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With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 25:1, 16-17 There is some adversity, though not all, that we bring on ourselves. We need to be cautious about this, because the first reaction we have to calamities is to imagine that God must be punishing us for something we have done. As Jesus made clear of a man born bli…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 26:1-2
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 26:1-2
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 26:1-2 Enough of sin! Here is the portrait of a blameless believer, someone who in all honesty before God cannot point to any wilful act of disobedience. And yet. Even with a conscience clear before God this plaintiff appears to plead with the Judge of all to examine him fo…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:15-16
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:15-16
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 27:15-16 With these words I began to come to terms with the news that I was to have major heart surgery. All of us have our own stories of confronting something we dread, and then feeling faint. Ever since doing biology at school I had been squeamish and nervous about the i…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:9
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:9
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 27:9 In St Paul’s famous essay on love he writes about how one day we will see God face to face but for now we see ‘through a glass, darkly’ (1 Corinthians 13.12 kjv). It’s a poetic phrase conveying the original Greek which literally says that we see through a glass not dar…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 28:8
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 28:8
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 28:8 Through all his trials and tribulations St Paul urged others to discover with him that God’s strength is made perfect in human weakness, and that his grace is always sufficient. These are discoveries we do not always wish to make! They involve us in situations where we…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 31:27
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 31:27
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 31:27 Jesus, of all people, knew the human heart. He knew how fickle the heart could be. He could see what flowed from it and knew what it was capable of, both good and bad. I don’t think any human being would dissent from that assessment. The heart is like a rudderless bo…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 32:12
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 32:12
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 32:12 This psalm with its final verse offers hope to us all because the ‘true of heart’ at the end of the song are none other than the unrighteous at the beginning! When we become aware of the call of God to commit our life or to give ourselves more wholeheartedly we can ho…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 33:11, 14, 20
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 33:11, 14, 20
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 33:11, 14, 20 This psalm comes to a crescendo with a psalm of praise to the heart of God. His word is true, his works are faithful, he loves justice, he’s made the earth full of goodness and oceans full of treasure. These are just some of the signs of the providence that fl…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 34:1, 18
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 34:1, 18
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 34:1, 18 Contrition comes in many guises. A bogus one is betrayed by the little word ‘if ’, for example, ‘I’m sorry if you feel so upset.’ This apology is qualified. It transfers responsibility away from the culprit and on to the victim. Instead of taking the weight of the …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 35:20, 25
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 35:20, 25
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 35:20, 25 Civilized and liberal societies that over the centuries have tamed the wilder elements of humanity find the concepts of original sin and evil either unfamiliar or uncomfortable. But, as Golding’s Lord of the Flies showed, these realities lurk underneath the surfac…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 36:1, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 36:1, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 36:1, 10 In the chapel at Bishop’s Lodge where we live and work there’s a sculpture over the Lord’s Table of Jesus bent over the city weeping, ‘If only you knew the things that make for peace’ (see Luke 19.41– 42). For centuries the Church has built up the experience of com…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 37. 4, 7, 32 The promise of God to give us our heart’s desires is conditional. When our heart is in tune with God’s heart and hence our will with his will then, as Jesus said, ‘Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’ (John 15.7 nrsv). The secret is to stay c…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 38:8, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 38:8, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 38:8, 10 The success of those who trample on others with no regard for God or any moral principles can be very confusing for those of us who try to live our life by faith. It’s not unusual for us to make a costly decision in favour of doing what we believe to be right befor…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 39:1, 4, 5
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 39:1, 4, 5
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 39:1, 4, 5 The tongue and heart, two organs at the centre of life. As this psalm shows, what goes on in the metaphorical heart eventually comes out through the tongue literally. Bridling the tongue and muzzling the mouth especially when faced with those who have it in for y…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 40:10, 12, 15
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 40:10, 12, 15
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 40:10, 12, 15 To be content to do only the will of God is how God originally fashioned the heart to be. With the gift of freedom came also the risk that the human heart might chase after other desires. These psalms testify to the vagaries of the heart, but they also capture…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 41:1, 6
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 41:1, 6
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 41:1, 6 The causes of poverty are the enemies of God. In a world of great complexity it is not always easy to identify them, nor is it simple to find the remedies. The causes range from trading tariffs to the changing climate, from war to corruption and exploitation. Those …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 44:19-21
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 44:19-21
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 44:19-21 Nothing is hidden from God. To him we are an open book. He knows the biography of each of us. Such knowledge is both disturbing and reassuring. The heart is in a marketplace where different desirables compete for our attention. Even when we have made our choice we …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 45:1