Daily Meditations

Psalm 33:20   Wait in hope for the Lord      It’s a curious thing that much of our experience of God in this life has to do with waiting. We wait for answers to our prayers. We wait for a new day. We wait for the coming of the bridegroom to redeem His church. We wait in patience to discern the will of the Lord. We wait for sickness to be relieved or for a loved one to recover. We wait for revival or restoration in the church. We wait for God to speak. We wait for the sound of the trumpet! It’s just a random list but it occurs to me that the Christian life has much to do with waiting. We are impatient people; we see no reason why God would delay. We want instant answers and direct guidance and to know what is going to happen next. The false teachers who promise us this every time have failed to understand the true essence of faith. Faith is trusting and obeying without instant responses. It is learning to hope when there seems to be no hope. It is declaring our trust when heaven is quie

Psalm 33:19   Keep me alive!      Well, there are many things that we fear in life aren’t there? There are many occasions when we rest upon the unfailing love of the Lord. Some of these events or chapters in our lives are out of our control, at other times we reflect on how our own stupid actions have caused our misfortune.  There are two trials that David fears above all others, they are death and famine. The first is common to all men, the second is not known amongst western nations today but still experienced in some third world countries. Imagine having nothing, not knowing where the next meal is going to come from, not having shops and State hand-outs to assist. Imagine being dependent on your land but it has all dried up and every plant has withered away and nothing will grow this season or maybe even the next! Imagine having a family to care for and no way to support them. I can only imagine that it must feel like a living death. What a comfort it is, when in desperate straits,

Psalm 33:18    The eyes of the Lord are on us     We have contemplated the Lord God looking down on all mankind from His heavenly throne. Verses 13-14 have reminded us that He watches everything that happens on earth, He sees every man and woman and child, for He made them. It was God who decided that we should be born and when we should be born, no one arrives on the planet by accident. Once we are here, He watches to see how we will live, what decisions we will make and how we will relate to Him – our Creator. He formed every heart and He considers all that we do. While men plot and scheme against one another and against His rule and authority He has particular concern for those who have reverence and respect for Him. Amongst the vast numbers of unbelievers are the few who hope in His unfailing love. The eyes of the Lord are on us, dear friends, not judgemental eyes but eyes filled with compassion and care. He watches over you and me, nothing we do or say and even think is lost on Hi

Psalm 33:17 Don't put your faith in your horse!      Just as men today boast in their weaponry, so ancient leaders gazed with admiration at their most powerful tools. World leaders today take comfort from their nuclear arsenals or their military might, why they even have special occasions when some of it is paraded for the public to see how powerful and well-protected they are. Such is the arrogance and utter godlessness of man. In David’s time the most powerful emblem of military might was the horse, especially bred to be strong and intimidating and ready to trample down the enemy. The Lord often cautions against trusting in horses and chariots; in Proverbs 21:31 we read,  “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.”  And in Isaiah 31:1-3: - Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,     who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots     and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,  

Psalm 33:16 The size of the army!      How sad it is! How frustrating. How utterly ridiculous, that since the beginning of man’s time he has thought that he could control his own destiny! Nations and empires have come and gone. Kings and princes, queens and princesses, emperors, presidents, prime ministers, lords and ladies, dictatorships and democracies; all these and more litter the pages of history, and they all thought that their strength lay in their own might, their own ambition, their own authority, their own riches and strength in the world. Not a bit of it! Not one of them has controlled their destiny or that of the nations they served. God is the One who has directed their pathway and so it is to God that they must give account for their brief sojourn on this planet. All around us today, the rich and powerful nations have well-equipped armies, navies and air forces. They have stockpiles of nuclear missiles and other weapons of mass destruction. “No one can hurt me,” they thin

Psalm 33:13-15   The Lord looks down      These verses have to be taken together. They are painting a brief word picture of the knowledge and wisdom of an all-seeing, all-embracing, all-understanding God. Imagine that dwelling place on high, the throne room of Adonai. It’s not easy is it? Somewhere, beyond the heavens, is the habitation of this Almighty One, this Eternal Spirit, this Being of profound wisdom, knowledge and power. He who only has to speak, and all things come into being. He dwells in a palace of light, surrounded by angelic beings who praise and worship Him. Is this God arrogant or is He a cruel despot who manipulates the creatures He has made for His own ends? No! He watches and considers and muses and yearns for mankind, the crown of His creation and who are made in His image, to relate to Him. How frustrating it is when so few even acknowledge Him! People are rushing here and there, trying to make the best of their short time on the planet, trying to build up tempora

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation He chose       David was the proud king of a great nation, a nation chosen by God and separated from the rest of the world. They were delivered from Egypt in a way that no other nation has experienced. From a disorganised rabble of slaves, they had become, in very short time, an organised and highly effective military force. Their move into the Promised Land brought prosperity, security and prestige and under King David they were now one of the greatest nations in the then-known world. But our king does not attribute this to his own plans or abilities, he gives the glory to the Lord. All these blessings are signs that the Lord is God, that the nation of Israel has been chosen and that they are God’s inheritance, they belong, legally, to Him. They are His by right.  There is nothing in the Scriptures to say that God has rejected Israel, in fact Paul, in Romans 9-11 teaches the very opposite. However, He has extended His ownership and choice to another n

Psalm 33:11 He planned it all!    It does us well to remember that Plan A for this planet, was put into action before creation. “ For He chose us in Him  before the creation of the world  to be holy and blameless in His sight.”  Ephesians 1:4. Jesus prayed in John 17:24, “ Father, I want those You have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory You have given me because You loved me  before the creation of the world .”  In the parable of the sheep and goats, the King says to those on His right,  “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you  since the creation of the world .”  Matthew 25:34.  There should never be any doubt that the Lord’s plans are standing firm and we are part of those plans if we believe in Him. We know His plans are still being enacted because we have been called and brought into His family. This was not our doing. We did not have the faith to believe. We were deliberately and purposefully chosen

Psalm 33:10   Who is in charge?      So much could be said about the content of this verse of our Psalm, in fact it is a reflection on the entire history of the human race. While we educated westerners go to our schools and learn about the successes and failures of men and their armies; the plots and schemes of rulers and kings; the rise and fall of generals and world leaders; Jewish boys were and are educated to believe that it is the Lord who has been the major influence in the affairs of the world. So many good thangs have happened that men claim the credit for, so many bad things have not happened that God claims the credit for! Time and again as mighty empires have swept into being, ambitious dictators have plotted their abominations, greedy despots have subverted their people, idealistic philosophies have captured imaginations; the Lord has foiled the scheming, the Lord has uprooted the empires and now they are nothing. Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks, Ro

Psalm 33:9 He spoke and it came to be      We would be foolish to ever doubt the word of the Lord. Against a background of lies, false teaching, subjective testimony and fashionable theory it is vital that God’s people hang on to His every word. The world’s ideas and versions of the truth change daily. Even in the church there are changing theologies that are subject to the whims and ways of the times. Much has changed in my lifetime, some of the basic tenets of the faith have been challenged and overthrown. On the other hand, I have found that the Word of God has caused me to reflect on truth that I held sincerely but have now found to be wrong. That is why we must constantly be feeding on the Scriptures and hearing the voice of the Lord for,  “When He spoke it came to be.”  There is only one voice that matters, popular speakers and writers come and go, but the Word of the Lord stand forever and when He speaks IT WILL HAPPEN – IT IS DONE! The background to these statements is, of cour

Psalm 33:8 Fear the Lord      In the light of the preceding verses it is obvious that all the earth should fear the Lord. Fear means reverence and respect, this is a call to all of mankind, not just Israel. All men of every tribe, race and tongue should fear the living God. Every nation from every continent should turn and acknowledge that there is but One Lord, One God and One Saviour of mankind. In truth this has never happened and it never will, until it is too late.  Why should men fear God? Because their destiny is in His hands. He alone is God and He alone has the power to control the future. We either choose to live in His domain, guided by His laws and subject to His Spirit or we try to make our own way which inevitably leads to chaos, disappointment, unfulfillment and ultimately death.  We should fear Him because He is an angry and a jealous God, we ignore Him at our peril. All the other objects of worship and the demon, pagan figureheads of the world’s religions are nothing,

Psalm 33:7   The storekeeper of the world      There are some Christians who would argue that this verse is an illustration, a visual aid to help our little human minds grasp the immensity of who God is. Others would say that this is a literal verse of Scripture. Who is right? What we have here is a householder or a landowner storing his/her produce; the wine or the water or the oil is carefully poured into jars or ewers. The grain or arable harvests are preserved in storehouses. In future these products will be needed but for now they need to be kept in a secure place where there will be no leakage and where every drop or grain can be accounted for.  I believe this verse is all about a God who keeps, who preserves, who gives order and purpose, who has everything under control. In the time of the Flood, the jars and the storehouses were emptied and the result was chaos to the world. In times of famine the storehouses are closed. At all such times we are dependent on the Lord God to pro

Psalm 33:6 By the word of the Lord      I heard a discussion today about the mutations of the Coronavirus and its evolutionary abilities, apparently viruses compete and it’s all about the survival of the fittest. They learned to do this in monkeys millions of years ago and they’ve been doing it ever since! With that as a backdrop I come to my Bible and read that the Lord is the maker of all things. It took just a word and the heavens came into being. He breathed the starry host out of His mouth. Hebrews 11:3 tells us,  “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”  So, we have a choice, is the universe and the starry host, and everything else that lives and breathes, a product of a cosmic accident that started 13.8 billion years ago or the consequence of the voice and will of God? If the former, then the world is in a terrifying place because much is happening that is completely out of man’s control. I

Psalm 33:5 Righteousness and justice      The Lord loves righteousness and justice. “Ok,” we say, “that’s good, we think we know that!” But do we know that? It is so easy to read words like this and let them pass us by because they are part of the fabric of the familiar Scriptures. But look again. The text is not saying that the Lord likes righteousness and justice, He loves them! He loves righteousness. He loves it when His followers do good, not to earn His favour but because they simply want to be obedient – they want to serve Him, they choose to obey because they know it gives Him pleasure. The Lord loves that! The Lord also loves justice. There are so many abused, used, impoverished, needy people in the world who have no voice, no champion for their cause and no respite from their suffering. When someone, driven by Godly compassion, seeks to help; the Lord loves it!  The Lord Jesus delights to show righteousness and justice Himself. His life was righteous throughout every second h

Psalm 33:4  The Word of the Lord      There are at least three manifestations of the “Word of the Lord.”  The Word was present at creation, according to John 1, and so the created world is part of God’s Word to us. That Word of the Lord is right and true. It does not lie, it is not devious, and it reflects His goodness, His beauty and His holiness. If we have ears to hear and eyes to see, then the glory of God will reveal itself to us in all that He has made. As Paul writes in Romans 1:20 “ Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”  Creation speaks! Take time to listen!   The second manifestation of the Word; is the written Word – the Scriptures. Here we have everything that God would have us know about His character, His holiness and His truth. Every word is truth, we may take this Book, the Bible, and treat it as God’s personal

Psalm 33:3 Shout for joy!      There are three things for worshippers and about worship in this verse. Can you spot them?  Number 1. Sing to the Lord a new song. Worship music has changed a great deal during my lifetime. In my childhood hymns and songs were sung that had been familiar to several generations of believers in Jesus. Yes, some of them were set to very dull tunes and some were very twee in their sentiments! Then, one day, someone put a tune to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” and suddenly we were inundated with Scripture in song. That was a rich time, many of the Psalms were given up-to-date tunes. Then along came the more spontaneous outpourings of the charismatic movement and the variety of musical instruments changed too. Graham Kendrick added his twentieth century hymns and songs and suddenly we were in an era where there was a new tune to learn almost every day! Some of these offerings have been poor, but many have been right for their time. “Sing to Him a new Song!”

Psalm 33:2   Music v noise!      It would be easy to overlook this verse with its musical connotations but there are some points to be made. Firstly, the ancient harp was not as grand and well strung as the modern orchestral instrument. Ancient harps were hand-held and shaped like an archer’s bow. Remains of these have been found in many sites dating back as far as 3,500 BC. If you remember, Lamech’s son Jubal is mentioned in Genesis 4:21 as the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Revelation 5:8 describes the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders who surround the throne of God in heaven. Each of them holding a harp. It will be something to hear them play, one day! The ten-stringed lyre , some say, represents the 10 Commandments given to Moses. The lyre had a central pillar with 5 strings on each side that were plucked. In Isaiah 14:9-12 the devil goes to the pit with his ordinances, the instruments that he uses to deceive the people of the earth – the soun

Psalm 33:1  Sing Joyfully!      What a Psalm this is, written to encourage and inspire when the world around us is in confusion and disorder. The Song reminds us to praise God alone and with new songs, to look to Him, the Creator of all things. It addresses the hopes and plans of the nations and reminds us that only those who seek God and hope in God will be blessed.    V1         “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So writes the apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:19-20. He and David would have got on very well, indeed they are doing so in God’s kingdom! The command to praise and sing joyfully is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. Notice that we are to sing joyfully. There is a time and place for sober music but the “norm” should be joyful outpourings of love and worship, for we know God, we know who He is, we know w

Psalm 32:11 Rejoice and sing!      “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!”  So says Paul in Philippians 4:4. He may have been thinking of this final verse of Psalm 32. A Psalm that began with the agonies of the fallen sinner who felt the heaviness of the hand of God. David had sinned and the gradual realisation that he needed to confess occupied the first few verse of the song. He acknowledged his sin, he confessed his sin and the Lord forgave the guilt of his sin v5. From there he can move on to a relationship again, to restored health, to a bright hope for tomorrow. The cloud has passed, the heavy yoke has been lifted and the guilt has been erased. That is a huge part of the wonder and joy of being a child of God, forget all this nonsense about mindfulness and wellbeing and meditation on inner self and all of the other false hopes that the devil offers. There is no state like that of the forgiven sinner who is right with the Lord God. That is a cause for celebrati

Psalm 32:10 The one who trusts in Him       The “sanitised” view of God, so widely promoted by the church, is of a loving, patient, gracious, meek and kindly gentleman who endears Himself to mankind and who shows inexhaustible tolerance to all individuals and nations. If you read the Bible with one eye open you could justify that impression but, if you open the other eye, there is another side to God that many prefer to ignore. Paul sets the other side out, very clearly, in Romans chapter 2. In verse 4 he speaks of the kindness, forbearance and patience of God but these virtues are intended to lead us to repentance. The chapter goes on to point out that stubbornness and unrepentant hearts store up wrath and judgement from God. Romans 1 has already described this wrath of God that will be exhibited against the godlessness and wickedness of people. Psalm 32:10 is therefore an Old Testament parallel that tells us that there are two sides to God and the wicked are on a path that will lead

Psalm 32:9 Horse or mule?      In Isaiah 1:3 we find these words,  “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”   Sadly, Israel has always rebelled against God, at times they have abandoned Him completely and followed other gods, but the Lord has remained faithful and called them back to Himself. On other occasions they have proudly practiced their religion but in their hearts, they have not obeyed His will. Time and again God has rescued the “chosen people” but to this day, most remain oblivious to Him, living in unbelief and blatant disregard. When Jesus came, their Messiah, He did not fit the man-made blueprint they had perfected, so He was despised and rejected.  “He came unto His own but His own did not receive Him.”  John 1:11. David reminds us, here in this Psalm, that we can all be like Israel – they are our example. Instead of letting the Lord be our Instructor and Teacher, we rebel and kick and stubbornly dig

Psalm 32:8   He will teach you      When I first started doing these commentaries on the Psalms, one verse at a time, it was for the purpose of understanding better, the nature of spiritual warfare. I only ever intended to pick out the verses that were pertinent to that subject. Then I found myself “hooked” by other verses that I was reading and I realised they all contained truth that was relevant to my spiritual walk. Then I felt prompted to share my thoughts with others – with you. For, you see, our Lord has an intimate interest in the spiritual journey of every one of us and we need His instruction.  “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go,”  He says. How difficult the terrain is, how devious the enemy with his side paths, how confusing the signs can be, we need His guidance and there is just ONE place we will find it - here in His Word as inspired by the Holy Spirit. Notice that He will teach us the way to GO. He does not intend us to stand still or to retreat

Psalm 32:7   You are my hiding place      Why do we need a hiding place? I can think of two reasons. An army or group of soldiers waiting to launch an attack will need a hiding place until everything is ready and then they hope they will break out and bear down on an unsuspecting enemy.  The usual requirement of a hiding place, however, is to keep us safe. We are afraid, we are being hunted down, there is someone or something that is so terrifying that we cower away. The Coronavirus has done that to us in our millions, we are frightened to make contact with others, to even touch what they have touched; we are living in isolation driven by a government-led media campaign that promotes fear. One Christian doctor who contracted the virus and who was seriously ill talked, on the radio, about his battle against fear and how He had to pray against it and ask the Holy Spirit to guard every limb in his body and drive out the dark forces that were attacking him and instilling such a fearful dre

Psalm 32:6   Let the faithful pray      As I write these words we are living in troubled times, the outfall from Covid 19 threatens our way of life and the stability of the world. Indeed, it is time for the faithful to pray and to ensure that they have a clean account with the Lord, as described in the earlier verses. However, there is a hint here of darker days, of a time when the presence of the Lord may be withdrawn, and it may not be possible to call upon Him. Jesus talked often of the  “end of the age”  and throughout my lifetime preachers have referred to the  “days of grace”  and  “the last days.”  In other words, the world as we know it will not continue, the Lord will not always contend with humans, one day He will withdraw His hand, His Spirit and His people. He may already have done this in some of the darkest corners of the earth where His name is dishonoured and there is no faith. So, it is incumbent upon His people to pray!  There were many legends and fears in ancient ti

Psalm 32:5 You forgave the guilt of my sin      How dark is the burden of conscience and the cloud of unforgiven sin! It can bring us to the point of utter despair so that life seems pointless and empty. There are no worldly inducements or rewards that can remove that cloud, just an aching to find relief and to somehow erase the past. It is at this point that we can find a resolution to our gloom, and of course it involves seeking forgiveness from those we have wronged. However, the over-riding burden of guilt is caused by separation from the Lord God and we must turn to Him as the only One who can save us. The problem will not go away and it cannot be buried nor can it be resolved by human effort. No, the only way to salvation is through confession to God and while we are it, we must tell Him everything. As David says here, “ I did not cover up my iniquity.”   The main cause of human emotional and psychological suffering is being cut off from our Maker, if we are not at peace with Him

Psalm 32:4   Down Dagon!      In 1 Samuel 5 we read a unique story. The Philistines had captured the sacred Ark of God (The Ark of the Covenant) and removed it from Israel; no doubt they thought that this piece of furniture was no more powerful than the useless objects that made up their own religious paraphernalia. They had taken this wonderful Ark into their temple at Ashdod and set it beside an image of Dagon. (Dagon was supposed to be the son of a god called El and the father of Baal.) The day afterwards they went to the temple and found Dagon fallen on his face before the Ark! They picked him up and left him safe in his temple. The following morning, he had fallen over again and this time his head and hands were broken off!  “And the Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumours.”  1 Samuel 5:6. Give the Philistines some credit, they saw some deep magic going on here and decided that it was time to ge

Psalm 32:3   Time to confess      It is difficult to conjecture just what the circumstances were that prompted the writing of this Psalm. It cannot be tied to a specific event or time. All we know is that David has a heavy weight upon his conscience, so much so that his body has taken up the condemnation that he feels, it has become a physical burden as well as mental and spiritual. How foolish people are to not realise that constant spiritual and mental torture has an effect on our bodily health and well-being.  Years of stress eventually take their toll and every part of us becomes affected. There are certain people who seem to have no conscience at all and they go on sinning against God with seemingly little ill effect but David was not one of those. The Spirit of the Lord was with him and that meant that he suffered when he sinned! It is no different for any of us who belong to the Lord, our consciences are pricked by the Holy Spirit who constantly tells us where we need to “clean

Psalm 32:2 The Court Room      In Colossians 2:14 we read that,  “God made you alive with Christ, He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Imagine if you will, a Courtroom scene. You are the accused and the Satan is your Accuser. In his hands he holds a Charge Sheet listing all of your offences and sins. The list is long and you cannot deny that it is correct, your plea is “Guilty!” The Judge is God Almighty, stern and thoughtful He sits upon His throne. Judgement is about to be pronounced; the Courtroom is hushed. Then there steps forward your Defence Counsel and He does something extraordinary. He takes the Charge Sheet from the Accuser and nails it to a wooden cross that stands in the centre of the Courtroom.  “Father” He says, turning to face the Judge, “This is another of mine for whom I have already paid the price, their sin is removed from them, You