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With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:111-112 There’s a joyless religion that should be avoided like the plague. There’s a certain personality that obsesses with detail; it becomes preoccupied with rules and ritual; it prefers the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. Jesus clashed with this sort of p…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 51:10, 17 Repetition is a feature of the life of prayer as we can see in the psalms. Yet again the plea for forgiveness comes with ‘Make me a clean heart’. There is a particular religious psyche that is obsessed with sin. There’s also a psychological condition where the pat…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 78:9, 37, 73
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 78:9, 37, 73
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 78:9, 37, 73 This psalm is a saga of the heart. Read it all to get the full and turbulent story of one heart in pursuit of the other, the divine and the human. It spans generations. It shows that the faithlessness of one generation does not mean that God will abandon the ne…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 97:1, 11
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 97:1, 11
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 97:1, 11 Psalm 96 invites us to ‘worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him’ (v. 9). And here we hear that the well-being of the earth flows from our recognition of the sovereignty of God. When creature and Creator are in harmony the…
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 73:1, 20, 25
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 73:1, 20, 25
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 73:1, 20, 25 The fact that this psalm continues to agonize over the success of the ungodly reflects how we ourselves struggle continuously to square the problem of evil with our faith in a loving God. ‘Then thought I to understand this: but it was too hard for me’ (v. 15). …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 66:16-17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 66:16-17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 66:16-17 Can we ever find God to be deaf to our prayers? After all, surely he sees and hears all. But this poetic image takes us to the heart of prayer. The life of faith is not about finding the right words or rituals to manipulate fate. That’s what the occult tries to do.…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 62:4, 8
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 62:4, 8
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 62:4, 8 There are two hearts that are polar opposites. The cursing heart is not always plain to see. It can be well disguised, as in Psalm 55, when the person ‘having war in his heart’ can speak words ‘softer than butter’ and ‘smoother than oil, and yet be they very swords’…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 58:1-2, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 58:1-2, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 58:1-2, 10 It is curious in the modern world that whereas there is great emphasis upon human justice, there is so little acceptance of divine judgement. Yet the two are the opposite sides of the one coin. People seem to resist and even dismiss the idea of God judging us, wh…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 55:4-6
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 55:4-6
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 55:4-6 Before you undergo surgery the conversation with the doctor is a sobering experience. Your doctor explains the operation and the risks and asks you to sign the form agreeing to the treatment. I was told clearly and kindly about the risk of a stroke and death...
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:10-11
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:10-11
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:10-11 It is one thing to think a thought, it is quite another to bury it and hide it in the heart. Years ago people would learn verses of the Bible off by heart; sadly this is no longer in vogue educationally. Pity! We deprive ourselves. Memorizing a verse, meditating o…
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 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 35:20, 25