What is the city listed on your heavenly Birth Certificate? It will be Zion, the City of God. When we first read Psalm 87, we think, “I can tell this psalm has some wonderful things to say—if I can understand it!” The author begins, “His foundation is in the holy mountains” (Ps 87:1). To whom is he […]
CHRIST the LINK to EVERY BLESSING: “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). The believer, in what seems to be a heart-wrenching beginning to our relationship, has been crucified together with Christ (Gal 2:20). Through this, His death becomes the way all charges against us have been cleared. And, having been executed […]
“My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Ps 84:2). O to be soul-hungry for the Lord! David Brainerd (1718–1747), one of the earliest missionaries to Native Americans in the U.S, lived and died all-out for God. His single-minded devotedness, […]
“The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). “It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found” (Lk 15:32). As soul-winner Charles H. Spurgeon passionately wrote about the lost: […]
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 […]