Augustine once asked what makes the heart of a Christian heavy. His answer was not simply sorrow, pain, loss, or disappointment. The Christian heart is heavy because the Christian is a pilgrim who longs for his country. Even when the world smiles, . . . Continue reading →
Thus far in Psalm 45, our knees have gone weak with the handsome splendor of the king, standing heroic in righteousness at the head of the wedding hall. A wedding, though, involves many others besides the groom. Who else occupies this grand . . . Continue reading →
There is nothing quite like a good, old-fashioned wedding. And nowadays, we have to emphasize “old-fashioned”—not to be nostalgic per se, as if the weddings of yesteryear were always better— but because so many odd things can be done in a modern . . . Continue reading →
When I was in high school, my family had a somewhat unorthodox Thanksgiving arrangement. My dad and I always had to work Black Friday, and since my mom’s folks were not getting any younger, Pops would insist that she and my brother . . . Continue reading →
Psalm 44 drove us into an uncomfortable corner as the psalmist boldly asserted his upright innocence in opposition to the Lord’s exile judgment. After being confronted by the psalmist’s protest to God, we are unsure of his honesty and lean toward his . . . Continue reading →
Why God, why? This is a familiar question in our Christian experience; we all ask it from time to time. This query, though, can have a variety of different meanings. It can have the tone of wonderment. Why did God save a . . . Continue reading →
Short Prayers: Christian Perspectives from the Past Notable Christians from the past have not always emphasized long prayers. Some of them highlighted the benefit of short prayers. For example, when he was discussing Jesus’s teaching on prayer, Augustine (d. AD 430) emphasized . . . Continue reading →
The stronger the Christian, the longer his prayers. This concept seems to be an unspoken assumption in modern Christianity. It may be because of the notion that more is better. If prayer is a good thing, long prayers must be better than . . . Continue reading →
The superscription of this psalm says that it is “A Psalm of David.” There is nothing in the psalm to make us think otherwise, and the circumstances from David’s life described here are familiar to us. Out of jealousy and unbelief, Saul . . . Continue reading →
In the first half of Psalm 41, we witnessed how the haters were piling on David in his season of desperation. Their appetite for harm, though, was just getting warmed up for some serious evil. In addition to cheering for the psalmist’s . . . Continue reading →
Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is another version of the second great command: Love your neighbor as yourself. This clear but profound rule is also found . . . Continue reading →
Psalm 40 opens with a wonderful tune of thanksgiving, but just as the melody of this gratitude sweeps us away in its beauty, a shrill note tears at the harmony. The high-flying thankfulness crash lands into a lament (v. 12). As he . . . Continue reading →
What is one thing you badly want to do but is just not in the cards? You may dream of playing basketball at a high level but Providence made you short. You would love to climb mountains but your fear of heights . . . Continue reading →
Previously, we beheld David crushed by the gravity of what his sin deserved—namely, death. Yet because of the purity of the Lord, he will not protest or complain; the psalmist will not raise a hand against heaven or clamor against the Holy . . . Continue reading →
What makes something valuable? What are the attributes of the precious? The list is by no means short. There is the source material (gold or oak), rarity versus the common, usefulness, desirability, expertise to create—I could go on. One thing, though, that . . . Continue reading →
We saw how Psalm 38 laid out in gruesome detail the slow perishing of the psalmist. All his systems have shut down; there is no fixing him. It is time to close this book, bury this dead, and move on. Yet even . . . Continue reading →
The time eventually comes for an all-systems failure. You have nursed your car for 250,000 miles with only minor repairs and maintenance—brakes, tires, an alternator—but then, one after another, all the dominoes tumble: Engine blows, transmission cracks, the exhaust falls out. This . . . Continue reading →
By recording an oracle of Mr. Transgression, Psalm 36 lays out the cosmic battle between the descendants of the serpent and the heir of Eve, the Servant of the Lord. Even though the action might be fierce, our Lord is not a . . . Continue reading →
Even though our scientific instruments cannot detect them, there are unseen realities in the cosmos. Angels and demons lurk and roam, but we do not hear them. God’s throne room in the heavenly dimension does not register on any radar or sonar. . . . Continue reading →
As we noted in part one, Psalm 110 can be divided into two parts: verses 1–3 and verses 4–7. Whereas the first half opens with a heavenly oracle, the second starts with an eternal oath of Yahweh. After listening to the oracle, . . . Continue reading →