.” As I write it is a Sunday morning in late 2025 and I will shortly be joining with my brothers and sisters at our local church fellowship “Crossways” where we will lift our hands and our voices to praise the Lord. Whatever m...