As an immigrant family in the very early 50’s we knew what it was to be poor. Once, when I was only five years old I overheard my mother praying. She was asking that the Lord would supply food because there was none. That very afternoon the local pastor delivered bags full of groceries. He did not know the depth of our need, but he understood our circumstances. God will give us our daily bread when we seek him for it.
Read More faith, grumbling, provisionMoses had his game face on. Imagine standing at the Jordan River, preparing to take the field spreading out before you. The time of testing has come. Strength, skill and courage will all be tested. Faith is not only a contemplative matter. It is made visible in the place where testing occurs. Moses knew something of fear in his own life experience. He had once been on the run but God called him back to face down those fears.
Read More faith, provision, fearThree things make us happy in our communities, according to Richard Florida(1). First is living in a physically beautiful place. Next is the ease of meeting others, followed by social diversity with equality of opportunity. The land that Moses describes certainly has the first attribute. It was a land that could make you happy and economically successful.
Success, this passage seems to say, is a gratitude test.
Read More trust, provision, gratitudeThe Lord is the one and only God, and tolerates no rivals. He longs for his people to know life, and so he reveals the secret of life. If you want life, you will find it in God. If you choose to depart from God and your relationship to God, you will find yourselves and your land destroyed.
This passage re-affirms the covenant between God and his chosen people.
Read More life, death, love, jealousy, provision, warning
The story of the first Christmas conjures up all sorts of images, not the least of which is the idyllic scene of the wise men kneeling at the manger of the Christ-child with their precious gifts.
The reality was more rustic.
Read More provision, generosity
Now that the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, there was also the need to re-populate the city, so that it was more than an empty walled fortress with the Temple in its midst. The leaders led the way by setting the example of relocating. Of the rest of the people, it seems that some volunteered
Read More service, sacrifice, provision, vocational ministry