“According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Ps 51:1-3). For some perverse reason, the fallen human condition makes us much more adept at seeing others’ sins […]
“If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God…” (Jn 7:17). When Pilate asked Jesus the question, “What is truth?” Jesus answered him with a categorical response. In effect, Jesus was asking Pilate if his was a genuine question or purely an academic one. Jesus was […]
This question plagues the human race: Why do bad things happen to good people and vice versa? Psalm 37 is an alphabetic acrostic with 22 mini-poems linked together. Mysteriously the sixteenth letter, ayin, seems to be AWOL. There are many suggestions as to the reason. We know the letter ayin as a word means “eye,” it has the […]
CHRIST the REST-BRINGER: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:29). Learning daily from Christ is the secret to spiritual progress, victory, and enjoyment. Andrew Murray writes, “There is one lesson all young Christians should learn, […]
“Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it” (Ps 119:35). Does this sound like coercion, “Make me… for I delight in it”? I’ve never found that I needed to be made to do what I delighted in! Imagine Mother saying to her child, “Now I insist that you eat […]
Ridley Haim Herschell, born to a devout Jewish family in Strzelno, Poland, had no peace. One morning he bought something wrapped in scrap paper on which was printed: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” A few days later, he picked up a New Testament, which opened at the same passage! He […]
Speaking about the Master should be the easiest thing to do since He’s “altogether lovely” (Song 5:16). Psalm 36 is one of the few psalms where David claims a title. It isn’t “David the Hometown Hero of Bethlehem” or “David the Fearless Champion of Elah’s Vale.” Nor is it the biblical “Man After God’s Heart” or “Sweet […]
CHRIST “the DESIRE of all nations” (Hag 2:7). Albert Fallaize, missionary to Morocco, tells how his wife visited a dying Arab boy. She had heard the mother wailing in grief. Approaching the tent, she saw the emaciated figure close to death. She asked permission to tell him a story, receiving a nodded assent. Kneeling beside […]
“Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart” (Jer 4:10). Jeremiah would not be the last one to fail to reconcile God’s promises with his reading of present circumstances. Martin Luther wrote, “At one time I was sorely vexed […]