Tag: Faith

Digging in Deeper: Joshua 3:8

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“And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This has always struck me as one of the more remarkable stories in the Exodus narrative.  Here were Joshua and the people of Israel ready once again to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land.  The bounty of God’s provision and promise lay ahead of them.  The only thing that stands in their way is the Jordan River.  But, this should present no real trouble to them.  After all, God had already parted a whole sea for them.  What threat does a river pose? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Matthew 6:25

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Jesus tells us not to worry and instead to trust in Him.  He presents worrying about even basic life necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing as a sinful mistrust in the Lord.  I remember still the first time I read these words and truly understood them.  They had a profound impact on me.  With only a few exceptions, I have largely purged worry from my own life because of them.  Sometimes, though, I have let this intention to not worry drift too far in the other direction which is laziness.  This prompts and interesting (at least to me!) question in my mind: What does it look like to live free from worry in such a way that honors Christ? Read the rest…

Morning Musings: John 4:11

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“The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Put yourself in the shoes of the woman at the well for a moment.  Jesus was offering her something which sounded way too good to be true.  Even thinking literally, this was the case.  She thought Jesus was talking about a literal kind of water that you could drink and never be thirsty again.  Spiritually, it sounds even better.  But, as good as it sounded–or rather, because it sounded so very good–she did not believe it was really something He could do.  How often have we been in the same kind of place? Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: John 20:28

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“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Thomas has been affixed for centuries with the rather unfortunate moniker, “Doubting Thomas,” because of his entirely justifiable disbelief of the other disciples when they reported to him that they had seen the risen Lord Jesus.  He is held out as a model of the kind of doubt-filled faith that believers should want to avoid.  Nobody wants to be like Thomas.  And yet, given the trajectory of his life and confession from that point forward, perhaps that is not such a fair assessment as he actually deserves. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Daniel 3:16-18

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“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

“But if not.”  These are three of the most powerful words in all of the Old Testament.  They carry the power of unshakeable faithfulness.  They herald the potency of eternal life.  These three men had perfect confidence in their Lord to save them from the destruction that sat before them in some kind of miraculous way.  But if not; but if He didn’t; but if He decided that their deaths in this moment would ring a louder note for the kingdom than their lives, they were still going to stick with Him. Read the rest…