How to Reap a Harvest When Plowed by Painful Trials
“In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest” Exodus 34: 21b. This passage is actually talking about the sabbath, but I want to focus on this idea of plowing and harvest for a minute....
Why Trust in God When It’s Easier to Trust in Yourself?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” Proverbs 3: 5, 6. My dad leaned on his own...
How To Trust in the Lord and Avoid Trouble
“No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble” Proverbs 12:21. This verse tells us that nothing bad happens to the righteous. But the paradox is this: Being righteous, doing the...
Why God Disciplines His Children
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he...
Manna In the Wilderness: What the Israelites Missed
“. . . who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end” Deuteronomy 8: 16. This...
God’s Promises and the Unexpected Path to Get There
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. . . ” Luke 1: 32. One can’t help...
How to Be Righteous in One Difficult Step
“Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him” Proverbs 14: 2. Faith and Patience The reason one must fear the Lord to be upright (or righteous) is that...
The Grace of God to this Sinner
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.. . ” Romans 5: 20. This familiar verse tells us essentially that we can’t out sin grace. I’ve...
Afflicted but not Crushed
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. . . “ 2 Corinthians 4: 8, 9. This passage doesn’t just apply to...
Endurance and Perfection in the Bible: The Link
“And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means...