Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Daniel 6:10-11

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“When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.  He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.  Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Daniel had been doing this three times a day in this same place for years.  This time, though, had to feel a bit different.  This was the first time he knew he was actively breaking the law by doing it.  And yet, the place and the pattern were both well-worn in his life.  At the time to which he was very much accustomed, Daniel got down on his knees in front of the window in his upper room and prayed.  Shortly afterwards–as he knew would happen–he was arrested and hauled before the king. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Micah 7:7

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“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Do you ever feel like the world is going crazy around you?  We hear more news today than any people ever in the whole history of the world.  We know more about what’s going on in the remotest parts of the world…and most of it seems to be bad.  The culture around us is increasingly sensualized as is amply demonstrated in the media.  The political divide only ever gets sharper.  Opposing sides of issues can hardly have civil conversations anymore.  Students have been taught for years that human life is of little value and the fruits of this are coming to bear in the news of school shootings happening all the time including another tragic one just last week.  Psychological disorders are common.  People are more and more addicted to just about everything–social media, exercise, body image, pornography, opioids, alcohol, stuff.  Consumerism and materialism are rising to levels unheard of in human history.  What do we do in the midst of the filth storm that seems to be raging around us? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 1:5

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“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Here’s an important principle that radiates from the pages of the New Testament: If we do what Jesus did, we will experience what Jesus did.  Put another way: If we walk the path Jesus did, we will receive what Jesus did.  This is at one and the same time incredibly challenging and also incredibly encouraging. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 81:8

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“Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!  O Israel, if you would but listen to me!”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Do you listen to God?  I don’t know about you, but I can pretty easily find myself in a rut of talking to God a lot, but not stopping to listen very often.  I can get into a pattern of reading God’s word every day because I’m supposed to (especially as a pastor!), but not paying very close attention to what He might want to say to me through it.  Let’s just call it what it is: Listening to God is tough. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Joshua 7:7, 10

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“And Joshua said, ‘Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us?  Would that we have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! . . .The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Get up!  Why have you fallen on your face?'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Joshua was devastated and dismayed.  He had put his entire being on the line before the people that God was leading them to occupy this land and drive out its inhabitants entirely.  They had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.  They had conquered Jericho with its impregnable walls.  There was nothing that could stand in their way for the Lord was obviously with them.  And then they got beat by Ai. Read the rest…