Morning Mercies by Michael Mullen

Psalm 60 provides a powerful and relatable journey from profound despair to renewed hope in God's promises. It acknowledges the deep pain of feeling abandoned by God and then pivots to affirm that only God can provide true, lasting victory.  The Daily Psalms are given with the intention to encourage Christians to read and meditate on these scriptures in order to grow in their faith and relati...

Some times it seems as if the whole world is arrayed against us. It may also seem that in our troubles God is no where to be seen. Conflict is unavoidable, and we are facing it alone. But are we? David answers this question in Psalm 60, and it is good news for us who have committed our lives to rusting Christ. If you would like to hear more, check out the latest podcast on Psalm 60 from Morning Me...

In the church through the ages, there has been a quiet consensus that without places of solitude in our lives we cannot live a life of prayer, or by extension, the Spiritual life at all. By solitude what is meant is a time and place alone for God, and God alone. If we are agreed and believe that what God has called us to is a personal relationship with Him, without time to speak with and listen to...

But I will sing of your strength;      I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.  For you have been to me a fortress      and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,      for you, O God, are my fortress,      the God who shows me steadfast love. The Daily Psalms are given with the intention to encourage Christians to read and meditate on these...

what happens when mankind, or an individual forgets who they are and assume they are "gods"? It may sound crazy, but it happens all the time, and is everywhere to be seen. When a person says they are accountable to no one, and make themselves lord over their ways of living, and their decisions, they are according to the Bible, corrupt. Psalm 58 gives us some direction in how to pray when...

 So often when we are younger, we see life as a filling up. We must get a job. We want to secure for ourselves a place in society. We want to find a spouse, and a place to live. There is nothing wrong with any of these, but we tend to define our lives by these things and relationships. We see ourselves in terms of what we have....Life is not about what we get, but what we have given away in love t...

The prayer in Psalm 57 is centered on theGlory of God. The glory of God is virtually impossible to define. In a sense, God’s glory is the magnificence, worth, loveliness, and grandeur of his many perfections. More often, glory communicates God’s special presence, as in the pillars of glory and of fire ( Exod. 13:21–22 ) or the glory that filled the tabernacle (40:34–38). The triune God who is glor...

In Psalm 56 David overcomes his fear by knowing who is for him in his circumstance, who will preserve him regardless of who against him. That person who is for him is God...What does David know that has taught him that he has no need be fearful? This Psalm tells us. The Daily Psalms are given with the intention to encourage Christians to read and meditate on these scriptures in order to grow in th...

It’s easy to see that a core moment of Jesus public life was his baptism by John, when he heard the affirmation, “You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” or as some translations say, “…o n whom my favor rests.” This is the beginning of Jesus coming out to the people of the Jews. Here he is reminded in a deep part of his soul of who he is. Shortly after this he is led into the desert to...

In Psalm 55 David is pushed to the very limits emotionally. His enemy has become loud, and they fill the land, making David feel alone.  However, it is right at this point where David establishes himself as someone who is not typical, for when things are tough, he does not give up or give in, but prays. He prays to God who is for Him. What does he pray for? That God who is righteous would sustain...

David begins by praying for this situation. He says “save me by your name.” This is a Hebraism, an expression that we may not understand, but is key to David. He is praying not according to any merit within himself, but rather according to the character and will of God. He prays further that God would “vindicate him by (his) might.” This is a recognition that only in God’s power can anything be do...

This week is a continuation of a  series on prayer designed to lead us closer to Christ, As we begin, we ask the Lord to "teach us to pray." It is our first prayer, our beginning. Taken from Luke 11.1, it is a prayer of desire, our desire for Him. This episode  looks at  Psalm 37 that speaks of our desire that help us understand exactly what prayer is.    Morning Mercies is a podcast ded...

In this psalm, David introduces us to a person that is often talked about in the wisdom literature. You will find him taking center stage in the Proverbs and the Ecclesiastes. He is the fool...The fool is the person who knows what is wrong and have experienced the consequences of going against God’s will, yet chooses to do otherwise. They do this over and over, and never change the course of their...

The contrast between the godless and the godly is cast in the picturesque language of an uprooted tree and a fallen tent. In contrast to Him there is David, who is described as an olive tree in the garden of the Lord. He is flourishing, and is full of life. His trust is in the Lord, and he believes that God’s steadfast love will sustain him. If you wish to know more, check out the most recent podc...

Praying in Jesus’ name means praying in line with the will of God. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.         1 John 5.14-15 Do hear the promise in all this? If we pray according to the will of God, He will do what we ask. Why? Becau...

Our need of forgiveness from God is supreme of all our needs. It comes with repentance, yet many people today have forgotten what repentance is or looks like. In Psalm 51 King David gives a glimpse of what true repentance looks like in the life of a believer. If you would like to here more check out the recent post on Psalm 51 oat the Morning Mercies podcast, now available on all major podcast pla...

There is an end to all things, and what that may be frightens us. We live amongst a people that has lost its hope, and yet knows that there is a limit to the folly that we are living. What is ahead is terrifying, especially when we remember our own demise, our dying.  Psalm 50 speaks of this, and speaks of a path, a way of living where we can find mercy in the end. This forms the substance of this...

The pervasiveness of temptation and the dynamics of sin are subtle in the day to day situations that we face. We live moment to moment and we do not perceive the choices that we stumble into until they are upon us. Rarely do we plan to be tempted, or do we choose evil, though that can be done. More often we find ourselves being tempted without any anticipation of it at all. It is not that we are h...

This is the reality, the big dilemma of our lives: we die. What are we to do with this? The Psalmist says it plainly in Psalm 49: God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. The only one who can save from death, from the debt we owe to sin, is God, for only he is big enough, only he is good enough. He has done this very thing through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He di...

Someone wise once said that the definition of human should always include something about the need for forgiveness. Certainly it is universal. Everyone of us fail at sometime in our relationships, and the only thing that can keep those relationships stable is the will to forgive. Without it the relationship of marriage has little hope. Void of forgiveness the parent child relationship turns bitter...

I am of the belief that there are places in our lives that are holy, filled with the memory of what God has done for us. Most are particular to us as individuals. Psalm forty-eight speaks of such a place for all of God’s children, that is  Zion or Jerusalem. This was where the holy presence of God, YHWH, dwelt. As pilgrims would enter Jerusalem during one of the great feasts of the year, they woul...

Psalm forty-seven is from its start a call to worship the God who is victorious, and victorious for us. He is the one who chose us, and who works for us. He is our future, and His will alone is certain and will be accomplished. There are two things that we need to notice about this psalm, both of which are crucial in the shaping of our praises and how we express them. First, our worship is not wit...

One thing that happens as we begin to pray is that we become intensely aware of our neediness. None of us are an island, and none of us can make it without the help of others. Still, the reality is that there are some needs that are beyond the help of all others…unless they’re God, the Creator. He is our being or reality, and only in Him can we find the answer to the deep needs of the soul. Jesus...

In the midst of such trouble God does not leave us alone, but stands with us, and protects us. To say he is a very present help is to assert that in that place of trial or test, God is there with us. He does not hope the best for us, or route for us and cheer us on in that hard place, but he enters into it himself. That ought to give us confidence.  The Psalmist says in Psalm 46,  “…we will not fe...

In Israel the monarchy was closly associated with God Himself, for though he had a representative on Earth, a man like David or Solomon, he was their true and only Sovereign. Scholars are split on how to understand  Psalm 45,  how to apply it to our situation today. One way that seems most appropriate is to use  the figure of Christ as the interpretive key. Christians often do this with the Old Te...