Daily Meditations

Psalm 104:2b-3a The heavens are like a tent! The structure of the heavens above us and the hundreds of billions of galaxies beyond us is not random. It is not the outcome of some cataclysmic Big Bang or any other fanciful, godless theory that science may espouse. How dare men make projections and promote meaningless theories when we know nothing! We have not even begun to unwrap the mysteries of the universe which is so vast that it is way beyond the understanding of human beings. But what is abundantly clear, what space telescopes have shown us is that there is structure and order to it all. What tiny little bits of information we have gleaned from our explorations show us that the far-flung galaxies are not chaotic, they are ordered, regulated and organised.  The psalmist struggles to describe what he sees so the Holy Spirit helps him to illustrate his revelations. He sees the Lord God arranging the heavens like a tent, as if the earth was the most important place in the universe, an

Psalm 104:2a He wraps Himself in light Our journey of discovery begins with light, just as it does in Genesis 1:3. In the same way we are not introduced to the creation of the sun and moon until much later, here light is not the rays of the sun but the spiritual and moral light of the universe. God wears such light as a cloak around Himself, His very presence is the light of righteousness, truth and love. It is the light of integrity, perfection and holiness and it is a garment that never wears out and that He never removes. So intense is this light of His presence that John’s Revelation foresees a new Jerusalem with no need of the sun and moon, for its glory will be visible simply because God is present. A similar spectacle unfolds when Moses encounters the Lord on Sinai and in the Tabernacle where a cloud of glory surrounds them, it is this glory that accompanied the Israelites on their wilderness journey to the Promised Land so that they had no need of torches and candles during the

Psalm 104:1 What a great God Psalm 103 was David’s revelation of the glorious nature and character of our God, and now the anonymous writer of Psalm 104 takes us on a journey of discovery, helping us to see how that character and nature are reflected in all that God has made. This is definitely not a Psalm for the evolutionists!  If we contrast what we are about to read with Genesis chapter 1, we will see that there is a parallel order to things but the writer here is intent on showing us how Creation is a revelation of God’s glory and His control over all the earth. We will see how God reveals His glory in the heavens, in the earth’s foundation, in the oceans and seas, in the animal and bird life, in the plants, through the seasons, in the sun and moon and in human beings. It is a wonderful tribute to our Maker and reluctant as I am to leave Psalm 103 behind, I can’t wait to uncover the riches of the verses that lie before us. As I write I’m looking at the calendar, today is November

Psalm 103:22 Praise the Lord, my soul We come to the end of this glorious Psalm with heavy hearts, well at least I do! It has been such a refreshing journey from the moment we started commanding our souls to  “Praise the Lord ”, to the exploration of God’s nature, to the reminder of human mortality and that God’s Kingdom is over all. Personal, private worship has expanded to a vision of praise that includes all creation; even those heavenly creatures, who we have not yet seen, have been encouraged to join in the praises of the Lord. It’s as if David wants the whole of the universe to join together in extolling the greatness of our God, in fact that’s exactly what this last verse commands.  “Praise the Lord, all His works everywhere in His dominion .” A similar heart cry comes up in Psalm 96:11-13 where all creation is encouraged to rejoice before the Lord. Why? Because He comes,  “He comes to judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.” The above statement mig

Psalm 103:21 Praise the Lord, all His heavenly hosts It’s not just angels who are invited to “Praise the Lord,” all the heavenly hosts are included in the summons. The hosts of heaven are known to include cherubim, seraphim and archangels and, as we have noted, there are Scriptures that refer to the “sons of God” who appear to be heavenly creatures who meet in the heavenly council that is ruled by the Lord God. (Psalm 82 and Job 1 describe such events.)  In other words, the heavenly hosts are not just angels, there are other creatures that serve and worship the Lord God and who are included in the call to “Praise the Lord.”  In Isaiah 6:1-8 seraphs are 6 winged celestial beings although the word “saraph” means burning and when used as a noun, refers to a serpent. Were these creatures like fiery serpents? Isaiah certainly sees them as winged, heavenly beings who have a passion for doing the work of God. The term “Cherubim” comes from an ancient word that means to bless; in Scripture the

Psalm 103:20 Praise the Lord, you His angels This Psalm is, sadly, drawing to a close and it is ending as it began, on a note of praise. In the opening verses it was the writer, David, who urged his soul to praise the Lord, this was his personal tribute to the Lord who had blessed him so abundantly throughout his life. After verses 1-5 the responsibility for praise moved to the whole earth, embracing mere mortals who are encouraged to take stock of themselves in the light of the eternal power and glory of the Lord. Now, at the end, the scene shifts to the heavenly realms and in this verse, the angels are commanded to praise the Lord.  There are numerous beings that occupy the heavens and angels are certainly amongst them; the Hebrew word for angel is “malakh” which means messenger. In Aramaic the term used speaks of “watchers”, in other words these beings are God’s attendants who are also depicted as guardians of humans . “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who

Psalm 103:19 The Lord's throne is in heaven The throne of God is not on earth, and it never has been. God is spirit, He does not need a throne made of earthly materials. However, He is the supreme ruler, and His position, power and authority are to be acknowledged in this world. So, does this mean that He only rules in heaven and is not engaged with the affairs of earth? Is He “hands on” in the heavenly realms but generally disengaged from the earthly world? No, Psalm 9:8 says that  “He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.”  Psalm 11:4 throws further light on His kingdom,  “The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; He eyes examine them.”  Psalm 47 exalts the  “Great King over all the earth …..    who reigns over the nations .” From the above we can see that the Lord is very much engaged with the affairs of men, but the location of His throne is in the heavens, and it is from there that He watch

Psalm 103:18 Keeping the covenant The previous verse told us that the Lord’s love is with those who fear or revere Him. For these godly men and women, the righteousness of the Lord spills over to their grandchildren and thus their family is blessed by their devotion to the Lord. This is not quite the end of it for the sentence has not finished! Further conditions are now added, for if we want the blessings of the Lord upon our families and our children we must  “keep God’s covenant and remember to obey His precepts. ” The Lord God made a number of covenants with various people, Noah, Abraham and David for example, but the one overriding Covenant that affected all of Israel was that which was given to Moses at Sinai. With that Covenant came a promise,  “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”  Exodus 19:5-6.  These promises are

Psalm 103:17 Love and righteousness for ever and for our children Wow! Another verse from David’s pen that is ripe with meaning and significance. In verse 11 he tried to put some kind of perspective on the love of the Lord and the best he could do was to suggest that divine love is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. But that is not enough to describe the love of the Lord and David has run out of metaphors; having described the height he ponders the breadth of this love and he can only come up with,  “from everlasting to everlasting!”  The Apostle Paul had a similar problem in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus when he prayed that they might, “ have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.”  Eph 3:18-19. You see, these great men of God, who lived centuries apart, came to the same conclusion, that when you try and meas

Psalm 103:15-16 Mortals are like grass Sometimes we need to be reminded of our own mortality. After all the blessings and encouragements of the earlier verses of this Psalm it might be easy to get carried away and so we need to be reminded that life on earth has its boundaries for all humans. After all the years of inexhaustible energy and achievement, when no goal seemed unreachable and no task undo-able, we reach a stage in life where things start to slow down and the days cannot be entirely filled with restless energy.  “We are all like grass”,  says David, we flourish like flowers, but everyone knows that grass and flowers do not last for long. Their time and place pass very quickly, the winds blows and the flower heads are carried away and they are remembered no more. Isaiah 40:6-8 tells us that the wind here is the breath of the Lord. That same wind of His Spirit that gives life, eventually blows the spirit of man away!  The temporary nature of human life is often mentioned in th

Psalm 103:14 We are dust “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”  Genesis 2:7. We should never forget where we came from and who we really are, Genesis 3:19 reinforces this truth when the Lord God speak to Adam after he and Eve have sinned, “ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. ” A stroll through a local cemetery brings this truth home, the gravestones tell of lives lived and declare the names and dates of those who preceded us, but they also declare the fate of all humankind for beneath those sombre tributes lies – nothing, just dust! It is our human remains that is being referred to, of course. These bodies of ours, designed and created especially for life on this planet, are mortal bodies. They age and decay and they have limited lifespans. The Lord knows thi

Psalm 103:13 The Lord's compassion One of the lovely names that we have for the Lord our God is “Abba.’ (That is the Aramaic root of the surname “Abbott” by the way.) Abba is an expression that evokes endearment and paternal closeness, it can be translated “papa” or “daddy.” For centuries the Jews had argued over the names of God and the Bible in Hebrew is full of them, the most sacred being YHWH, which we have translated as “Lord.” It was a blasphemy to the ears of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day to hear Him speak of God as “Abba”, how dare anyone call Him by that name! But it was not just Jesus who spoke in that way, He encouraged the disciples to do the same – and they did! The Epistles refer to God as father too, this was unheard of, it suggested intimacy and a familial relationship with the supreme being who had always been regarded as unapproachable and unknowable, such was His status.  We too may call Him father, for we are born into His spiritual family, and He sees us

Psalm 103:12 Our transgressions are gone! Here’s another gem! Most of us have a pretty good idea of our sin and how it has scarred our lives. We squirm with embarrassment at the thoughts, words and deeds that came so easily and are now so difficult to shake off. Some things we would not want anyone to know about, and even though we are believers we still wrestle at times with our conscience over events from our past. Yes, we believe that we have been forgiven. Yes, we understand that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin but still the secrets niggle away, so it’s better to try and ignore them and blot them out as much as possible. How does the Lord God view all of this? He doesn’t! You see it all ties in with what we have been learning in the earlier verses. God is not just a loving God who chooses to overlook our faults, neither does He forget them! No, His justice and His anger were satisfied at the cross for all who repent and believe. He cannot re-judge our sins because His

Psalm 103:11 As high as the heavens This has to be one of the most beautiful of all the Psalms, so full of meaning, so descriptive of the character and personality of the Lord. I don’t want it to end!  Should there be any doubt in our minds as to the full extent of the love of God, let this verse remove that doubt. Get your tape measure out and start counting, the task is to calculate how high the heavens are above the earth! Just this week, the Euclid space telescope, which was launched in July this year (2023), sent back to earth its first images of the contents of space way beyond this earth. For instance, there is a picture of the “Perseus Cluster” that contains tens of thousands of galaxies some of whose light has taken 10 billion years to reach us! (So the scientists say.) Our God has made it possible for us to see these things but sadly the men and women behind Euclid cannot see His hand in it all, they are looking for some clues as to how the universe began! Our God, on the oth

Psalm 103:10 We don't get our just desserts? Wow! What a statement! It follows on from yesterday’s revelation about the character of the Lord and how His anger, once expressed, is appeased forever. God is, first and foremost, love, and His love always triumphs, but because He is God His righteousness does not allow Him to overlook sin. Because He knows all truth, all sin must be suitably reprimanded but, once done, He must return to being compassionate and gracious towards us.  The writer of this Psalm clearly sees himself as beyond redemption, his sins are serious enough to incur eternal anger and wrath, surely no God worth his salt is going to withhold judgement. Not true. Our God is ready and willing to forgive, He will not accuse us or be angry forever, we do not receive our just deserts. He grants us a whole lifespan to repent, to turn away from our iniquities and to seek forgiveness. And if we do this, even on our deathbeds, He will show grace and mercy. We, as believers, may

Psalm 103:9 Righteous anger We need to understand that the character and attributes of the Lord God are not compartmentalised! He does not show love and compassion to us at one particular time, and then visits His wrath and anger upon us, just because He can! God does not have changing moods, nor does He act on a whim or in isolation. His actions are carefully considered and flow from a heart that is stable and from emotions that are driven by patient love towards mankind. Thus, the anger that God displays is to reveal His righteousness, the two are inseparable; and in being wholly righteous He is wholly faithful. As the sovereign ruler over all the earth who also acts with complete justice based on absolute truth He must, at times, express anger for He is justified in so doing and His righteousness demands to be vindicated.  Can you see how all of these revelations of His character form a whole and that one part is interactive with others so that He is seen to be completely fair and r

Psalm 103:8 Who He is! This verse contains some of the most beautiful words ever written,  “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love .” It’s a continuation of the subject of the preceding verse and recounts part of what the Lord actually said as He revealed Himself to Moses in the Tent of Meeting.  “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses and proclaimed His name, the Lord. And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations .”” This is the true essence of our God and it is not a unique Scripture either because the Lord makes similar claims and promises, see Exodus 20:4-6, in the context of the second Comman

Psalm 103:7 Make known Your ways Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the Israelite camp some distance away and he called it “the Tent of Meeting.” That was before the construction of the Tabernacle, and it was in this tent that He met regularly with the Lord. When he entered in, a pillar of cloud would come and stay over the entrance, and inside the Lord would speak to Moses, face to face, as one speaks to a friend. On one occasion Moses asked of the Lord,  “If you are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favour with You .” Exodus 33:7-13. If you carry on reading Exodus 33 and 34 you will read in detail of the encounter that took place between a man and God, and the specific instructions that the Lord gave Moses including details of the new stone tablets with the 10 commandments. When Moses asked the Lord to “teach me Your ways” what did he mean? I think he was seeking to know how God works with men, how such a great Being could deign to

Psalm 103:6 Righteousness and justice Here are our two old friends once again, righteousness and justice. You will remember that this couplet occurs time and again in the Psalms, often together with love and faithfulness. What is being described is the nature and character of a kingdom that is ruled over by the Lord our God. If He is in charge, then righteousness and justice will prevail. When Israel and its leaders honoured and obeyed the Lord, they were able to progress under His reign and the more they did so, the more righteousness and justice abounded over their land.   It follows that any nation or society that rejects the Lord will consequently experience increasing wickedness and injustice in its affairs. There are rampant signs of injustice in our world today, for example, through refugees and migrants, to the oppression of the poor and defenceless, to antisemitism and hatred of Israel, or to oppression by superpowers over lesser nations. Injustice is rampant in industry, the

Psalm 103:5 Renewed like an eagle This verse is the culmination of a long sentence that was written to encourage us to remember all the benefits of knowing the Lord. Remember that we were asked, in verse 2, to instruct our souls to  “Praise the Lord.”  This is a command to our innermost beings and the words that follow, list many of the blessings that He provides for us. Let’s just go through them, including the current verse: - ·        He forgives all our sins ·        He heals all our diseases ·        He redeems our lives from the pit ·        He crowns us with love and compassion ·        He satisfies our desires with good things ·        He renews our youth like the eagle’s Notice that these “benefits” are our spiritual heritage, remember that we are addressing our souls and souls need reminding that sins are forgiven.    Souls need to be told that diseases can be healed or else our sick bodies can lead to sick minds. We need to inform our souls that they will survive death and n

Psalm 103:4 Redeemed from the pit We’ve talked before about the threat of Sheol that hung over the people of Israel as they surveyed the future and the afterlife that would follow. There are numerous Old Testament references to this place of the departed, many of them occurring in the Psalms. Sheol has several names but the general consensus seemed to be that at the moment of death, the soul of the deceased went down! Down to a resting place or waiting room below, this was a place of silence and was not to be welcomed! In Psalm 6:4-5 we looked at this place in some detail as follows: - Sheol is mentioned 16 times in the Psalms and the meaning moves between ideas of the grave, the underworld and the state of death.    What do we know about this Sheol? ·        Whilst heaven is always above, Sheol is always below the earth. ·        Sheol is spoken of as a  land  divided into compartments with far corners. ·        All the dead meet there regardless of their status on earth;- the good an

Psalm 103:3 He forgives and heals This is a puzzling verse for many. Of course, as believers, we have put our faith in the One who forgives all our sins. Is this not at the heart of our faith, the reason we came to Christ in the first place? The same was true of the ancient Jewish believers who pinned their hopes in their sacrificial offerings and in the blood of the Atonement poured out every year upon the mercy seat of God by the High Priest. But do we really believe it? Have we grasped the truth that all sins have been forgiven, all debts to God have been repaid, all consciences have been washed clean and we are free? If so, why do so many believers make rules and regulations and work so hard to prove themselves to the Lord? Why do we have to put on religion to provide a shiny veneer that covers a multitude of faults. If our sins are truly forgiven, then we have nothing to prove! And, just as we struggle to embrace the fullness of God’s salvation from sin, we struggle to believe tha

Psalm 103:2 Praise the Lord, my soul The call to Praise the Lord continues! Notice that this is not an outward call, we may often stand in front of friends and family and church congregations and invite them to stand up and sing, to “Praise the Lord.” This is standard practice in churches and chapels and has been so for centuries, but it is not what this Psalm is asking. No, we are being encouraged to turn the invitation inwards, to direct it into our own souls, to give the command for praise to our innermost beings. This is both a private and a very personal decree and I wonder how many of us have ever stopped and thought about it? Have you ever heard a sermon about this? I haven’t. So, let’s do it right now, instead of challenging a sea of expectant faces to “Praise the Lord” let us address our innermost “self”, the core of our individual beings and give the same order, “Praise the Lord, my soul!” Oh, and there is a corollary to this. It’s a good time to stop and remember all of the

Psalm 103:1 Praise the Lord, my soul I like the footnotes in my Study Bible that refer to this Psalm as a “salvation-history psalm”. It comprises 22 verses of recollection and praise for all that the Lord has done for His people. In it we will find familiar phrases and texts that exalt the Lord for His reign, not just for Israel or for individuals but also over the whole world! The Psalm reminds us that we are sinners who are worthy of His judgements, but it also tells us that the Lord God has compassion on His children, and He is slow to anger.  David wrote these words, of course he did, who else could know the heart and mind of the Lord and pen such delightful words? We are about to gain an understanding of the nature and character of God, rarely revealed elsewhere, it’s a Psalm you will never want to end, that will refresh us on our journey, so let’s enjoy it together.   V1        Sometimes, in the midst of the gloom of life we have to stop and take stock. Things that are happening

Psalm 102:28 Our descendants established before Him The future is secure! This Psalm was written by a Jew to his Israelite friends and brothers, and he knew that, whatever happened, his people would be kept by the Lord their God. And so it has proved. Despite endless national disasters and centuries of international hatred, the people have survived and, even as I write, are fighting against their hostile neighbours. So, the Psalm boasts, with confidence, that because the Lord does not change, Israel’s future is secure. For them as a nation, the presence of God is in the Promised Land, and even in their unbelief they have yearned to live in that land. Listen to these powerful words from Psalm 69:34-36.  “Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them, for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it; the children of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will dwell there.”  We see, as history unf

Psalm 102:27 You remain the same The verses of this Psalm need to be heeded. Most of us live our lives as if we are here permanently, we live with one eye on the future assuming that it will unfold exactly in the way that we expect. Land and buildings are purchased because they symbolise our permanence. Investments are made that protect our future. Pensions and insurances are the guardians of our mortality. As I have discovered recently, this is all a lie, there is not one person who can guarantee that they will be here tomorrow and that all their plans will definitely succeed. Not so with the Lord our God. He is permanent, His promises never fail, He will never pass away. Roll the clocks back 4,000 years and He was there. Roll them forward 10,000 years and He will be there! That is why faith in Him supersedes all other achievements and goals in this life, we need Him, He is our guarantee of eternal life. Everything that surrounds us, our possessions, our property, the people we know a

Psalm 102:26 The earth will perish! It might be a shock for some who read this verse to discover that the earth and creation are just temporary. How did ancient people discover this and what did they believe God was doing when He created it all?  Psalm 8:1 teaches us that the Lord created the earth to reflect the majesty of His name and the heavens were to be the setting for His glory.  Psalm 19:1 reinforces this truth and adds that the skies are formed to proclaim the works of God’s hands.  In Psalm 29:3-9 we read of the power of the voice of the Lord that thunders over all creation and the reaction to this is meant to be one of awe and wonder and cries of “Glory!”  Job was a man who understood all of this, and chapters 38-41 of his book are devoted to declaring just how much the Lord reveals Himself from all that He has made.  As Isaiah also declares,  “The whole earth is filled with His glory!”  Isaiah 6:3.  Sadly, we live in an age when men’s eyes cannot see and their ears cannot h