We set aside a day to remember – Memorial Day – because a precious gift was given – the life of a soldier, for us – and because we humans are so forgetful. Forgetfulness is a theme of Psalm 78, where Asaph recounts Israel’s forgetting God’s precious gift – His redemption of them out of […]
We quickly learn that God is more interested in our holiness than in our comfort. He more greatly delights in the integrity and purity of his church than in the material well-being of its members. He shows himself more clearly to men and women who enjoy him and obey him than to men and women […]
What habits would be good and right for us to exit the Panic of 2020 with? Good and right habits will be formed and shaped by a heart that is bending toward God, and by an essential stance in life that is humble – that is turned out toward others in self-forgetting love. And then, […]
We’ve been at this lockdown thing since St. Patrick’s Day – enough time to drop old habits, and pick up new ones. I therefore invite you to begin assessing the habits in your life, and make wise plans for exiting the lockdown with the right ones. How do we determine if a habit is “right”? […]
I’ve never forgotten what Darrin Patrick said about prayer, in a talk he gave. Essentially, he said: When you are having trouble praying, when you go silent on God, look for disappointment with God as the reason. There are of course other reasons for prayerlessness: A lack of sleep. Sometimes the best thing we can […]
God is intent on doing deep, sweet work in us, when we pray – beyond just the thing we pray for. He is out to produce in us humility. This is a hard word for some, but it wasn’t for Jonathan Edwards, who said that the pleasures of humility are some of the most refined, […]
Some lessons from Korah’s rebellion, in Numbers 16, will land us on prayer. The short version of the story is that Korah cultivates 250 followers from Israel, and they rebel against Moses and Aaron. Their major claim is “You’ve gone too far!” (v. 3). They resent Moses and Aaron’s singular, special leadership. Some observations from […]
We all come to the coronavirus situation with preconceived notions of what is best; ideas and political leanings established in the past, by our upbringing, experiences, jobs and training, etc. And not all of our notions will agree with one another’s. Thus we have sought from the beginning to keep one finger on God’s “preconceived […]
The story of the quail and the prophets, from Numbers 11, is strange to us, in many of the details. But the point could not be more contemporary. The people are on the other side of the Exodus, and are three days into a new season of their journey. But they complain, sentimentalizing their slavery […]
David is hiding from Saul – from “storms of destruction”: Psalm 57 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. 2 I cry out to God Most […]