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Psalm 147:9

Psalm 147:9 All about ravens! This is a curious statement isn’t it? We can imagine that in a country that depends on livestock and arable crops, the provision of suitable weather for agriculture is paramount for farmers. Of course they need grass for their cattle, who doesn’t! But, it’s a bit of a surprise to find young ravens included in the equation. Ravens are predators and they are also prohibited within Biblical dietary rules (Leviticus 11:15 and Deuteronomy 14:14.) In Scripture they are regarded as detestable, like eagles, vultures, buzzards etc. All these birds are meat-eaters, dining primarily on carrion and therefore not “kosher.” That is another reason to be surprised at the mention of young ravens in this verse, although it was ravens that brought food to Elijah in a time of famine. It was a raven that Noah released firstly from the ark, after the flood, in a bid to find out if dry land had yet appeared. (the raven never returned!) One key to understanding this reference to ...
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Psalm 147:8

Psalm 147:8 The creator and controller of weather The Psalmist has moved away from the mystery of the stars and focussed his gaze on a few natural phenomena a bit closer to home. He lives in a hot country where rainfall during the summer (May to September) is unheard of, so He is probably thinking of the autumn rains as he writes this verse. Israel generally experiences mild, rainy winters (October to April) although the highlands around Jerusalem may experience snowfall and of course, the southern lands around Eilat and the Dead Sea are arid desert. The Mount Hermon range of mountains in the north are always snowclad in winter, so much so that, in modern Israel they house ski resorts! Sometimes those of us who live in variable climates forget how marvellous it is in other parts of the world when the clouds cover the sky and rain falls. The landscape changes immediately for those desolate hills start to flourish as the grass grows and the greenery reappears.  We must never forget t...
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Psalm 147:7

Psalm 147:7 Sing grateful praise to the Lord This verse is very simple, if we are truly grateful to the Lord for all He has done, then we are encouraged to sing and make music to Him.  If we think about the content of verse 6, we do indeed have a lot to be grateful for!   The fate of the wicked is dreadful, cut off from God forever, destined to be punished and severely judged and without hope for the future. The ramifications for despising and defying the Creator God are enormous, they portend eternal isolation and misery for those who choose the path of unbelief, who, however unwittingly, opt to align themselves with the wicked. This option cannot be changed at a later date, nor can it be renegotiated beyond the grave, the negotiations can only take place whilst we are alive on this planet as capable, free-thinking human beings.  To be saved from such a fate is remarkable and amazing and beyond understanding and yet, the Bible teaches us, again and again, ...
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Psalm 147:6

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...
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Psalm 147:5

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...
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Psalm 147:4

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...
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Psalm 147:3

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 ...
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