Grains of Sand

Pixabay, Public Domain “ The Lord is my shepherd…he restores my soul ” A “cast” sheep is one that has fallen over onto its back and can’t get back up onto its feet. Without intervention it will die. The psalmist describes what a “cast” soul is like in Psalm 42:5, 6: “ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?…My soul is downcast within me. ” Did you think that depression, despair, sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, loneliness, fear, and worthlessness were modern day phenomena? They aren’t. Sleepless nights, lack of appetite, uncontrolled anger followed by guilt, a sense that God has walked away—if He was ever there at all, and the very real sense that life is over, are nothing new. Watching my mother suffer from chronic depression for many years always reminds me of just how real being “cast” is. Don Baker sums it up much better than I ever could. He writes: “OUR LORD IS THE SOUL DOCTOR. He is the only one trained and experienced in the healing of the soul—the onl...

It came up in a discussion about parables. Jesus often used parables in His teaching and His disciples asked him why He used stories to teach spiritual truth when His audience often didn’t get the point of the illustration. Many times Jesus would have to explain to His disciples, in private, the meaning of the parable. It’s a question that others have asked since those years when the Lord walked and talked among the people of Israel. Many commentators express the opinion that the use of a story to illustrate a truth was meant to accomplish several things, one of which was to weed out those who were serious seekers of truth from those who were merely curious. In other words, if you really want to know what the story is all about, you’ll make an effort to find out! In Luke 19:1-10 we meet a tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus. Tax collectors were generally considered to be pretty near to the scum of the earth in ancient Palestine. They worked for the much hated Roman establishment a...

If you can't touch it, you don't have to believe in it. If the truth is not in your face, slapping your cheeks, wearing a "pay attention to me" grimace, then it must be a figment of someone's imagination. Ignore it and it will go away—you hope. After all, the important thing is who has the most toys, isn't it? The here-and-now, like a petulant child, demands your attention. Your insecurities whisper sweet nothings in your ears, begging you to get more, get ahead, get moving with the current of the world. You listen; they are, after all, your insecurities. And then Jesus comes along and asks a huge question: " What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul " —Mark 8:36. Every time something breaks, has to be replaced, crumbles, disappears, you are reminded that nothing is permanent except that very intangible that you work so hard to ignore. But after the here-and-now, that intangible is what is left. Investing in it might not...