“Keep your eye on the prize.” “Don’t take your eye off the ball.” We say these sorts of things for situations when we know that focus is extremely important. We miss hitting the ball when we are looking elsewhere than the pitch . . . Continue reading →
Building a fire requires balancing. Specifically, you have to balance the use of kindling with the use of longer burning fuel. Kindling gets hot and bright fast, but it also fizzles quickly and fades. Fire has to be fed by sustaining fuel. . . . Continue reading →
Since purchasing a home, the world of do-it-yourself repairs and upgrades has hit me hard in the face. I often find myself with a vague sense of how to complete the task in front of me, yet I know I cannot do . . . Continue reading →
We tread carefully when we enter an important space. Moses stopped cold and removed his shoes when he came near the burning bush. Israel’s high priests knew they stepped on hallowed ground as they entered the holy of holies. We too tend . . . Continue reading →
On Valentine’s Day, I took my wife to a restaurant that I thought was going to prove insanely busy. I called in advance and learned they were no longer taking reservations. It seemed like it was going to take a lot to . . . Continue reading →
The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem just as the Lord warned. Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. . . . Continue reading →
Psalm 29 has lifted up our eyes to the heavens to behold not weather but the glory of God in the storm and the ear-bleeding thunders of Yahweh’s voice. But you cannot really have thunder without lightning. The one necessarily comes with . . . Continue reading →
There is a basic assumption many of us share about our modern age, and this is that we have it better than any other age. We live in the best period of history. Strictly speaking, such an estimation is unprovable; it is . . . Continue reading →
In the first segment on Psalm 28, we saw the psalmist lay out for us the urgency of his plight, as he has been lumped in with the society of wicked lawbreakers. This need aches for a solution, so with the depravity . . . Continue reading →
Do you like to stick out or to fit in? The teacher tells your class to dress in black, but this is not you, so you come in red—the red umbrella amid a sea of black ones. Or maybe you decide to . . . Continue reading →
In the first part of Psalm 26, David confirmed his upright disdain for the perversity of idolatry and its overflowing evils. This godly contempt, though, was not alone, for it had an opposing pair, a sacred love. The psalmist loves the habitation . . . Continue reading →
Hatred, is this a virtue or a vice? This is a no brainer, of course—hatred is an evil, as we hear about all the time. The trending morality of the day is to be nice, accepting, tolerant, and respectful to all. There . . . Continue reading →
Why will the nations “be glad and sing for joy”? In Part 2 of our study of Psalm 67, we explored the first of three reasons offered by the psalmist: “For you judge the peoples with equity.” Despite the fallenness of our . . . Continue reading →
In Part 1 of our study of Psalm 67, we played the part of a biblical cartographer, mapping and tracing the blessings of God to his people. Channeling the language of the Aaronic benediction, the psalmist asks for God’s grace and blessing . . . Continue reading →
Ascension Thursday is fast approaching. This day is forty days after the resurrection, marking when Christ ascended into heaven. And, as one of my favorite puns has it, many of us today suffer from ascension deficit disorder. Continue reading →
If you have nieces and nephews, children or grandchildren, or otherwise have children in your life, you have almost certainly heard a story about a child who was a climber. I was one, and now I have one in my home. My . . . Continue reading →
Have you ever had a déjà vu moment—one of those “I swear I’ve been here before” experiences? If you read the opening verse of Psalm 67 carefully, you ought to have such a déjà vu moment: “May God be gracious to us . . . Continue reading →
In the first installment on Psalm 25, we identified the agony for which the psalmist was praying for relief. The community around him shamed and ridiculed him as beyond the reach of forgiveness. Even his own memory tormented him that the sins . . . Continue reading →
Oh, to be a kid again! It is pretty safe to say that nearly everyone makes this wish at least once. You are full of adulting; the bills keep coming in, the diapers do not end; your body hurts for no discernible . . . Continue reading →
In our first piece on Psalm 24, we heard the acclamation of the Lord, creator of all, to whom everything belongs, and to whom all owe reverence and obedience. Then, by the righteous inquiries of the priest, the people swore their oath . . . Continue reading →
