Meditate on it

"That which the French proverb hath of sickness is true of all evils, that they come on horseback and go away on foot; we have often seen that a sudden fall, or one meal’s surfeit, has stuck by many to their graves; whereas pleasures come like oxen, slow and heavily, and go away like post horses, upon the spur. Sorrows, because they are lingering guests, I will entertain but moderately, knowing that the more they are made of the longer they will continue; and for pleasures, because they stay not, and do but call to drink at my door, I will use them as passengers with slight respect. He is his own best friend that makes the least of both of them." (Joseph Hall.) Tough going with 109 and 110---I need to take time to hash through them, but they are not particularly winsome psalms, but psalms of punishment and justice.  I would much rather dwell on the merciful character of the Lord! Psalm 109 One thing I find interesting is that the psalmist welcomes conflict---especiall

I particularly liked MacLaren's commentary on 1 Chronicles 29:29-30.   Time is such a slippery concept--the correct use of it, the loss of it, the critical nature of seizing the moment as it ripens:    "Note “times” which make up each life. By “the times” the writer does not merely mean the succession of moments. Each life is made up of a series, not merely of successive moments, but of well-marked epochs, each of which has its own character, its own responsibilities, its own opportunities, in each of which there is some special work to be done, some grace to be cultivated, some lesson to be learned, some sacrifice to be made; and if it is let slip it never comes back any more. The old alchemists used to believe that there was what they called the “moment of projection” when, into the heaving molten mass in their crucible, if they dropped the magic powder, the whole would turn into gold; an instant later and there would be explosion and death; an instant earlier and ther

The psalms are gradually becoming an old friend of mine. Although I still cannot claim to know them all, each time through, I recognize more along my journey through them, and some have become dear familiar friends.  My favorite commentaries on the psalms are Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon's Treasury of David. This time around, I am trying to give some others a fair shot as well. Psalm 5 was on my reading list for today. "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.  The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.  You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." "The passage is worthy of our most special attention. For we know how greatly we are discouraged by the unbounded insolence of the wicked. If God does not immediately restrain it, we are either stupified and dismayed, or cast down into despair. But David, from this, rather finds matter