Sandyknowes Blog

Living beside the busiest roundabout in Northern Ireland gives plenty of opportunity for watching the world go by. Sandyknowes Blog is the personal blog of Niall Lockhart (minister of Ballyhenry). Pull in and have a read…

Psalm 16 - Keep me safe

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.

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Psalm 15 - Never be shaken

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.

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Psalm 14 - The Fool

29 March 2020

The word ‘fool’ is not a nice word. It’s a strong word, it’s a harsh sounding word. But in this Psalm it is a word which David uses, and a word that David explores and expands upon.

We can’t be sure if David is thinking about somebody in particular that he knows, or whether he’s thinking people in general, but either the way the person he has in view is someone who says in their heart ‘There is no God.’

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Psalm 13 - How Long Lord?

28 March 2020

I remember when I was a child one of the first Bible stories I learnt was the story of David killing Goliath. It’s a wonderful story, and a true story, a story of courage and faith in the face of an oncoming giant.

The reality is however that as life goes on each one of us go through different ‘seasons’ and different experiences. There are times when we cope well with things and there are times when we don’t. There are seasons when things go well for us and we sail by, there are other seasons when life seems to land one blow after another and we barely seem to cope.

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Psalm 12 - No one is faithful

27 March 2020

If someone was to ask you what you need at the moment and how they could pray for you what would you say? The first word of Psalm 12, sums up, what David needs at this moment as he bows his head to pray. ‘Help’, in this Psalm David asks God for help.

Learning to pray isn’t about learning a particular religious kind of language, it isn’t getting the right words, or following some kind of formula. Learning to pray is about learning who to call upon when we need help.

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