Morning Musings – Page 205

Morning Musing: 1 Peter 2:20

February 16, 2018February 12, 2018Leave a comment

“For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Peter wrote to a group of believers who were facing unjust suffering. He wrote to them to offer them encouragement to keep on in their faith in spite of the things they were enduring. His message was and is so powerful that 1 Peter is still a favorite book of the Bible among people who are facing persecution today. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: James 5:7

February 14, 2018February 14, 2018Leave a comment

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

James advises patience here until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Now, many people think about patience as a mostly idle waiting for something to happen. We want something to do while we wait. We don’t really practice patience today anymore. Instead, we practice being distracted by entertainment so we don’t have to think about the fact that we can’t have something else we want immediately. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Psalm 130:4

February 12, 2018February 7, 2018Leave a comment

“But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

The fear of the Lord is a poorly understood concept even among His people. This is quite simply because we think about fear only in a single sense: terror. To be afraid of something isn’t good. Thus, while perhaps we should fear the Lord because we’re told to do so over and over and over again in the Scriptures, this isn’t something that ultimately draws us closer to Him. We fear Him so that we’ll do what He says. Once we develop the pattern of doing what He says, then we begin to grow closer to Him, at which point we don’t need to fear Him any longer. The logic here seems just about airtight…and it’s just about completely wrong. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: James 4:15

February 9, 2018February 5, 2018Leave a comment

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)

How do you make plans? How attached to those plans are you? What James offers here is a reminder that all of our plans must be made contingent on what the Lord has planned. All of them. We can strive for whatever we want, but nothing will happen that He does not allow for some reason. The question then becomes: What does God have planned? Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Ezekiel 37:13-14

February 7, 2018February 5, 2018Leave a comment

“And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

We serve the God who is in the business of bringing life where it does not exist. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Where there is death, He transforms it into life. Read the rest…