A dark story from the life of David becomes the black velvet backdrop to display the crown jewels. Psalm 34 is the epitome of irony. It’s like a golden bowl filled with the most brilliant gems. They capture the light and then, through carefully cleaved facets, refract it to give us continuing delights. But we […]
CHRIST our PASSOVER: “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor 5:7). God offered Pharaoh evidence that He was the God to be worshipped. He wanted the king to be a vessel of His mercy, for He desires to “have mercy on all” (Rom 11:32). Though hardening himself against God (and God subsequently controlling […]
“Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart” (Ps 119:33-34). It’s possible to die early but be buried late. Recall Barzillai, David’s friend, who was invited to share […]
I had been called at the last minute to speak at a conference. I spent the night preparing and was exhausted when the taxi arrived to take me to the airport. The cabbie, on discovering the purpose of my trip, asked my age; he thought I was too young for the task. I then asked […]
CHRIST OMNIPRESENT: “He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb 13:5). When Christ said to His disciples, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth,” the promise immediately follows, “I am with you always.” The Omnipotent One is the Omnipresent One. The revelation of God’s omnipresence in the […]
“Be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1 Pet 4:7). A remarkable incident is told in the life of Archibald Gracie IV. He was returning to the U.S. on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. He attended church service that fateful Sunday in April 1912, and, at about 11:45 pm, he was jarred awake and […]
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) began at a study with Charles Taze Russell in 1879, and now boasts 7.5 million adherents. Their magazine, Awake, has a circulation of more than 20,000,000 in over 130 languages. Russell proved himself a false prophet by declaring that 1914 would be the end of the […]
CHRIST the CURSED ONE: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal 3:13). We were sitting in a restaurant in Jerusalem when approached by a Jewish physician. “May I sit with you,” she asked. […]
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer 33:3). Henry Bosch, long-time editor of Our Daily Bread, recounted the story of a Christian pilot whose plane had been hit by anti-aircraft fire and was plummeting towards the ocean. “Immediately I began to […]