The sinner’s pathway

Oops. Some parents had a great idea for their children’s special Christmas gift one year. They ordered a kit for a tree house from a mail order catalogue. On Christmas Eve, as the mother and father began to assemble the pieces, they discovered to their dismay that while they had received the plans for a […]

How do you respond to Scripture?

You wake up in the morning, get your favorite cup of caffeine or a glass of orange juice, wander slowly to a comfortable chair, and pick up your Bible. You sit still for a few moments, trying to orchestrate a coherent thought or two about what you are about to do. You then offer a […]

What God has done

For the past two days, I have been meditating on the first part of Ps. 40:5 — Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us… The words are penned by David and I have pondered what kinds of things he might have contemplated as he considered […]

Our God who hears our prayers

Virtually every believer will acknowledge that he does not pray enough. We don’t pray for a variety of reasons. And one of those reasons is that we do not think highly enough about God who hears our prayers. We have a deficient functional theology. Oh, we would likely say the right words about God and […]

The earth is the Lord’s

God, through Asaph, says in Psalm 50: “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.” […]

For what do you wait?

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” (Ps. 39:7; NASB) The plight of Merhan “Alfred” Nasseri was an unusual one, to say the least. In 1988 he arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on a two-day trip, but without a visa. Apparently his Iranian passport was confiscated […]

Ready to worship?

“O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1; NASB) It was a simple question. We do not know the circumstances under which it was asked, but we do know the heart from which it came. David, the man whose life was patterned after the heart of […]

Day and night meditation

I am neither a farmer nor a rancher. Yet for at least two weeks during a couple of summers in my youth, I became a “temp” farmer, working on my uncle’s dairy farm. It was a time not only for a “city-slicker” to be exposed to some life realities, but also a fun time with […]

Praise the Lord

Indicators of skewed priorities in churches abound. Yet this morning’s newspaper contains a statement from a pastor of a “sound,” “evangelical” church that pinpoints the problems in too many contemporary American churches: “We’re really building a community center, more than we are a worship center.” It’s rare to read or hear such an open acknowledgement […]

As you prepare for worship, give thanks

This morning you may be in a hurry to get to church to worship. Your clothes may not look or feel right; your children may be complaining; you may have had some conflict with your spouse; you may have slept too late and now you are rushed. But in your haste to leave the house, […]

Why God forgives

The sin of all men is great. We may choose to compare ourselves with others and suppose that we are “not so bad,” but set against the firm criteria of perfection (Mt. 5:48), all men are desperately sinful. There are no exceptions to that statement. The psalmist underscores that truth when he says, “If You, […]

Hard work is useless

Psalms 120-134 are called “Songs of Ascent.” It seems most likely that these were songs that were sung by worshippers as they made their way to Jerusalem from their homes around Israel for one of the three annual religious festivals. These songs allayed the fears of the singers as they contemplated the trustworthy character of […]

A prayer for election week

“To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the LORD our God, Until He is gracious to us. […]

Help! Who can help me?

It became something of a western movie caricature — a family or group of families is moving into new territory and has no military protection. They find themselves in a narrow crevasse, surrounded on both sides by steep cliffs. Then high on one hill, they see a lone Indian scout. All the members of the […]

Do you love the Word of God?

This morning we finished reading Psalm 119. One of the great themes of this Psalm is the affection, joy, and love the psalmist has for God’s Word. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. (v. 16) Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors. (v. 24) Make me […]