CNC Daily Psalms

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 11  Listen to Psalm 11

“In the Lord I take refuge.” The psalm begins with a quietly spoken statement of confidence in God. Then we hear the kind of things people have been saying to David, all designed to create fear and anxiety. Their point is that when everything is going to pot, what’s the point in being good? You better get out of here, fast. To quote The Message, “The bottom’s dropped out of the country; good people don’t have a chance.”

David quietly and effectively rebuts and stills the voices that are so strident at the opening of the psalm, by reminding himself (and us) of where the Lord is in the current circumstances: in his holy temple, on his heavenly throne.

From that place, however exalted it is, God examines all of us, upright and otherwise. His eyes miss nothing.

At the end, David comes back to God’s character of righteousness. People who share in his character “will see his face”. To see someone’s face is to be in their presence (not counting the marvels of modern technology). This is what God’s people everywhere can enjoy and rely on right now.

Father, thank you that through Jesus’ work for us on the cross we can live in your presence, knowing that you look on us with love.

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 10  Listen to Psalm 10

In these strange times it seems that some things haven’t changed. In Psalm 10 David is lifting his voice in a lament to God, who seems far off, about evil men (and women) who are prospering, harming the poor and innocent and feeling very smug that they are getting away with it!

We don’t have to look far to see the same sort of things happening today; the rich getting richer, unjust situations, people used as political pawns and not all happening elsewhere but on our doorstep too.

In verse 12, David recognises that he can call out and intercede on behalf of those suffering, "Arise Lord Lift up your hand." He also recognises in v 14-18 that God sees trouble and grief, and is the helper of the fatherless. David then comes back to the place of acknowledgement of God being Lord and King forever.

Maybe we could sum this psalm up by saying: Life’s not fair but God is good.

Today we can call out to Jesus, who is the man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, who hears our prayers and wants to bring change and enlarge His Kingdom.

Lord, show me today how I can pray and help those who are in trouble and suffering. In Jesus' name.

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 9  Listen to Psalm 9

This psalm reminds us that there will always be opposition to Christianity and millions of followers of Jesus around the world are experiencing physical persecution today simply because of their beliefs. Some face opposition, tyranny and prejudice from governments at a local or national level. We live in a hostile world. Jesus warned, ‘Don’t think I’ve come to make life cosy’ (Matthew 10:34, MSG).

Here David is being persecuted (v 13), which is so remarkable that he begins with wholehearted praise (v 1-2). How do we this? David gives us two clues:

• He remembers how God has come through for him in the past (v 3-6).

• He reminds himself about God’s nature: “The Lord reigns…judges and governs with justice…is a refuge…a stronghold in times of trouble” (v 7-10).

One day God will bring judgement to the evil in our society and to all the nations that forget him (v 17). God is also loving has given everyone the opportunity to know his love because of Jesus’ death on the cross.

Can we imitate our brothers and sisters in Christ, who whilst under huge duress, continue to praise God and share his love even more? In our tough times can we remember that God is in ultimate control of the universe, “The Lord reigns.”

Lord, thank you that you do not ignore my cries and that I can fully trust in you. I pray now for those Christians experiencing persecutions…

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 8  Listen to Psalm 8

In our galaxy there are probably over a hundred-billion stars like our Sun. Our galaxy is one of a hundred-billion galaxies. When we consider the vastness of the universe its easy to feel small and insignificant.

As David looks at the night sky, he is amazed by the greatness of creation that God has made; ‘when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers…’ (v 3). David is not awed by creation itself; he sees beneath the surface to the creator. So many people are awed by creation but don’t look beneath the surface to the creator. In Romans 1 we see that God can be seen in his creation, ‘God’s invisible qualities …have been clearly seen…from what has been made…men are without excuse’ (Rom. 1:20)

Seeing an awesome God in his world leads to a question of our smallness in the bigness of the universe ‘what is man that you are mindful of him’ (v 4)?

This is a wonderful truth that God is mindful of us, we are cared-for creatures. We have been given the great privilege of having a relationship with God, ‘Our Lord’ (v 1) and caring for the earth ‘ruler/steward over the works of your hands’ (v 6).

May we continue to stand in awe of God’s love for us and of his amazing world.

Listen to the song Indescribable on YouTube worshipping our awesome creator God!

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 7  Listen to Psalm 7

What tends to be your immediate response to difficulty or danger?

In this psalm we see David in danger graphically described in (v 2), we are not sure what he was facing.

These trials make David think, his first response is not to cry out for help, that comes later, his first response is to search his own heart (v 3-5).

David’s cry for help (v 6) is in courtroom language, asking God to take note of his ‘integrity’ (v 8). David needs God to act, yet so often God does not need to act as people’s evil schemes boomerang back on them!

David can give thanks to God during tough times because he knows God to be ‘the Lord Most High’.

What about you, is your integrity being challenged? Then bring yourself to the Lord using the words of another psalm of David. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139: 23-24)

Lord, you know what I am going through, you see my integrity. I praise you because you are the Lord Most High and I can take refuge in 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 6  Listen to Psalm 6

If you thought Psalms 4 and 5 were calling out to God- you ain’t seen nothing yet!

In my study Bible Psalm 6 is described as a ‘Prayer for Recovery from Grave illness’ which, as you read through the Psalm you can imagine: the psalmist awake all night- struggling and sweating! The psalmist calls out to God for healing- both it seems of body and of mind. They do not hold back with God- being honest about the sense of desperation they feel.

The middle of Psalm 6, reiterates the psalmist’s confidence in God’s ‘steadfast love’ and answering of prayer. The focus though is on God’s activity, rather than an immediate solution or healing emphasizes the God who hears.

Feeling listened to is important for all human beings- listening to others is an act of love. In moments of desperation knowing that God hears us is important.

The Psalm is clear that God’s response comes out of his love not of the psalmist’s actions. This is encouraging when we worry that things we have done might make it difficult for God to listen to us. God’s hearing us in prayer is an act of grace- God listens because God is God. Let us come to him then honestly and desperately trusting that when we speak he listens.

God thank you that you always hear us when we pray.

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 5  Listen to Psalm 5

I’ve hugely enjoyed meeting with the rest of the church community each morning for ‘Pyjama Prayers’. In many ways it feels like we are returning to the practices of the early church who, we read in Acts, gathered daily for prayer. We are creating a discipline as Psalm 5 suggests of ‘pleading our case before the Lord in the morning.’.

After the psalmist pleads their case before God they watch and wait to see what God does- which willingly or not we also have to do at present. The second half of the Psalm creates a contrast between the psalmist and their oppressors - the psalmist through the ‘the abundance of god’s steadfast love’ has access to the house of God and his protection.

I love that image of God’s love being both abundant and steadfast. It is steady enough to weather any instability and plentiful enough to hold all people. When life can feel scarce and unsteady the challenge is to press into the reality of who God is and allow ourselves to be held by that.

Why not try as a prayer exercise repeating verse 7 slowly a few times?

But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down towards your holy temple.

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 4  Listen to Psalm 4

I’m excited for this experience of going through the Psalms together. Tim Keller says that the psalms offer an “Undeviating understanding of the greatness of God, alongside our current situation.” The psalms are a useful framework for prayer in our current time! This is very true of Psalm 4.

Psalm 4 is an articulation of what it means to have joy apart from circumstances. It is a confident plea- “Confident” in that the psalmist is trusting in the God who rescues but “plea’ in that the psalmist still needs help! The line that sticks out to me is in verse 1 “You gave me room when I was in distress.” Prayer is a place where we are given space by God to articulate our troubles. God doesn’t expect us to immediately “get over things” or leap to the end of the Psalm and “Lie down and sleep.” It is the process of confidently pleading that enables the peace of God to descend.

I know so often I want to shortcut this process of prayer and get to the peace but it is in the process of crying out to God that we learn more of who we are crying out to.

God would you help us to ‘take up room’ and cry out to 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 3  Listen to Psalm 3

We may find ourselves so besieged by life that we do not know what to pray. The Psalms are a good place to look for inspiration because they were written in a multitude of different situations. King David was the author of many of the Psalms, including Psalm 3, which was written when his son Absalom rebelled against him. David faced a huge challenge and yet he still turned to God in prayer, confident that he would be heard and trusting that God would answer his prayers.

David first complains to God about the situation he was facing. He had many enemies, including those from his own family who had turned against him (Psalm 3:1–2). Secondly, he is confident that God will answer his prayer (Psalm 3:3–4). Thirdly, David puts his trust fully in God (Psalm 3:5–6). Finally he prays for God to give him victory over his enemies and to bless his people, which would also include his enemies (Psalm 3:7–8).

This psalm could be a model of prayer during times of crisis. God is big enough to hear our complaints. We know that God will hear our prayer because Jesus said that “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Jesus also taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

Lord, today I need your help with... You are a shield around me and I know that you will answer me. I do not need to fear when I put my trust in you. Lord, deliver me from all that is against me and bless those who persecute me.

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 2  Listen to Psalm 2

I don't know about you, but I'm missing Brexit. I was glued to the TV watching the coverage from Parliament over the last year or so. All that seems a long time ago. I'm not watching as much TV anymore, or following as much social media. I heard that the UN Secretary General is calling for a global ceasefire and for all warring factions to lay down their arms in the face of a common enemy. Politics have been suspended for the time being and the world is in turmoil.

In Psalm 2 the nations, that is any nation that did not recognise Israel's God, are conspiring against the Lord's Anointed One. Every king of Israel and Judah was known as “anointed one”, which in Hebrew is “Messiah” and in Greek is “Christ,” because the prophet or high priest anointed him, usually with olive oil, at the time of his enthronement. This psalm is a royal psalm and specifically a coronation psalm.

The writers of the New Testament saw the proclamation of the kingdom of God in Jesus’ ministry as a sign that he was a king, which is why they gave him the title Christ. Just as the king of Israel was addressed by God as his son (Psalm 2:7) so too would Jesus be known as the Son of God. The words “You are my Son” are quoted at different points in Jesus’ life: at his baptism (Matthew 3:17); at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and with reference to the resurrection (Acts 13:33).

Yet Jesus was a radically different type of king. The writer of Acts saw the opposition to Jesus by Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and Israel as the nations conspiring against the Lord's Anointed One (Acts 4:24–28). This opposition was however not met with more violence (Psalm 2:9) but instead accepted by Jesus in his death on a cross. This new kingdom was established in violence and death, but the climax of Jesus’ coronation lay in his conquest of death through the resurrection.

The psalmist says “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Jesus, the Son of God, is our King. The nations are still in turmoil and the only safe place to be is in him.

Lord may we serve you with fear and celebrate your rule with trembling.