Sandyknowes Blog

Psalm 19 - The Glory of God

3 April 2020

When we live in difficult times it can feel as if every day is the same. I’ve been speaking to various folks in the past few days who have said they have found this week a lot harder than last. The novelty of a new situation and new challenges is wearing thin. For some the demands and intensity of ‘all being in the house’, for others the isolation of being home alone. Others are out at work, many plunged into situations where the daily and incoming sense of pressure feels almost too much to bear.

2 April 2020

Psalm 18 is a powerful Psalm, words of someone who has ‘been there’. The titles of the Psalms were added sometime after they were originally written. However where there is a title it can be really helpful, helping engage our imaginations with the circumstances that gave rise to the words before us.

David first sang his song pf praise when the LORD had delivered him from the hand of Saul and from his other enemies (it seems there were many people out to get David).

1 April 2020

You cannot read the Psalms without grasping the urgency that keeps on coming from within them time and time again. Sometimes when we are in the midst of a crisis we talk of needing ‘time to ourselves’, or we try to ‘get our head cleared.’ At other times we seek to comfort and strength of friends or family and of course these are all good things.

However time and again in these Psalms David doesn’t seek to clear his mind, neither does he reach out to other people. Time and again we find David reaching out, crying out, to the LORD.

31 March 2020

Today we come to Psalm 16. This Psalm contains some wonderful words, specifically tied in around the idea of being ‘secure’ (vs 5 and 9).

The Psalm opens with a simple prayer. “Keep me safe, my God.’ Sometimes we don’t know what to pray for ourselves, sometimes we don’t know what to pray for those close to us, or for people who we have said we will pray for. These words give us simple direction, a simple prayer that we will be kept safe.

30 March 2020

When I was at high school I had a habit of asking lots of questions. It got to the point that one of my teachers limited me to ‘one question per class’. There are times in life when the days drift by and very things really play on our minds. There are other times when each day moves by slowly and we find ourselves thinking about lots of things, and having lots of questions. Sometimes those questions are big questions and troubling questions.

Psalm 19 - The Glory of God

Psalm 18 - The LORD my rock

Psalm 17 - The apple of your eye

Psalm 16 - Keep me safe

Psalm 15 - Never be shaken

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