Forward in Hope

Amazing Acts – #1

Amazing Hope and Comfort ‘Ye shall be witnesses unto me’ (Acts 1:8) This is what the book of Acts is all about, and Luke presents it very well. Before Jesus went to heaven to sit on the right hand of God (2:34, from Psalm 110:1), He told His disciples to be witnesses, but before they…

Ezekiel – A man in lockdown

Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. (Ezekiel 3:24) We are all living in strange times. The world as we know has stopped – we may hope that it is just a temporary pause, and that…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 97b

a 3 min read Rejoice in the Lord In yesterday’s meditation there was no mention of gladness or joy. The response to the coming of Christ from a self-centred world, now facing inevitable judgement, was one of fear and trembling. However, at the beginning of this second section, we are taken to Zion, the City…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 97a

a 3 min read The Glorious Coming of Christ If there ever was a subject to give us hope and assurance in troubled times, it is this: Christ is coming! Coming in glory, to bring peace, righteousness and prosperity to earth. Again, this psalm continues from the closing thought of the previous. ‘The LORD reigneth;…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 96

A Universal Call to Worship Having gone into the sanctuary to worship in Psalm 95, we now go out ‘among the heathen (the nations)’ (v3, 10), to ‘declare’, to ‘say’, to call all ‘the people’ to worship the LORD, who alone is worthy. There are two aspects of worship mentioned: vocal – ‘Sing unto the…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 95

Our Great God Following the doubt of Psalm 94, the psalmist once again lifts his voice in praise for the hope that is found in his God. This note of praise grows through subsequent psalms, prophetically looking forward to the day when Christ shall return to take up the throne of His father David. Let…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 94

Jehovah is Judge Having rejoiced in our Sovereign Saviour, this psalm once more looks round this wilderness way; and seeing many living and acting in selfish, unjust ways, with no thought of God, the psalmist begins with a lament for justice (v1-11) ‘Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 93

Our Sovereign Saviour This is not a long psalm, and it’s worth memorising. ‘The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 92b

Flourishing in the Wilderness In the previous meditation we saw that worship is the conduit to spiritual rest and flourishing. Perhaps it should be said that this kind of worship – wilderness worship – is necessarily an act of the will, for the natural emotions evinced by the wilderness would lead us, as they did…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 92a

Worship in the Wilderness This psalm has thrilled my soul these past few days. Initially it seems out of place to have a ‘Psalm or Song for the Sabbath Day’ in a section characterised by the wilderness journey, for typically there is no rest in the wilderness. When we think of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, they…

Psalms for Troubled Times – Psalm 91b

The Blessing of Dwelling on Christ We concluded yesterday with the thought of being ‘occupied alone’ with Christ, and we want to continue in Psalm 91 today and do just that by considering three verbs within the psalm in the intensive form. 1) He shall charge his angels over him (v11-13) This takes our mind…

For Kids

Watch the latest episode of Forward in Hope for Kids – Exploring the Book of Signs Season 3 – Episode 2 The Second Sign – The Nobleman’s Son To catch up on the series so far, or to see the full archive of videos, click here.