'Divine Presence' Tagged Posts (Page 3)
Daily Devotions
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.” vss. 3-4 Psalm 146 The psalmist had been around the block a time or two and he knew better than to get caught up in the promises of religious or political leaders of any kind. He’d likely heard and seen it all, and understood the ebb and flow of…
Daily Devotions
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. vss. 5-6a Isaiah 35:5-7a The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were quite familiar with the law and the writings of the prophets and kept a look-out for signs of the Day of the Lord, the moment when God would act to bring salvation to Israel. And when…
Daily Devotions
I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.” vs. 4 Jeremiah 23:3-6 For centuries the Jews hung on to the words of prophets like Jeremiah, hoping against hope that one day God would send a good shepherd, a king who would ensure their prosperity and security. When Jesus began his ministry there were some who believed that their prayers…
Daily devotions
For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” vs. 5 Psalm 30:1-5 The psalmist was intimately aware of the Divine Presence; he knew that the Lord was connected to him in every conceivable way. There would never be a time when God was absent. It’s natural in such a relationship to have feelings of regret and sadness about words or deeds, and…
Daily Devotions
And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” vs. 41 Mark 4:39-41 Mark closes his little story with a question that he knew most every devout Jew should be able to answer. Who is it that even the winds and the waves obey? It was in their psalms–they sang about it regularly. It was the Lord who wielded such control over the forces…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 34:8-18, 22 “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.” vs. 8 While we can’t be certain what the psalmist was referring to in this well-known verse, it does strike a chord with those who yearn for a deeper experience of the Divine Presence. It may even be one of the reasons that the Sacrament of Holy Communion has had such deep significance for so many believers through the years.…
Daily Devotions: August 27, 2019
August 27, 2019 For full passage click: Jeremiah 2:9-13 … “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” vs. 13 Jeremiah’s descriptive image tells the whole story. In forsaking the Lord, Israel had replaced the fountain of Living Water with cracked cisterns of their own construction that couldn’t even hold water. It’s a familiar tale for the people of…
Daily Devotions: June 26, 2019
June 26, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 16:7-11 …“You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” vs. 11 The Lord was not a stranger to the psalmist! They had a connection that had begun with the breath of the Spirit in creation, and that had continued throughout his life. Not a day passed without a prayer of thanksgiving and songs of praise. Many of us…
Daily Devotions: March 19, 2019
March 19, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 55:6-9 …“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” vs. 9 Most of the things that we say about God are more a reflection of ourselves than they are of God. The truth is that our little minds and inadequate vocabularies are incapable of even coming close to describing the Divine Presence. We have a sense…