Hope

Can you remember a recent “gray slush” day? Of course you can. So can I. The laws of fairness and justice were displaced by a couple of Murphy’s Laws. Your dream dissolved into a nightmare. High hopes took a hike. Good intentions got lost in a comedy of errors, only this time nobody was laughing. You didn’t soar, you slumped. Instead of “pressing on the upward way,” you felt like telling Bunyan to move over

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Truth to Live By, Truth to Die For

See how I love your precepts; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your love. All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal. (Psalm 119:159–160 NIV) Thank You, Father, for breathing out Your Word through men so many centuries ago. Thank You for preserving the message that You revealed through the miracle of inspiration, Father. Thank You for Your Word—the inerrant, authoritative, infallible Word of God.

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Honoring God’s Sovereignty

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?'” (Daniel 4:34–35)

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Watch Out for Fakes

MY FRIEND ATE DOG FOOD ONE EVENING. He was at an elegant student reception in a physician’s home. The dog food was served on delicate crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, an olive, and a sliver of pimento on top. It was hors d’oeuvres a la Alpo. The hostess, just graduated from a gourmet cooking course, decided to put her skill to the ultimate test. Did she ever!

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Cool Skepticism

NINE-YEAR-OLD DANNY BURST OUT OF Sunday school, eyes darting in every direction trying to locate his mom or dad. After a quick search, he grabbed his daddy by the leg and yelled, “Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!” His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.

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Fighting the Fast Fade

Can you remember those pointed challenges from the preacher who stood before you with Bible in hand? How many hours have passed since you sat there, opening your ears and heart to counsel from God’s always-relevant Book? A few dozen, maybe? Ah, it’s starting to fade, isn’t it? Those incisive, potentially life-changing principles are swimming away in a sea of forgetfulness. What a frustration! Why can’t we hang on to those mental, spiritual handholds we need so desperately?

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Going Deep

NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE years had passed since the Lord first spoke to Abram in Ur. Since then, his spiritual roots had pushed deep into the soil of faith in his God. At long last, he trusted in the Lord’s promise and rested in His sovereign will.

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Israel’s Dark Setting

The setting is Israel before the glory days of King David. There has been a long period—a couple hundred years—of intermittent warfare, cycles of events during which Israel would suffer invasion followed by famine.

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An Urgent Charge

Paul wrote with urgency, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.”

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Anchor of Reality

All those going through a storm need to be engaged in the process. No one is promised a magical escape clause. Passivity is faith’s enemy. It isn’t an acceptable option to fold our arms and wait for the storm to pass.

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