Tag: god
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Medicine for anxious hearts (Zechariah 12-14; Psalm 94; 2 John)
“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:19) What a beautiful verse, for who doesn’t know the pain of many cares or anxieties of heart? The Psalmist finds relief and even joy amongst all the troubling thoughts in the consolations of the LORD, his stronghold, his rock of…
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Love church? (Ezekiel 37-39; Psalm 87; John 13)
Our readings today help us to love the church where Jesus Christ is Lord. Ezekiel 37 promises that God will give life to dead people and make divided people into one. This is what the Lord Jesus has done for His church. For each of us were dead in our sins, and Jesus made us…
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Where was God when that happened? (Ezekiel 31-33; John 11)
Where was God when that happened? Maybe it’s a question you ask about something you see on the news, or maybe it’s something closer to home, a painful diagnosis, a bereavement, or a relationship breakdown. When we are facing hard times we can wonder where God is and why doesn’t He stop it. It’s a…
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Sin and disability (Ezekiel 25-27; Psalm 85; John 9)
Sometimes people say cruel things. As if living with a long term disability is not hard enough, sometimes people will say that the disability must be as a result of some unconfessed sin. If you could just dig deep enough and find it and confess it, all would be well. How cruel to say such…
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The kindness of God (Obadiah; Jer 40-42; Ps 147; 1 Pet 5)
How kind and gracious our God is! What other God invites His people to cast their anxieties on Him? The gods of religion make demands on their people, place burdens on them, but our God offers to take our burdens of us. Listen to God’s gracious invitation in 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxieties…
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Lamenting loss (Lamentations 1-5; Ps 137; 1 Pet 4)
CS Lewis wrote of his wife’s death – “her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.” Maybe you know a similar all encompassing loss. What do you do when you’re facing such hard times? God in his mercy has given us not only Psalms of lament to sing and pray, but a whole book…
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Sorrowful yet rejoicing (2 Chr 34-35; 2 Cor 6)
How can you be sorrowful yet rejoicing? Surely you are one or the other? Yet the apostle Paul tells us that his experience is that he is continually sorrowful and yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10). This is a wonderfully realistic way to live. He is neither annoyingly positive, nor depressingly negative. He says, life…
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Secure in Christ (2 Kings 2-3; Ps 48; Matt 4)
Have you explored and meditated on the security that Jesus offers? Psalm 48 invites us to do just that. It’s a Psalm that praises God for who He is, how great He is, and how great His place is. The Psalmist invites to walk around and see (v12). When God is your God, you don’t…
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What’s the point? (Ecc 10-12; 2 Tim 4)
What’s the point? Why keep going? Solomon wrestled with these questions 3000 years ago as he wrote “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” As we have seen this means life is like a vapour or mist that disappears, if you try and grab hold of it, it just disappears faster. How can we make sense…
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Isn’t Scripture out of date? (Eccl 7-9; Ps 46; 2 Tim 3)
“Times have changed” someone might say, the Bible is out of date with our culture. What would you say? Yesterday we heard the need to guard our steps as we come to worship, the need to listen to God (Ecclesiastes 5). Today we fast-forward 1000 years and discover the Apostle Paul makes a similar warning…
Light and Momentary Troubles 