Imagine God providing a psalm for His people to sing when there isn’t even one ray of light! We’ll have to keep our chins up for Psalm 88! We can tell the mood of the psalm when the selected tune is “Mahalath Leannoth.” As best we can tell, it means something like “Sickness and Depression” […]
CHRIST the GREAT DIVIDE: The word “shed” meaning “poured out” is rarely used today. One exception is the term “watershed,” referring to the line separating drainage basins. The most famous is the Great Divide, determining the rainfall that flows to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. But the term “watershed” has been borrowed to refer to […]
“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth” (Jer 1:6). Shotts is a town in Scotland, almost halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. A remarkable awakening occurred there in the year 1630, during a time of trouble and persecution of the people of God. Many believers had gathered in this central location […]
“And Samson called to the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once…” (Jud 16:28). Have you started poorly as a witness for the Lord? Do you recall with pain opportunities missed that you cannot now recall? Have you been harsh around your […]
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 […]