Grains of Sand

Pixabay Last night Marilyn and I were watching the baseball game. A commercial appeared, one that included a snippet of a song that contained that oldie, but goodie, that says when someone says "jump," the correct response is to ask, "How high?" I turned to Marilyn and told her that in the past I have sometimes gotten myself into trouble when someone told me to "jump" (to do something just because he or she said so). My response has often not been, "How high?" but "Why?" So this morning as I was reading Luke 5, I remembered our conversation of the night before. In the first eleven verses of the chapter, the story is told of Jesus borrowing a fisherman's boat so that He could more comfortably teach the crowd of people who had gathered to hear Him. At the end of His discourse the Scriptures tell us: " When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch' ...

Pixabay Sometimes it is only a niggly feeling of disquiet. Sometimes it is an overwhelming sense of disaster. Most of the time it is something in between those two things. Fear stalks us every day. It's the smell of overheated wiring that might led to a fire. They say that most of the things we fear never happen. But then they sometimes DO happen. We try to be brave and "put on a happy face" but inside the niggle becomes a gnaw and the gnaw becomes a full-blown chomp. David knew the feeling. Psalm 56 describes his thoughts when the Philistines grabbed him in Gath. " ...they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life " (vss. 5, 6). For most of us a physical enemy is not a factor in life. But then there are illnesses, loneliness, financial concerns, family tensions, and a host of other things that press down and the niggle begins. And if we don't catch the niggle, the gnaw is harder to deal with...

I recently had a conversation with a friend whose nephew is dying. As the family waits for what seems to be inevitable, they pray. My friend’s brother, father to the man who is so ill, is struggling with why God isn’t answering his prayers. I imagine that he is praying that his son will be healed—such a prayer would be natural. No father expects to bury his son. He’s been a believer for a long time. He understands that God always heals, but not always in the way that we would like Him to heal. But he still wants his son, alive and well—who can blame him? That conversation came to mind when I read Psalm 94 this morning. Many of us have times when we wonder if God is even aware of our struggles, if He is listening to our prayers. The psalmist reminds us: “ Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see? Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?” (Psalm 94:9, 10) The psalmist is dealing with one of those questions: I...

I just returned from a trip to the Caribbean. One of our stops was on the island of Haiti. We took a tour by launch of some of the northern coastline. As our guide explained some of the history of the island, we could see a number of fishing vessels out on the water. Some of the boats, or lateens, were being driven by the wind. Their sails were curious combinations of bedsheets and other materials sewn together. The guide explained that these boats had no motors. If the wind was blowing in the right direction the fishermen could let the sails do all the work. Otherwise they had to row—sometimes from several miles out against the wind and the waves! As I read Psalm 53 this morning these fishing boats came to mind. The psalm begins with this declaration: " The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' " (53:1). The psalmist then goes on to describe the difficulty of denying God and ends with a note of triumph on behalf of those who believe and will ultimately see G...

Ester It’s easy to skip over. It’s just one word at the beginning of a story, but it is one word that makes all the difference to what follows. “ Some time later God tested Abraham ” (Genesis 22:1). It was a TEST. God knew His man. He also knew that from this test would come one of the most graphic illustrations of the grace of God delivered to us on the cross by Jesus Christ that the world would ever see. Abraham was to take his only son to Mount Moriah and there sacrifice him as an offering to God. Of course, we know what happened. When Isaac asked his father where the lamb for the sacrifice was, Abraham replied: “ God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son ” (22:8). God knew His man, and Abraham knew his God. When the test was over, Abraham named the spot “ The Lord will provide ” (22:14) because that was exactly what the Lord did. It was a TEST. As I read the story this morning I thought of some dear friends who are sitting by the bed of their newborn daug...

HE can do it in you! " With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible " (Matthew 19:26, NIV). In the context, the Lord is addressing the issue of relationship with God, of salvation, of forgiveness, of eternity. None of these things can be paid for, earned, or deserved, by any one of us. They are the gift of God as we deposit our faith in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. But this famous quote covers everything else too. What's your dilemma today? What are your adverse circumstances? What's the source of your pain? What's your greatest concern? What feelings are out of control? What habits need to be broken? What sins have to be acknowledged and dealt with? What relationships aren't working? What financial straits haunt your waking hours? What unfulfilled dreams do you have? What burning question remains unanswered? Other: ___________________________ You fill it in, and then look back at the verse from Matthew. Whatever the questio...