'hope' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Psalm 22… “The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” vss. 26-27 Psalm 22 is familiar to most believers because it begins with the words Jesus uttered from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” According to Mark and Matthew these…
Daily Devotions
Isaiah 42:1-9…“He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” vss. 2-3 After centuries of devastating wars and incompetent rulers, the prophet, residing in captivity, had a vision for a new nation, one that was modeled on the Suffering Servant. Now there would be a new governance, and Israel would be…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 31:9-16…“But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand;” vss. 14-15a While it’s possible to worry about most anything in this messed up and beautiful world, we generally come to the point when it dawns on us that there are many things we can’t control. At that moment the wise believer will echo the psalmist and hand everything over to God. As the AA folks are fond of saying,…
Daily Devotions
Romans 8:10-11…“But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” vs. 10 The longer we dig around in the scriptures the more likely we are to strike gold in the most unlikely places. Those familiar with the bible know that there is an abundance of passages that are less than edifying. But there are also many sections of scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, that lift…
Daily Devotions
John 4:16-26… “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.’” vss. 21-22 Jesus was a Jew, and he was proud of it. He loved the history, the rituals and practices, and the traditions. His faith had given him a cherished identity, and while he had issues…
Daily Devotions
1 Corinthians 1:26-31… “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;” vss. 26-27 By the time Paul wrote this letter he’d had time to assess what was happening in the congregations that had sprung up all over…
Daily Devotions
Isaiah 42:1-9… “He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.” vss. 2-3 Sometimes we want to cry out in protest against the politicians of our age. We cannot believe that the values of our nation could be completely ignored. We’re baffled by the transfer of power into the hands of…
Daily Devotions
Isaiah 63:7-9… “I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us, and the great favour to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.” vs. 7 When the people returned from exile in Babylon they found that the land of their dreams had been devastated. The walls of Jerusalem had been…
Daily Devotions
But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever—for ever and ever.” vs. 18 Daniel 7:15-18 Daniel reported that his spirit had been troubled and that his dreams had terrified him. In other words, he had tossed and turned in bed much like we do after an evening of watching the events of the day recounted in all their gory detail. And if you have the nerve to take a deep…
Daily Devotions
I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.” vs. 2-3 Daniel 7:1-3 The sages of old recognized that there was much that we could not know about God, and even less that we could know about the future. And some believed that the way we could at least glimpse the unknown was through our dreams. So,…
Daily Devotions
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” vss. 6-7 Psalm 46:4-11 Even though the nations were in an uproar and the kingdoms were tottering the psalmist chose to believe that the Lord was with them and that God was their refuge. It’s hard to maintain that kind of trust when the world is in turmoil, and for…
Daily Devotions
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;” vss. 1-2 Psalm 46:1-2 Most people have had occasions to be frightened over their years in this world. Danger lurks, and we never know when a storm will hit with an unimaginable fury and force. And even though we’ve gotten used to a comfortable and predictable environment, it…