What makes us “steadfast, immovable” (1 Cor 15:58)? Look back to the cross and ahead to the glory. Psalm 62 is in two main parts (vv 1-4 and 5-10), with a short conclusion (vv 11-12). Part 1 begins with a statement regarding trust in a thoroughly trustworthy God (vv 1-2), followed by a portrait of those causing […]
CHRIST OUR SUFFICIENCY: “Christ is all and in all” (Col 3:11). After his conversion in 1834, Isaac Marsden, a drygoods salesman, “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4), in the streets, markets, pubs, wherever he could find a hearing. Often criticized for his bombastic style, he nonetheless saw thousands saved. Here is some of his […]
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). Notice the four alls. Pray at all times with all prayer with all perseverance for all saints. Peter Deyneka Sr., founder of the Slavic Gospel Association, moved from Russia […]
A.T. Pierson told of Alexander MacLaren using the illustration of a compass “with one foot firmly set in the true center, and the other describing a circle which, while that center was preserved, could not possibly err in width or range of circumference. Our first necessity is to get the truth center and fix there […]
Safe on the Rock, dwelling in His tabernacle, under His wings—mixed metaphors never sounded so good! It seems appropriate that this sweet little psalm should be accompanied by “a stringed instrument,” as the title of Psalm 61 suggests. Although the Selah in the middle marks a transition, it isn’t a sharp one. The first four verses begin with “Hear my […]
CHRIST the HOPE of ISRAEL (Jer 17:13). As David Baron writes, the Great Intercessor “bears also ‘His own’ nation Israel on His heart. It was for them primarily that He prayed on the cross. And now at God’s right hand He still pleads for them: ‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and […]
“The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; teach me Your statutes” (Ps 119:64). Beautiful, isn’t it! What a positive way of acknowledging that the world is actually full of broken-hearted sinners, of the wreckage of the wrong actions we have committed against God and one another. The psalmist focuses instead on God’s amazing […]
“There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee” (Ps 73:25). In his book Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care, George Henderson tells the following story: A Christian woman who had just finished reading T.H. Huxley’s Life and Letters was asked with some anxiety by a friend whether her faith had suffered any eclipse under […]
How ready God is to give us another chance! Like His wisdom, He is “easy to be entreated” (Jas 3:17, KJV). The psalmist clearly thinks that Psalm 60 should be kept for posterity, hung on our walls and hidden in our hearts. It’s given to the Concert Master for public use. He calls it “A Michtam of David. […]