We are in a battle for contentment which can only be found in God's glory. In order to be content we need to set aside pride and deal with our reactions to things.

God is holy and so it is inappropriate for sinful people to see his glory. Under the old covenant, even though God was dwelling with his people, they could not come into his presence, but now because of Christ's sacrifice his Spirit dwells within us.

This psalm helps us to walk with God through pain and to encourage others to do the same. There are four stages: weeping, worshipping, waiting and witnessing, and we mustn't move too quickly to the next stage.

Suffering comes in a variety of forms, but we can still praise God because it does not overwhelm us, and God is at work in the midst of difficulties.

We are a people who are blessed because we are those who fear the Lord and walk in obedience to him.

What are the dry bone areas in our individual lives, our church and our community? God brought the dry bones together and then breathed life into them.

We bear fruit by concentrating not on the fruit itself but on putting our roots down in God. We are created finite and need to focus on what God wants us to do rather than trying to pour our lives into everything. Then we can avoid our work being in vain.

Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we can always find joy in what God has done, and wait patiently for what he is yet to do. The Psalmist gives us a lesson from farming.

There was a big problem with the old covenant - it couldn't deal with sin or make us perfect. But there were better promises of a new covenant which deals with our hearts. Because of this it is blatantly pointless to fall back on our own efforts or put our trust in things that can be shaken. Only Jesus is secure and that's where our hope must be.

We can be secure in the face of uncertainties because the Lord surrounds his people, because he sets a limit on the wicked and because he answers our prayers.