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 9 - I will give thanks

24 March 2020

When you pick up Psalm 9 you are immediately struck by the tune it is to be sung to, referred to in the title: ‘The Death of the Son.’ This was something that David had experienced (2 Samuel 11 vs 19), an experience that was devastating and a scar that never left him.

Against this backdrop the words in vs 1-2 seem out of place. How can words such as ‘thanks’, ‘rejoice’ and ‘praises’ find their place in a song sung to such a heartbreaking tune?

At the centre of the whole Bible is a story of the death of the Son. 

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Psalm 8 - How Majestic is Your Name

23 March 2020

I remember the very first time I was on a long distance flight. I was in my twenties and had grown up never travelling very far. I guess I was nervous, but I was also fascinated, sitting down at the back of the plane gazing down at the ground, miles below. 

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Psalm 7 - Guilt on my hands

22 March 2020

Reading through the Psalms, taking them one by one, day by day, I am discovering new words. I am beginning to realise that there are some words that come up a lot in the Psalms. The word ‘refuge’ is used over 40 times in this book, the word comes up 22 times, the word ‘trouble’ appears 42 times and the word ‘thanks’ is found over 20 times.

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Psalm 6 - Deliver me

21 March 2020

Sometimes we imagine that certain people cope well with things and that we are the only ones who struggle. In our journey through the Psalms we have already realised that David is a significant character in this book, with his voice lying behind much of what we read.

David was King in Israel and in all sorts of ways David was a very capable King. He was a successful military leader, a strong ruler and popular head of state. But in Psalm 6 we find a very vulnerable David.

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Psalm 5 - In the Morning

20 March 2020

There is a rhythm to life and a rhythm to creation. The opening words of the Bible name God as the maker of all things. God didn’t create time to just go on and on. He created a world with order to it, a world with seasons and a world with day and night.

Reading on in through the book of Psalms it is striking how much anguish and dis-order form the backdrop against which these words were written, prayed and sung. Psalm 5 describes itself as a lament, a mournful calling to God in the midst of great pain. But even in this pain there is a steely-ness to David’s words. 

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