Daily Meditations

Psalm 120:3 Lies anger God! This is a sombre verse. The author’s enemies have been lying about him, and it seems that these lies have had a ripple effect in that God Himself is troubled by them. So much so, that the psalmist dares to suggest that those who perpetrate these falsehoods are going to be accountable to the Lord! It’s not clear if these words are a retaliatory taunt or come from a heart of genuine concern. “Do you think you can get away with these lies? What do you think God is going to make of all of this? Have you not considered that you are accountable to Him and that He punishes those with deceitful tongues?” The story of Eli and Samuel comes to mind here, Eli demands that the young man recounts everything that God has spoken to him. Samuel is caught between a rock and a hard place, he knows that God’s pronouncement will hurt the elderly priest, on the other hand he dare not lie or seek to deceive the old man. That is why Eli asks Samuel, “ What was it He said to you? Do...

Psalm 120:2 Save us from lying lips We’ve met this scenario before! It’s a theme that repeats itself many times in the psalms. The various authors do not ask to be saved from spears, swords and arrows, it’s not armed combat that has injured them but rather the lies and deceit of their enemies. When we think about it, most armed conflict, be it individual or international, begins with the lies and deceit of the opposing parties. One tiny, little, white lie, one simple sleight of hand and trouble ensues. Accusations fly, words are spoken, anger is aroused, vengeance is sought, and resentments are sown. The devil is the master of this. In as much that the Lord is absolute truth, Satan twists the spiritual guidelines and turns truth into lies. Jesus spoke to some unbelieving Jews one day and summed it up like this,  “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no trut...

Psalm 120:1 Calling on the Lord This Psalm is part of a collection of 15 psalms (120-134) that are all entitled “A song of ascents.” In fact, Psalms 135-137 are also linked to this package and the word “ascents” suggests that these were songs that were sung or written for the ascent to Zion or Jerusalem, as pilgrims approached at the time of the annual feasts. There is an underlying longing, the songs reflect the yearning that comes from being far from home and beset by the wicked, but there are also calls to praise the Lord when the weary travellers reach the Temple and enter the sanctuary. Psalm 120 is written by a man who has suffered the false accusations of his enemies, hence the prayer in v1-2. The antagonists are addressed in v3-4 and there is a lament for his circumstances in v5-7.     V1        Despite the situation described above, verse 1 is positive, in a nutshell the writer is saying, “I call on the Lord – He answers!” ...

Psalm 119:176 Let's not forget His commands And so, here we are! The last verse of Psalm 119, a Psalm that we have studied, verse by verse, for well over 6 months. Has it had an impact? For me it has highlighted the importance of the Word of God and the variation and value of the Scriptures. The author loved these sacred words so much that his devotion to them far exceeded all other loves in his life. In loving the Law of God, he had discovered a route to the timeless heart and mind of God, and therefore, to God Himself. Throughout the Psalm we have seen the wicked exposed, all activity that rebels against the Lord is condemned, and we have learned that truth and righteousness are qualities of our God that are incredibly precious and to be eagerly sought after. I’m sorry to say “goodbye”, the psalmist has become a friend and a confidante, a reliable guide in an unreliable world.   The Psalm ends with an admission of human failure and weakness. Perhaps these words were in the m...

Psalm 119:175 Live to praise Him! “Let me live that I may praise You!”  Some of us have stared death in the face and wondered if we will come out the other side. A sudden accident, a life-changing illness, an encounter with extreme danger, things like these cause us to face the prospect of dying and make us review our mortality. Suddenly, long-term planning seems a bit pointless, close relationships take on a different level of importance, ambitions and aspirations are put into perspective. It seems that the psalmist had good cause to review his life plan; as we have seen, there could have been many reasons for his concerns but whatever was looming over him, he had one very good reason to stay alive! That he might praise the Lord His God.  This last stanza of the Psalm has focussed on praise a great deal, it’s clear that devotion to the Word and the laws of God were not just an intellectual exercise for the author, they drew praise and worship out of Him, they set his eyes on ...

Psalm 119:174 Longing for Him Longings are strange emotions. They usually represent something familiar that has been lost and that is now far away. We can long for home, or for the restoration of a broken relationship, or for a familiar voice or sight. It’s unusual to long for something we’ve never had or never experienced. That is one of the enigmas of heaven, it calls us and draws us and yet we’ve never been there, not one of us has seen it! Perhaps it is WHO is there that causes the longing, a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ immediately bonds us into relationship can create longings that grow more intense as time passes by. If all of this is correct then we should not be surprised that we, like the psalmist, long for the salvation of the Lord, we long just to hear His voice, to experience His presence and to be lifted out of the pain and suffering of our earthly lives. That longing intensifies with experience and with age, the more fragile our lives become, the more we long to b...

Psalm 119:173 The hand that is ready to help We have encountered these scenarios before, in the Psalm. The verse reads like the author is doing a deal with God, “I have chosen to obey Your precepts, so I expect Your right hand to be ready to help me!” In actual fact, having got to know him a little bit, it turns out that the writer is actually voicing a plea for God’s help in living in obedience to His Word. In other words, he has made a choice, he will follow God’s precepts, but in order to do so he needs heavenly assistance.  Living according to the commands and laws of the Lord is a tough call, all of us will slip up at times, if we have any understanding of ourselves, we know that there will be moments of weakness, times of disobedience and rebellion, occasions when tiredness or distractions take our focus off the Word of God. That is why we all need to cry out, “ May Your hand be ready to help me.”  Isn’t it true that we all know that the statutes, commands, precepts and ...

Psalm 119:172 Sing of God's Word As we have seen, praise to the Lord is matter of sincerity and respect, we cannot worship someone we don’t trust any more than we can worship an inanimate object. It’s understandable that people revere objects from creation or that are man-made, they can be seen and touched and easily identified whereas the God of heaven and earth is invisible, can seem very remote and to many, remains unreachable and unfathomable. That is why the psalmist was so keen to ingest the word of the Lord, this was his place of connection, this was where the voice from heaven made contact and a relationship between a man and God could develop. We are so blessed to have much more to inspire us than just the decrees of the Lord, we can hear His voice in creation and see His creative hand at work. Like the author, we can turn to the Scriptures and find strength and wisdom and truth. However, we have an additional revelation of the life and teachings of Christ in the Gospels a...

Psalm 119:171 Lips overflowing with praise This verse seems to flow on from its predecessor. Verse 170 talks about the Lord’s deliverance and this is the reason why the author’s lips overflowed with praise. Public praise to the Lord has changed a great deal from what was deemed to be acceptable when I was growing up. Back in those days we all held hymn books and kept our hands in our pockets as we stared down at the pages with their well-known words. We tried to keep in tune with the harmonium, organ or piano that was being played and were totally at the mercy of the style and emotional input of the musician in charge. Today’s church services have changed a great deal in non-conformist congregations, hands are for raising in the air, hymn books are obsolete and gathering dust in a cupboard, and the organs have been replaced with guitars, but the sentiment remains the same.  What is praise to the Lord? If it is just corporate enjoyment of familiar, modern tunes then the sound never ...

Psalm 119:170 Supplications It’s a bit of a strange word, “supplication”, we all think we know what it means but then have second thoughts and look it up just to be sure! Why is it different to say, prayer? When does a request become a supplication? Is it just a religious term? One dictionary says,  “Although it is a noun, supplication comes from the Latin verb “supplicare,” which means "to plead humbly." While a supplication is often thought of as a religious prayer   (it is used 60 times in the Bible), it can logically be applied to any situation in which you must entreat someone in power for help or a favour.” There was a tradition, during the Middle Ages, called “Novena” (the Latin word for nine) where believers asked God for the same favour over a period of 9 days, especially during the period leading up to Christmas! For those of us who regularly bring our prayers and requests before the Lord there are times when we need to remember our place, adopt an attitude of humil...

Psalm 119:169 According to Your Word Yes, this is it! The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 nd  letter – Taw. Sometimes this is spelt as “Tav” or “Tao” or even “Tau”!  In Jewish tradition, the letter Taw is sometimes seen as a symbol of truth and perfection. The Hebrew word for truth, "emet," begins with Aleph and ends with Taw, suggesting a completeness from beginning to end. In Christian interpretation, Taw can symbolize the fulfilment of God's promises and the ultimate completion of His divine plan. For the Psalmist it highlighted his reliance on God’s Word and the  commandments, as a source of wisdom and guidance. There are times when we call out to the Lord and wonder if our voice has been heard. We’ve prayed over a particular matter many times, we’ve pleaded for some kind of response and our pleas have turned to cries; words have run dry, our understanding grows dim, and the enemy starts to plant the seed of an idea that God is not listening! Maybe we simpl...

Psalm 119:168 The God who knows all Most criminals and persistent wrong-doers gamble on not being caught or found out. Drug gangs, con-men, scammers etc. have turned evil into a business, they act with impunity in the belief that they are accountable to no one and it’s very bad luck if they are discovered and apprehended by the “law.” People who behave like this usually have no concept of God, of good and evil, of the effect of their actions on others or of the consequences of their behaviour. They think only of themselves and how they might prosper from their activities. I suppose that it would be pointless to advise such evil-doers that every word, thought and action of every human being is being recorded. That there is the equivalent of a satellite in the heavens, and it watches the behaviour of us all and nothing gets missed. Our daily activities are scrutinised, every event is recorded, all that is bad or good is noted and is documented, and there is not one individual who has eve...

Psalm 119:167 Loving the Law The Hebrew word “Torah” is traditionally translated as ' law ', which in this context means teaching, instruction or guidance. The most well-known of these laws are   the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue . But the Torah contains a total of 613 commandments, or mitzvah in Hebrew. There are many ways of exploring the “law” and nowadays it’s possible to simply go online and read all of the 613 commandments that comprise the mitzvah.  The Jews refer to the collection of rules found in Exodus 20:22-23:33 as the Book of the Covenant. These laws have to do with the worship of Yahweh, various personal matters, property laws and the continuation of the Covenant.  In Deuteronomy chapters 12-26 is a revision of the Israelite law which is divided into statutes and ordinances especially related to worship at the Tabernacle or Temple, sabbatical laws, financial rules, regulations for leaders and various other civil, cultural and ethical laws. T...

Psalm119:166 Wait for His salvation Two types of response to the Lord are required in this verse. Firstly, we must wait for His salvation and secondly,  we follow His commands.  Are we waiting for His salvation? It may be that we are plagued with illness or disability, or weakness of some kind and we have prayed to the Lord and pleaded for His help. It’s a bit like dialling for an ambulance, we know it will come but cannot be sure when! God does not deliberately delay His responses or keep us hanging on to see how much we can take; He times His intervention to perfection and the answers will come. In the meantime, His advice is to wait. The same applies to our understanding of the future, we may long to be rid of this life of suffering or frustration, or we may be among those who have an expectation that Christ will come for His people and liberate them from this world – soon! The command from heaven is the same – “Wait.” While we watch events unfold around us and fear for the...

Psalm 119:165 God's Word gives peace Mindfulness, wellbeing, mindfulness, wellbeing …. That’s all we keep hearing about! Catchphrases that sound good but what do they mean? I quote: -  “Mindfulness is  a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgement.”    “Well-being is   what is ultimately good for a person . Also called welfare and quality of life, it is a measure of how well life is going for someone.”  The Psalms were written over a lengthy period of time, but if we turn the clock back around 3,000 years, we will find that men like the author of Psalm 119 already have all the answers to our quality of life and our states of mind!  Firstly, the love of God, His Word and His law produces peace of mind. Love of God allows us to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that we are cared for, protected and guided by a Being who is much stronger and more re...

Psalm 119:164 Seven times a day It is unusual, to say the least, to find a number being used so significantly in this Psalm. The fact that the author found time, and was so organised, that he could divide his day up into 7 sections is, in itself, impressive.  At 7 given points during 24 hours, he would halt what he was doing and praise the Lord for His righteous laws. This was probably not a long-drawn-out process, just a halt to his routine and a moment to remember the Lord and all that He had written in the Torah.  The significance of the number 7 is important here, it always signifies completeness, perfection, fulness. When 7 comes up, the job is done, nothing more can be added, it is finished. We tend to use numbers mathematically rather than symbolically. If there are 7 things then our minds need to know what numbers 1-6 are all about, so that we can calculate how 7 was arrived at! The Bible treats this number rather differently. There were days 1-6 in creation but d...

Psalm 119:163 Love and hate Love and hate, strong words that are at the opposite poles of the range of human emotions. Both readily expressed, often felt, and very much part of the personalities of all of us. In this verse the contrast between these two could not be clearer, but the writer’s motivation would be an enigma to most people. His zeal for God’s law is so powerful that it awakens righteous hatred for those who reject it. Most people who love the law of God would adopt a self-righteous stand against lawbreakers, but to detest them is to feel very strong negative emotions indeed. Yet, if we think about it, the more we are attracted to something, the more we will abhor its opposite! If we say we love the Lord and love His commands, then it is inevitable that we will hate the breaking of those commands. And the more our love intensifies, the greater will be our disdain of those who reject and rebel against our God. Which brings us to the inevitable question, do we detest the way ...

Psalm 119:162 What is real wealth? In v14, the psalmist  “Rejoices in following God’s statutes as one rejoices in great riches;”  in v72 he states,  “The law from Your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold;”  and in v111 he talks about his inheritance; “ Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart .” Now the author takes another angle, on this occasion he is part of a conquering army that is rummaging through the spoils of war, the valuable possessions of a defeated army, but despite his good fortune there is still something that gladdens his heart more. There’s no hiding from reality here, whichever way he looked at it, the author found more wealth in the Word of God than in all the riches of the world! After many years of working in offices with people of all ages, nationalities, levels of achievement and success, and gender, I can say that there was one subject that was common to all. Everyone had time to ...

Psalm 119:161 Who do we fear most? The penultimate and 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Sin / Shin. What’s the difference between the two spellings? Well, apparently the sole difference in the Hebrew writing of this letter is the presence, or absence, of a dot! If a dot appears to the upper right of the letter pronounce it as “sh”; if it appears to the left, pronounce “s”. Jewish scholars tend to love this letter for it is the letter of fire and transformation, it literally means tooth, but its shape is 3 branches of flame, a bit like a 3-pronged candelabra.  These are the  3 pillars of the tree of life, reaching high like flames, purifying and changing the condition of our lives, teaching us to become aligned with the Whole of Creation. It also represents the right and left extreme opposites and the requirement to balance them by following the central pillar, the middle way. We could go on! We’ve spoken before about the position that the author of the Psalm may have held...

Psalm 119:160 This is true! This is a verse that expresses a very simple form of worship. There are no complaints, no prayers or pleas, no condemnations of the wicked, just an unpretentious statement of fact,  “All Your words are true; all Your righteous laws are eternal.”  In a Bible Teaching session this week I was trying to ram home the fact that the devil is a liar! Jesus upset His Jewish contemporaries by accusing them of belonging to their father, the devil. He pointed out that  “There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and that father of lies.”  John 8:44. It follows that those who follow him believe lies, speak lies and live out lies for everything he is, is false. Our God, on the other hand, is pure truth, His written Word is truth, we should never question its integrity or its reliability. We may trust the Lord absolutely, and in a world directed by lies, that is incredibly reassuring. It is also comforting to ...

Psalm 119:159 The power of love Remember, God’s precepts are the instructions He has put in place for the overseeing of this world. These are the rules that allow us to work with Him and one another, that promote peace and good will on earth. When Jesus summarised most of the Commandments with,  “Love your neighbour as you love yourself,”  that is a precept, it helps us to think about how we put others before ourselves. The psalmist loved these instructions, they helped him to have a compassionate and merciful view of his fellow men, they encouraged him to see the world as God sees it. That’s the whole point of all of God’s laws; they divert the focus away from ourselves and help us to look upon mankind the way that God does. They protect us from evil by diverting us away from selfishness to kindness and generosity to others. The theme of love is very clear here, the Lord’s preservation is not based on our good deeds, our devotion or our pursuit of truth, He preserves us becau...

Psalm 119:158 Loathing the faithless? Phew, the author is not attempting to be polite here, is he! He really does despise those who do not believe in God’s Word. Let’s just clear something up before we move on; the usual Hebrew for “word” in this Psalm, is “dabar” which is a general description of God’s revelations to us. Most of the Scripture is His “dabar.” Here, in v158, the psalmist uses the word “imrah” which is translated “promise.” So, we have a God who has poured out abundant and multiple promises upon the inhabitants of the earth. The consequences of obeying Him are that He fulfils all He has promised, so there is every reason for all mankind to boast that their “cup runs over”. But, humanity, being rebellious and unbelieving, chooses to ignore God’s promises and to do things their way. These are the faithless and most have no intention of changing their attitude or their beliefs. The psalmist is scathing and highly critical of the faithless ones, we can imagine him squirming ...

Psalm 119:157 God's people are always persecuted As we do not know where the author of the Psalm was living when he wrote these beautiful words, it’s hard to tell if the persecution he faced was personal, or if it came simply because he was an Israelite. Let’s face it, the Jews have been persecuted more than any other race, and it has gone on for centuries: - ·        No nation has ever known so much rejection, antipathy and hatred.  ·        They have been joined to a land like no other nation and yet separated from a land like no other nation! ·        They dwell apart and are separate from the nations but have also been more critical to world history than any other people.  ·        They have been the weakest of nations and yet the strongest. ·        They are the most vulnerable of all peoples and yet the most enduring. ...

Psalm 119:156 According to Your laws Verse 149 of the Psalm reads like this,  “Hear my voice in accordance with Your love; preserve my life, Lord, according to Your laws.”  Here, in v156, we have similar sentiments being expressed as the author is clearly reminding himself, and us, that the Lord’s compassion is great, therefore the Lord will preserve our lives according to His laws. I confess that I’ve had a job putting myself in the shoes of this godly man, especially as his devotional life was very different from mine! Families in Israel did not possess their own, individual copies of the Scripture or even Torah. These were written on vast scrolls and kept in the Temple, or other holy places. (It is highly unlikely that this Psalm was written after the advent of synagogues.  The oldest dated evidence of a synagogue is from the 3rd century   BC , but synagogues doubtless have an older history. Some scholars think that the destruction of  Solomon’s Temple of Jer...

Psalm 119:155 God loves "seekers." The God that we believe in and the faith that we profess are only for the “seekers.” It is not possible to have a close relationship with the Lord if we have no hunger for it, are not prepared to put ourselves out for it, and make no attempts to nurture it.  “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”  2 Chronicles 15:2 “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”  Proverbs 8:17. “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. “I will be found by you” says the Lord.”  Jeremiah 29:12-14. As we all know, human courtships or love affairs that are completely one-sided are not destined to last for long. When a partner makes no effort or is being pulled in other directions, someone is going to get hurt! Only the most naïve keep going and choos...

Psalm 119:154 According to Your promise The thing that stands out from this short verse is the broad nature of the requests that are being made. Three requests in fact: - ·        Defend my cause ·        Redeem me ·        Preserve my life To defend someone’s cause usually means to simply speak on their behalf, to give a valid reason why they should be exonerated from blame or accusations. It can also mean to plead their case, as in a Court of Law. In other words, those who defend our cause speak up and explain their reasons for justifying us. As ever, the writer is well aware of the taunts and accusations of his enemies, his request is that the Lord should take his side and declare his innocence against all the malicious talk that has been thrown at him and about him. The concept of redemption is at the very heart of the Bible message. It obviously means to pay a price to either buy back or to ob...