Hopes Set High

What do you hope for? When you let your mind drift on the seas of your longings, where does it go?

Here’s an even more important question: What do you hope in? When you consider the things you most want, how do you imagine achieving them? Hard work? Wise maneuvering? Winning the lottery?

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

A number of years ago there was a television show called The “A” Team. In the show there was always a moment where the characters at the end of the show would smile and say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” This is what is happening in chapter 8 of Joshua. God has told them exactly how they are to attack Ai. It would be an ambush and the people of God would win.

Yet one powerful theme is played throughout this chapter.

Please Listen, Lord

As we read the life of David, we are made aware that he was often attacked by his enemies and often on the run for his life. Psalm 86 is David’s prayer in a time of great trial. His violent enemies have conspired to kill him. While many of us may never know this level of threat, still we have times of desperation and can discern much from him. What do we do when we are hard pressed, threatened or under attack?

Read More strength, weakness, refuge, dependence

A King in Sackcloth

How do leaders respond when God sometimes seems silent and achingly far away at a time when our backs are against the wall?

The scene in this passage opens late in the siege of Samaria. Unimaginably desperate, people are willing to pay a huge price for things they never dreamed were edible: a donkey’s head or pigeon droppings. They are even willing to eat their own children!

Read More desperation, faith, humility, dependence

Integrity and Contentment

This proverb is a prayer to the Lord that reveals certain aspects of our human nature. The author has two prayers that are intertwined. First of all, he prays for the moral fortitude to be a man of integrity, then he requests to be preserved from the circumstances that could jeopardize that moral integrity.

Expressing Appreciation

Paul names 26 people by name in this passage and alludes to many others. Why has the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to name each person individually? What do these personal greetings add anyway? It’s almost certain that the majority of people named here would have forever remained unknown had he not mentioned them in this letter.