Normally we get down to business, but there are many times we have to look in the other direction. Only five psalms have “prayer” in their title (17, 86, 90, 102, and 142), although many prayers are found throughout the Psalter. Psalm 86 is filled not only with prayer requests, but with praise as well. Notice how many times […]
CHRIST the FRAGRANCE of GOD: “Your name is ointment poured forth” (Song 1:3). Here’s the amazing thing: unlike the holy anointing oil in Israel, which could not “be poured on man’s flesh” under penalty of being “cut off” (Ex 30:25-33), today we can share the same fragrance (see 2 Cor 2:14)! Let me give a […]
“All Your commandments are faithful; they persecute me wrongfully. Help me!” (Ps 119:86). They say death and taxes are the only sure things in life. But here are two things we can count on, too. One is that God’s Word will always speak what is right to me. The other is that some people will […]
Nineteenth century evangelist William Taylor tells the story of a prisoner awaiting his execution. Various Christians visited him in his death row cell, but all they said seemed only to make him harder and more resistent to the gospel. Then, writes Taylor, the townspeople requested a man “known of all men for his holiness and […]
Here’s a helpful adage: “Don’t forget in the darkness what you have learned in the light.” —Joe Bayley Although the title of Psalm 85 doesn’t disclose its historical setting, the first sentence does. “Lord, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob” (v 1). Jacob is the code name for […]
CHRIST REVEALED: “It pleased God…to reveal His Son in me” (Gal 1:15-16). Andrew Murray writes, “In all our study and worship of Christ, we find our thoughts gathering round five points: the incarnate Christ, the crucified Christ, the enthroned Christ, the indwelling Christ, and Christ coming in glory. If the first is the seed, the […]
Caesar Augustus, founder of the Roman Empire, famously boasted, “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.” The Carrara marble quarries on the north coast of Italy had opened just before he came to power, and he set himself to beautify his capital. But the glory of Rome has […]
“We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). The word forgiveness in its primary sense means to send away or to abandon. Forgiveness is agreeing to pay the damages done by another, and then never bringing up the account again—sending them away, much like the scapegoat, the azazel. As far as […]
CHRIST the BEGINNING and the END: “I am…the Beginning and the End” (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). In Gen 1:1, the heavens and the earth were created; in Rev 21:1, they pass away, to be replaced. In Gen 1:5, the bounds of night are established; in Rev 22:5, we see there will be no night there. […]