When we say we “hope”, we want something to happen and wish for it to happen, but we don’t expect it to happen. That’s why we say we “hope.” The Israelites hoped in the coming of their Messiah. They waited for Him. They waited in expectation, and when He came, they missed it. Our language doesn’t comprehend the way this word “hope” is used
There were times that Jesus separated himself from the multitudes. And there are times when we need to separate ourselves from our lives, our work and even a ministry, and spend some time with our Lord. I love how Jesus climbed a mountain. It made me think of an interesting analogy. Picture the shape of a mountain. It starts out wide at the bottom.
Have you noticed that the toughest questions always begin with the word, “Why?” Why did I lose that job? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why this heartache, this adversity? The cry of Jesus from the Cross was a cry of dereliction. God turned away from His Son, and Jesus cried out, “Why?” The first answer is that God is holy, and
When I was a child, we had a pear tree in the backyard. Every summer, it was my job to pick up the pears that had fallen off the tree—ripe, spotted, soft and even rotten pears. Every so often, I would find one that had just fallen off because it was ripe and I caught it before it rotted, but that was rare. Now
Once there was a king who decided to set aside a special day to honor his greatest subject. When the big day arrived, a large gathering took place in the palace courtyard and our finalists were brought forward. The first person was a wealthy philanthropist. This man was deserving of the king’s honor because of his great humanitarian efforts. He had given much of
My dad ran a country store and every year we’d close it down to take inventory. It was a tough job because we had to count every single item in the store. Sometimes we need to be bold enough to take a searching inventory of our lives as well. If you’re tired of what I call “comfortable Christianity” and truly want to grow and
A friend writes: “My father did some pretty nasty things to me. But at the end of his life, as I kneeled by his bedside, I told him how thankful I was for every good thing he had done and every way he had blessed me, and there were many. We were good friends when he passed away.” One of the greatest regrets you
Most of us like the warm weather of spring and summer, but with that comes construction season. We don’t like warning signs that tell us to slow down. If the road is completely out, the sign will say danger ahead. Among many other things, we can think of the Bible as our book of warning signs. God’s laws and instructions are not to harm us,
“Be still, and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10 A man recently decided to practice this verse literally. So, he found a place to be alone and then sat as still as he could. He was amazed at how much he heard and saw as minutes turned into hours. Jesus understood the necessity of solitude and stillness, and often withdrew to be alone with the Father. What about you? How long has it been since
Writing daily devotions throughout the years, I’ve often been asked the question, “How do I find the will of God?” There are probably many good scriptural approaches to answering this question; but I want to offer something very basic as you think about understanding the will of God. That is, simply, that you’ll know His will when you come to know the heart of
