Reading with M’Cheyne

Psalm 106 is another of the Psalms which celebrates the history of redemption, and focuses our attention on the experience of Israel, led and kept by God while on pilgrimage to the promised land. One of the reasons such psalms are important is that they remind us that God was in the history of his...

Fire and water. That's what my friend went through when her Philadelphia apartment building was devastated by fire. First came the fire and the smoke. Fortunately, even though it happened in the middle of the night, there was enough time for everyone to get out of the building safely. Then came the...

Revelation 12 contains mysterious symbols with seemingly unfathomable meanings. One is reminded of Ambrose Bierce's famous definition of Revelation as "a famous book in which St John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing." Here we read...

The apostle Paul is well known for writing letters with an indicative/imperative structure--his New Testament epistles. The indicative comes first, as Paul tells us what God has done for us in Christ. The imperative comes next. In this section of the epistle, which often begins with the word "...

I saw them over the forest: two golden eagles, cavorting in the wind. When I first spied them they were still low enough to identify, and they flapped from time to time in order to stay aloft. But the eagles were rising. Drawn upwards by unseen currents of air, they were determined to reach the...

So far, so good. At a time of personal desperation, when his life was hanging in the balance, Hezekiah threw himself on the mercy of God and prayed that he would not die, but live. God heard the king's prayer and delivered him from death, adding fifteen years to his life. But then King Hezekiah...

We end our little series of reflections on these psalms this week on an interesting note with two psalms that provide a fitting climax and conclusion to the section. The first is a final cry to God from David for rescue from his enemies and those who conspire against him. He sees deliverance coming...

Throughout history the builders of castles, forts and citadels have favoured rocky outcrops as the best place to site them. So David reaches for the language of such places to describe the One in whom believers are truly secure: 'My soul finds rest in God alone...He alone is my rock and my refuge,...

It's always fascinating to see the way the Psalms have been arranged since, more often than not, the thoughts of one flow into those that follow. That is certainly the case in this little cluster of psalms that are providing the focus for our meditations this week. They all revolve around the theme...

Two things seem to dominate the headlines of our times: corruption and conspiracy. Bad men end up in positions of power and good men (and women) are all too often undermined and sidelined in their influence. Things haven't changed since the time of David and before! We may wring our hands and vent...