The Bible Bloke

"The wicked are not so but they are like the chaff which the wind blows away..." Psalm 1:4 Some trees drop their their old leaves in a soft carpet on the ground around them. Any quiet breeze will stir the leaves which shift and settle, as if rearranging themselves before sleep. It's a restful image, giving a sense of reassurance, just as the strong tree imagery in Psalm 1 verse 3 allows us to focus on the strength of the Lord. There is no hint as to what kind of tree the Psalmist is referring to, what is important is the strength and vitality of the image being given to us as readers.  The following verse explodes the serenity with a starkly contrasting image. The wicked of verse 1 are spoken of as chaff that, like a pile of dead leaves, is taken by the wind and blown away. The strong tree that is fed and watered by the Living Word of God, who is Jesus, produces fruit in season. The wicked, want nothing to do with the living, sustaining God. They are spoken of ...

O, that I should Praise the Lord my every waking moment, seeing Him in all things that I know, all things that have been given to me, all things that I can hold, and taste and see and smell. Lift up my voice to praise the Lord my God. The word that comes forward in Psalm 1 is “delight.” The Psalmist is clear, the Word of God is something that we find delight in, when we spend time reading it. When we seek to bring His word into our hearts and our minds. Then we are like the tree with firm roots, sunk deep into the soil, and nourished by the flowing waters. If we have any doubt as to what we should do, then look to God’s Word. Look to Christ who gives us direction. But here is the thing. What is required is “trust.” It is one of the themes that weaves through the Psalms. Trusting the Lord to be Who He is, so that we can rest in His promises. This is something that Abraham did. He stood firm knowing that God would come through. Many times he doubted how it was going t...

If I take a moment and sit quietly and think about a stream, one of the images that usually bubbles to the surface of my memory from when I was very young is of a willow tree, its weeping branches hanging in a lacy green veil, filtering the light. There was one such tree I remember sitting under at the height of day, its speckled green tempering the sparkle of the stream that flowed past it. As a boy I’m not sure I was thankful for it, as much as I am thankful as a man for the memory of it. I discovered that willows do not produce fruit, an oak tree might have been a better example. However, my image was of a tree with strong roots, by a stream of water. When a tree grows by a stream, it puts down roots deep into the earth, for the soil is just right. Not only does the tree get nourishment from the water that flows past it, the roots it puts down hold the bank together, and prevents serious erosion of the soil. In Psalm 1:3 we are given a picture of just such a tree, bu...

There’s an old poem by Robert Burns that was a favourite of mine when I was boy. The poem starts with the lines : Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,  O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!  Thou need na start awa sae hasty,  The mouse, startled by the farmer, sets itself up into a panic and does what mice do and quickly tries to exit. But the farmer has no plans nor indeed heart to hurt the mouse. After all, the farmer has ploughed up the mouse’s home and left it nowhere to live and with winter coming on! And in that moment of contemplating the mouse, the farmer reflects on his own life, and how things aren’t quite the way he wants them. Indeed, Burns gives us the famous line: The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men            Gang aft agley,  An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,            For promis’d joy!  The mouse, as mice ...

One of the books of the Bible I return to with joy on a regular basis is the Psalms. Here we find an openness and an honesty. Here is the human condition revealed, the highs and the lows. Here we see a man after God’s own heart struggling with the same thoughts and passions we struggle with each and every day. The Psalms guide us on our walk, giving us the road map, letting us know how to enter into and maintain our relationship with God, what one commentator called “His covenant instruction.” 1,2. Psalm 1 is the entry into the book of Psalms. It is the gateway. And from the very beginning there is a clear choice. Wickedness or God’s blessing. To be blessed this man must already be walking in the way of the Lord. To be blessed is to enjoy God’s favour. This blessed man, sets an example, someone we should look to and model ourselves after. But what is the alternative? Those who refuse to live in relationship with the Lord are lost in a gale of wickedness, of sin an...

Let me start with a quote:  "...without us knowing it, the world has shifted from a society of long-term relationships to a society of transactional relationships..." 1 It’s an interesting thought isn’t it? When we look at how we interact with each other on a day to day basis our relationships are very much transactional in nature. (I am speaking in general here.) A relationship matters to us only because we get something out of the transaction. There is no such thing as long haul. 2 If we look at how some social media platforms work then we can validate this idea can’t we? And yet, what if we apply this to our relationship with God? How does that look? Do we view this relationship like our brand loyalty, is it based purely on the transaction? We are in it only so long as we are happy with the product? Can we even call it a “relationship” if it’s about gratification only of what we want? What about what God wants? Take a moment and turn to Hosea chapter 6 ve...