Tag: Trusting God

Digging in Deeper: Luke 1:18

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“‘How can I know this?’ Zechariah asked the angel. ‘For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.'”  (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

Have you ever received news that was totally unbelievable based on everything you knew and didn’t believe it? Each of us has a level of disbelief we are capable of suspending in a given situation. We can only handle so much wonder. That level tends to be higher the younger we are (which is why, for instance, my boys wake up every morning these days asking where Elfie is and delighting in searching for and finding him), but grows smaller and smaller the older we get. When we are asked to suspend more than our max level, we tend to put on our suspicious hats and remain incredulous until we see proof. That’s normal. When it comes to the things of God, though, it can get us into trouble. 

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 15:25-26

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“Then the king instructed Zadok, ‘Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor with the Lord, he will bring me back and allow me to see both it and its dwelling place. However, if he should say, “I do not delight in you,” then here I am — he can do with me whatever pleases him.’”  (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to squeeze a goldfish? Or how about a wet bar of soap? Or it could be just about anything else small and slippery. It’s not an easy thing to do. The tighter you get, the more likely the thing is to slip out of your hand. There are things and positions in our lives that are like this too. The tighter we try and hold on to them, the more likely they are to slip away from us. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 24:5-6

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“And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord ‘s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord ‘s anointed.’”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had the opportunity to take a shortcut? Sometimes shortcuts can be a good thing. We went to the Cincinnati Zoo this past summer. It was a great zoo, but it came near the end of several days out of town, all of which had involved a pretty hefty load of walking. Trying to cover every square inch of the place was going to be more than three sets of little legs was going to be able to handle. Fortunately, there were a few shortcuts to get from one place to another that allowed us to see nearly everything without walking all of it. That was a good shortcut. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Chronicles 14:11-12

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“And Asa cried to the Lord his God, ‘O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.’ So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is a simple point, really, but one worth repeating over and over again because of how easily we forget it. When we face problems that both seem and are in fact beyond what we can handle, we need to turn to the Lord in prayer. There and only there will we find the hope and help we need to overcome whatever is before us. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Judges 6:7-10

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“When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel.  And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.  And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land.  And I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.”  But you have not obeyed my voice.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

The people of Israel were hurting and broken and desperate. They were starving. The Midianites were taking everything. They were keeping them weak and unable to mount any kind of a meaningful resistance to their reign of terror. The Israelites were but a couple of generations into the land God had provided for them and it looked like he had abandoned them to this enemy for good. Now, the reality was that it had only been like this for a few years, but when you’re trapped in misery, a few years can seem like a lifetime. They did the only thing they could: Scrape together a meager survival and cry out to the Lord. Read the rest…