Digging in Deeper – Page 150

Digging in Deeper: Micah 7:7

May 23, 2018May 22, 2018Leave a comment

“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

May 18, 2018May 17, 2018Leave a comment

“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

May 16, 2018May 16, 2018Leave a comment

“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

May 11, 2018May 7, 2018Leave a comment

“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…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 34:19

May 9, 2018May 11, 2018Leave a comment

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Isn’t this a nice verse of deliverance? God delivers us from all of our afflictions. What great comfort this offers us when we are low. God won’t leave you on the ground when you are down. That could almost go on a bumper sticker. My take? If that’s how you are reacting to this verse, you might want to take a second look…and this time, take a minute to actually read it. Read the rest…