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New Year 2026 – The Gospel of John
- Friday 27th February – Psalm 103 ‘All my inmost being’
A brief pause in our reflections on John, to reflect upon another great Psalm:
‘Bless the Lord, my soul!’ This joyful beginning to one of the most famous psalms is both much loved and also sometimes causes a little head scratching: surely God blesses us, and not the other way round? The fact that most modern translations render the word as ‘praise’ is a sure sign that this idea troubles people. So, let’s begin with a short explanation as to why we can bless God as well as rejoice that God blesses us: ‘When the Lord blesses us, he reviews our needs and responds to them; when we bless the Lord, we review his excellencies and respond to them.’ (J.A. Motyer)
In other words, it is not an equivalent action: to bless is to bestow God’s goodness on someone or something: so when we do that to God, we are not bestowing anything he doesn’t already have! In that sense it is fair to translate it as ‘praise’: however, it’s worth keeping the original meaning as it reminds us that we are to be people of blessing. This goes to the heart of God’s promise to Abraham way back in Genesis 12: whenever we ‘bless’ God (and others) we fulfil that wonderful promise.
So let’s bless! And let’s also observe today the true source of this blessing on our part: ‘all my inmost being’ (v1). This throwaway phrase takes on profound importance as the bible develops, culminating in Jesus’ own teaching. In essence: to praise God with our lips and our lives requires us to start with our hearts and minds. It is the inner life which fuels the outward action.
Here, King David feeds his mind by reminding himself in verses 3-5 of all the reasons he has to praise God: a God who forgives and heals, of love and compassion, who satisfies and renews.
This list is both uplifting and unsettling. Many will ask: why does David say that God heals all of our diseases when he patently does not? There is much debate over how to explain this: some try and change the meaning of ‘all’ to ‘all kinds of’ or to spiritualise the word ‘disease’ so that it might mean something other than its plain meaning. Both explanations are inadequate.
Instead, let’s observe first that these psalms are poems and songs written in a culture which likes to emphasise things through hyperbole. When Katrina sings that she’s walking on sunshine, we don’t assume that she has literally levitated on a warm day. It’s a powerful phrase which conveys an inner truth.
That’s a good place to start; but then, let’s go further and rely on the vital principle that we let scripture interpret itself. So when we see a set of declarations here, what else does the bible about these things? In this case, Scripture consistently affirms that in Christ God forgives every sin; that God does satisfy every godly desire, though not always as we expect; and certainly that God is love in the core of his being. We can accept these wonderful phrases of David literally. Healing is more complicated: but what we can affirm is that in the new creation everything (and everyone) will be healed. Ultimately, this phrase is equally true, but its meaning is only wholly realised at a later point.
As we close, let’s call to mind those we love who have died ‘in the faith’, and let’s take comfort and hope that this word is gloriously true for them: that now they are fully healed and with our Lord in glory. And may God stir our hearts afresh today, that with ‘all our inmost being’ we too can bless God’s holy name. Amen.
- Saturday 17th January – Psalm 34 ‘The Taste’Read more...
As we conclude our week, a reflection from the Psalms:
I’ve always loved my food. I don’t have a big appetite, but I enjoy eating pretty much everything – finding as much joy in cheese and beans on toast as a gourmet dish. At school it became a lunchtime ritual for my friends to dare me to taste ...
- Friday 16th January – John 11:49-53 ‘Better that one man die…’Read more...
Many years ago I was privileged to pastor a young lady who’d come to faith on an alpha course our church had run. I asked her how she’d found her way to Alpha. She replied that some people from church had been handing out fliers for alpha in the train station, and her partner had taken one. He’d got home, looked ...
- Thursday 15th January – John 11:43-48 ‘If we let him go on like this…’Read more...
Light attracts some creatures and repels others. We see this all through nature; and it’s not just the unappealing creatures who prefer the darkness: think of owls or leopards – beautiful animals, however deadly they are!
It’s easy to imagine that Jesus’ miracles must have been universally welcomed. After all, who could possibly be offended by bodies being ...
- Wednesday 14th January – John 11:40-44 ‘Lazarus, come out!’Read more...
Of all Jesus’ miracles, the raising of Lazarus is the most dramatic. The feeding of the 5,000 may have been on a larger scale, the walking on the water more terrifying – but the combination of extraordinary power and sheer pathos we see here gives this miracle a unique position in the gospels. John certainly gives it that kind of billing: ...
- Tuesday 13th January – John 11:38-40 ‘The glory of God’Read more...
‘If you believe, you will see the glory of God.’
It’s quite a promise, isn’t it?
When we talk about glory nowadays, we usually mean some great achievement, or something which merits great praise – this weekend we’ve had talk of FA Cup glory, for example, for the winning teams, especially those who registered shock ...