We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 20  Listen to Psalm 20

In this psalm we hear a prayer for the king when under pressure from his enemies. Instead of asking for more weapons, ammunition, troops and supplies, the prayer is for help from God.

When Israel came into the promised land they had many enemies to conquer, but this was not done by reliance on human strength: “it was not by their sword that they won the land… it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.” (Psalm 44:3)

We are unlikely to be surrounded by an invasion force, so we can very easily forget that we are engaged in a struggle that is “not against flesh and blood, but against …the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” The weapons we have are unassuming in the world’s eyes – truthfulness, righteousness, the gospel of peace – but are able to demolish the strongholds that the enemy raises up.

Lord Jesus, teach us to fight the battles we face not relying on our own strength, but on yours: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 19  Listen to Psalm 19

We’re meditating our way through the Psalms. This one is itself a meditation on the power of God’s word. We live in a world pervaded by words, from TV, radio, social media, newspapers… Not all of what we hear and read is encouraging or upbuilding. There is however a source of speech that addresses us all the time, with a life-affirming message. This psalm depicts divine wisdom, displayed in the heavens, speaking night and day, all over the world, passing over all possible barriers. Brightest in the heavens, the sun ‘sees’ everything.

As well as the voice of the created world there is the word which God has spoken to his people, which is able, if we heed it, to bring our lives into alignment with God’s purposes. Centuries before Jesus came to live among us, David knew that the law revealed to Israel was no legal code, but dynamic, acting in people’s lives.

A word that is always speaking to us, and penetrating to the depths of our being – we welcome the working of the living Word, through the Holy Spirit in our lives.

This psalm comes with its own prayer at the end:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 18:25-50  Listen to Psalm 18:25-50

There is so much blessing and encouragement in this psalm. David is rejoicing in his deliverance, strengthening and protection that he found in his God as he faced his enemies. He knew that it was the Lord who trained and equipped him.

I am very glad that I don’t have to go out and take up arms and fight in the flesh (though there is a need at times to fight for justice, discuss…) But our battle is not with people, not even those who annoy, antagonise, hate us. We have to love them, but against spiritual forces. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10 that we are given equipment to do this. We do it by truth, faith, righteousness, bringing the gospel of peace, and using the sword of the spirit.

A few years ago I broke my ankle and even now, with it fully mended, I am very careful when walking in the hills or in rough places, so verse 36 makes me smile. David found that his path was broadened so his ankle didn’t turn. It’s interesting that in the verses before this David says God enabled him to stand in the heights like an agile deer able to scramble and bound. Often we might like to “walk” a nice easy valley path of life but the Lord wants us to be equipped and strengthened, as well as protected, so we can be out there in the heights of life’s battles in the rocky places.

Today, let’s be praying for those who are having a difficult time at the moment. Let’s pray that they know God's grace with them today. That they know His help and protection and that Jesus is with them.

As for God, his way is perfect, the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 18:1-24  Listen to Psalm 18:1-24

As I was looking at this amazing psalm I was struck by one verse, verse 19: “He brought me into a spacious place…”

David is celebrating God’s goodness and power as he delivered him from his enemy Saul in a dramatic way using a flamboyant description. Then he thanks God for bringing him into a “spacious place” of peace and safety.

Today we are not physically in a spacious place. Living in Cheltenham most of us can walk to a park or at least enjoy a garden not confined to just one room. But still, as week four of lockdown approaches we can feel shut in, climbing walls, recovering and weak, bored or stressed from working at home, lonely, missing friends or family.

Maybe this is a good time to stop tidying, watching, studying, weeding, even zooming, put our phones down and make space to develop our spiritual life, as the future King David may have done years before, out on his own, watching sheep.

Here are some well known disciplines we could use: worship - headphones on - sing your heart out, reading scripture aloud, praying aloud, memorising scripture verses/chapters, fasting, feasting, journaling,using our spiritual gifts to bless others, being silent and practising the presence of Jesus.

As we do these we might find that like the Doctor’s TARDIS and as Lucy found in the Last Battle, “it’s far bigger inside than it was outside.”

He brought me out into a spacious place, he rescued me because he delighted in me.

God delights in us 🙂.

We are continuing our series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 17  Listen to Psalm 17

David is in a courtroom appealing to God as judge. The wicked assail him with arrogant speech and bullying behaviour. His survival is uncertain. He pleads integrity of heart (his thoughts) and speech and feet. He is walking in the cart tracks of God's revealed word in Scripture. His feet have not slipped. He is “on track” (v. 5). He calls on God because he knows God will answer (v. 6) and God’s love is intimate and powerful to save. You are the apple of His eye. The apple is the pupil of God’s eye and He will use it to keep focussed on you. God is also like the mother bird who will protect and hide you under her cool feathers. Know that you are loved and treasured by God.

Nicky Gumbel says that “in this world there are men of evil whose actions lead to famine and weeds in place of plenty and growth. They seek to perpetuate this destruction with wrong thoughts and actions. Their reward is in this life.” Recognise them, pray, speak God’s words and act.

David anticipates rescue from his enemies (v. 13) and a not guilty verdict. God’s gift of forgiveness and grace. He anticipates the reward of seeing God’s face each morning and being able to look at Him face to face. A foretaste of Christ’s resurrection and second coming.

Lord, thank you that you have your eye on me in love. Spirit search me today and keep me on track. Today and each day may I have intimate communion with you.

We are excited to be starting a new series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 16  Listen to Psalm 16

David opens with a prayer, but soon goes into testimony to his present faith (vs. 2-6) and future hope (vs. 7-11). He takes refuge in God – putting his trust in him and delighting in Him and others who are godly. In contrast, he has no time for those who run after other gods.

He knows God has satisfied his hunger and thirst and kept him safe and he goes on to thank Him for his counsel and presence with him.

Those who trust in the Lord will not be shaken by events, because his presence is always with them (vs. 8). Back in 2004 when Chris was cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, we read this verse before he set off north after a rest day in Cheltenham. Bev immediately said, ”That is just where you want God-on your right hand side to protect you from the overtaking traffic”. Chris repeated the verse often as many large vehicles went past and it reminded him constantly of God’s care for him.

In verses 9, 10, 11 David is inspired to write about the conquest of death and fullness of joy in the eternal presence of God to come – a prophecy of what Jesus was to achieve on the cross, which is quoted later by Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:24-31) and Paul in Antioch (Acts 13:43-37)

Lord, we take refuge in you and are reassured that you are at our right hand and we will not be shaken. We thank you for your promise of joy and eternal pleasures in your presence because of what Jesus has done for each one of us.

We are excited to be starting a new series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 15  Listen to Psalm 15

We all have times in our lives when, because of circumstances, we can feel shaken. Times when we can lose our footing and felt tempted to give up.

Today’s psalm says we need ‘never be shaken’ (v.5), even in times of suffering. David shows us what kind of life that God wants us to lead. These guidelines he shares are things we can hold on to during the tough times:

Act right by being blameless (v.2a)… Speak truthfully (v.2b)… Do not gossip (v.3)… Do not hurt your neighbour (v.3)… Keep your word ‘even when it hurts’ (v.4b) - this means doing what we have said we will do even when it does not suit us... Be generous (v.5a)… Be honest (v.5b).

As our character begins to change in these ways, we will not lose our footing in difficult circumstances and suffering. As David says, ‘Those who do these things will never be shaken’ (v.5c) and you will dwell in the sanctuary of the Lord (v.1a).

Times of suffering shape our character and help us to know a secure hope and God’s rich love (Romans 5:3–5). Hope and love are the greatest anchor as we face suffering and uncertainty.

Lord, thank you that you accept me as I am, but you do not want me to stay that way. May the way I live out my life, be always pleasing to you. Help me to see the trials and difficulties I face as strengthening my character.

We are excited to be starting a new series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 14  Listen to Psalm 14

Within Psalm 14 the word fool is better translated as ‘scoundrel’. The whole psalm sets itself up as a place of moral teaching. It is a ‘what not to do’ guide for the reader using ‘the scoundrel’ as it’s antagonist. The psalmist focuses on the consequences for ‘the scoundrel’ of their choice to not acknowledge God- leading to the conclusion that they will be ‘overwhelmed with dread’. ‘Overwhelmed with dread’ sounds like an accurate depiction of the experience of many at the moment!

I am aware it is so easy in life as a Christian to fall into a kind of functional atheism- where you conceptually believe in God, but your thoughts and actions are not lived in the light of that reality. I have noticed that when ‘dread’ creeps into my own life, it is often because I have allowed myself to slip back into that place of ‘functional atheism’ neglecting to put God in his proper place. There is an encouragement however within verse 7- God will restore and times of joy and rejoicing will return. In keeping our eyes on God we can avoid the traps of ‘the scoundrel’ and see the bigger picture.

God would you help us keep our eyes always on you. Amen

We are excited to be starting a new series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 13  Listen to Psalm 13

How long, Lord?

Psalm 13 is a lament, a desperate expression of grief, often born out of regret or mourning. Nearly half of the Psalms are laments, although it is not a common expression used in worship in the church. But perhaps it should be, particularly when we are faced with the current situation. How long will COVID-19 be here? How long before there is a vaccine? How long before the supermarkets will be fully stocked? How long before we can leave our homes, go back to work, go to school? How long before life goes back to normal?

The psalmist's desperation comes from being close to death, perhaps because of serious illness (verse 3). Four times he cries "How long?" He, like Job (Job 13:24), feels forgotten by God (verse 1), which adds to his anguish. In the middle of a crisis we do not know how long it will go on.

Yet in his desperation the psalmist calls for God to look at him - so that God would no longer hide His face, and answer him - to answer the fourfold "How long?" What we might call "body and soul" was in Hebrew thought: the physical body, the mind (heart) and the emotions (soul). They did not function independently but were interrelated. The cry for deliverance by the psalmist is because what was happening to his physical body was causing torment to his inner life.

The psalmist has a change of attitude in verse 5, not because there is a change in his physical well-being but because he remembers that God has been good to him in the past and so he trusts God in anticipation of his future deliverance.

How long, Lord?

We are excited to be starting a new series of reflections on the Psalms. Each day we will upload a new reflection to the website. We hope and pray that you will find them helpful and that they bring hope during this season. Click on these buttons to read the text of the psalm or listen to a recording of it. You can also listen to the reflection using the audio player below.

Read Psalm 12  Listen to Psalm 12

In his commentary on Psalm 12 in his book “The Bible in One Year" Nicky Gumbel quotes The Message version of verse 2: “everyone talks in lie language, lies slide off their oily lips. They double talk with forked tongues.” God hates lies, He hates deceit, selfishness, arrogance and greed.

David feels helpless in the face of the state of his world: the way poor needy people are so oppressed; he hears them groaning in their troubles and difficulties. He has started by asking God to help because godly people, those who live honest upright lives seem to have disappeared. He is praying that God will move in and stop it or take away the flatterers the liars, and boasters. God of course is not impressed with people who are good with words and use their abilities of persuasion for their own advantage. We see in scripture that He used people who did not have much/any confidence in their ability to persuade with words (e.g. Moses).

Jesus too demonstrates great concern for the poor and needy. Maybe we are all poor and needy in some area or another of our lives but God can speak truth into every situation and circumstance. His words are perfect for all scenarios. They are pure and good. David reasserts: the wicked will only appear to have supremacy when men allow that to happen. We can be confident that He will keep us safe and protect us.

Lord, thank you for your word which can speak truth into every situation. Please help us to maintain integrity and be focused on you during these unusual days.