Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born. Psalm 22:9–10 The psalmist writes that the Lord has been his God forever, even from his […]
Read MoreCategory Archives: Encouragement & Healing
In the Image of God
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own […]
Read MoreA Biblical Basis for Issues at Hand
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 Timothy 3:1 Much has already been written on sanctity and morality. The logic and the conclusions make good sense. What concerns me, however, is not what is stated but what is left unsaid. There is technical data from […]
Read MoreBe Armed with Facts and Courage
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 An enormous amount of emotion swirls in the abortion arena, as it has for decades. In light of conflicting voices on the horizon and the undeniable reality that the issue isn’t going away and […]
Read MoreFrom My Heart to Yours
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4:12 During my decades as a pastor, I have been directly in touch with the needs of people. Refusing to remain […]
Read MoreThe Hammer, the File, and the Furnace
It was the enraptured Rutherford who said in the midst of very painful trials and heartaches: Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace! Let’s think about that. The hammer is a useful and handy instrument. It is an essential and helpful tool, if nails are ever to be driven into place. Each blow forces them to bite deeper as the hammer’s head pounds and pounds.
Read MorePain
They called him Old Hickory because of his tenacity and grit. His mother chose Andrew on March 15, 1767, when she gave birth to that independent-minded South Carolina rebel. Wild, quick-tempered, and disinterested in school, Andrew answered the call for soldiers to resist the British invasion at age thirteen. Shortly thereafter, he was taken prisoner. Refusing to black an enemy officer’s boots, he was struck with a saber—Andrew’s introduction to pain.
Read MoreConfessing Despair
In David’s dark song of depression, recorded as Psalm 142, the king confesses his deepest feelings of isolation and despair. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. (142:3) David feels enveloped or wrapped up in his depression, so much so his spirit feels faint and feeble.
Read MoreOpening to God
The raw emotion of David’s prayer in Psalm 142 comes through clearly in his choice of words. In his Cave of Adullam, the beleaguered future king struggled with depression and shrieked heavenward. I used to wonder why we ever needed to utter words in prayer since God already knows all our thoughts (Psalm 139:4). Then one day I stumbled across Hosea 14:1–2.
Read MoreAn Abysmal Cave
Who hasn’t struggled with those demoralizing seasons of dark sadness? Everyone suffers from grief and sorrow from time to time. But depression is a different matter. Like a disease, it’s very common, but it’s not “normal.” Depression is an extended state of mind characterized by acute sadness that most likely will not go away by itself. It needs attention.
Read More