The Bible Bloke

This morning, sitting on the bus, with the first blush of sunrise melting up into the world, I was reading one of the Psalms: "Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help." (Ps 86:1) My heart is troubled Lord, for things beset me, How is it that I am going to work through this worry, or that problem, How am I going to be able to pay this bill, or afford new shoes for my child, or any of the other worries that might come to mind or heart at any single beat... Look to the Psalms again and these words leap out:  "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall." (Psalm 55:22) and elsewhere...  "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you..." (1Peter 5:7) John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace gave us this:  "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear! It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear ...."  Colossians 3:...

How am I encouraged in Christ? For that matter how am I encouraged at all? As I wake up each day and face a new set of challenges. What can I take with me as I step out through my front door? One of the things I can be certain of is God’s Word. I can be assured that if I soak myself deep in the Bible, then I have the Word of the Lord on my heart and I am so much closer to Him. And this is the essence of the beginning of the book of Hebrews. The writer tells his readers that God has spoken to His people in the past, in many ways, through the prophets who bore the message. Now however, in Jesus Christ we can see that the baton has been passed on to the Word Himself. In the past we are told that God has communicated with his people through the prophets. Today, with Jesus as our High Priest, it is through Him that we are assured of hearing from God, and through those things which Christ has spoken which we have in the form of the Bible. If we are serious about a relationship ...

Nehemiah 1:5 is the start of Nehemiah’s prayer. “O Lord God of Heaven,” he cries, “the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.” His acknowledgement here is for the place of God, the power of God, the wonder of God, and absolute Sovereignty of God in his life, which brings us to the question, which we ask deep in our hearts, as the Psalmist does in Psalm 8:4, beholding the heavens, and all the work of God’s fingers, the moon and the stars which God has set in place, why is He is mindful of us, caring for us, being there for us?   At the start of his prayer Nehemiah reminds us, that regardless of our circumstances we should be actively seeking that covenant relationship with God. Because, as we read in James 4:8, if we draw near to God, he will draw near to us. That’s quite a thought isn’t it? Here I am reminded of Ruth, one of my favourite books in the Bible, where Ruth says to Naomi in chapter ...