1–7 April 2018. Psalm 58 (click to read). The world isn’t supposed to be this way. Goodness should win and evil should fail. That’s the way things should be. But sadly that’s often not true. What’s worse, often evil doesn’t just struggle along, it succeeds – and it even rises to power. In politics, society, […]
25–31 March 2018. Psalm 51 (click to read). Often when we pray, we ask God to change something about the world around us: to change our situation, to solve the problems we are facing, or to overcome the challenges ahead. But in Psalm 51 the writer recognizes that the greatest problem he faces is not […]
22–28 October 2017. Psalm 103 (click to read). We all know that Jesus commands us to forgive others. Jesus tells us not to take revenge, not to pay back evil for evil, but to be ready to forgive people for the things they have done to us. While we all know this, sometimes we forget […]
15–21 October 2017. Psalm 96 (click to read). Have you ever noticed that in so many ads and on so many billboards the models are almost never smiling? Look through any fashion magazine and you will see photo after photo of models with serious expressions, angry and dramatic faces, but hardly ever a real smile. That’s […]
6–12 August 2017. Psalm 38 (click to read). It’s very easy for us to see other people’s sins, but we often don’t see our own sins at all. We look at ourselves in the mirror but we don’t see our failings. Instead our eyes and our minds trick us into thinking that we are better […]
30 July – 5 August 2017. Psalm 32 (click to read). One thing that surprised me when I first started teaching in Taiwan was just how quiet the students are. In class it’s always difficult to get students to share their ideas or even ask questions. When I spoke to another professor about this, he told […]
23–29 July 2017. Psalm 23 (click to read). In the Old Testament, it was common to describe both God and kings as shepherds. This was a good reminder that God was the one who guided all Israel, and the one who cared for the whole nation. The king also took on this role as shepherd, […]
16–22 July 2017. Psalm 17 (click to read). When people hurt us and say mean things about us, it’s only natural for us to want revenge. Straight away we start to think of things we can do or words we can say to hurt them even more than they hurt us. In Psalm 17, the […]
9–15 July 2017. Psalm 11 (click to read). Every day it seems like tabloid newspapers are declaring the end of the world. Every day there’s some new enemy and some new reason for people to live in fear. One day it’s evil immigrants and foreigners taking over the country, another day it’s gay people destroying […]
2–8 July 2017. Psalm 4 (click to read). Most of us like to think that we don’t care what other people say about us. But that’s rarely true. When people speak badly about us, when they lie or gossip about us, we do care and it really hurts. Often evil words hurt us much more […]