Grains of Sand

Google images “ The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping the covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments ” (Deuteronomy 7:7-9, NIV). I am reminded of salvation as I read these verses. Those of us who believe were once like the galley slaves of old, chained to the bottom of the ship of death. If the ship went down—as it inevitably will—we would have gone down with it. But God, in His love and mercy, set His affection on us and sent His Son to provide the way for us to be free from the chains of our sin that held us captive. With a mighty hand H...

--> Hidden in the horrendous events of Exodus 11 and 12 are some of the most precious Gospel promises that God could ever give. As the Hebrews come to the end of their sojourn in Egypt and as God came to the end of His patience in dealing with Pharaoh, Moses received instructions on how the people were to prepare for the Passover—for that moment when the angel of God would pass over Egypt and take the first-born from every family, every flock, every herd. The lamb was to be sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts of every Hebrew home. “ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt ” (Exodus 12:13, NIV). So Moses passed on the message and the people prepared for an event that has remained a sacred celebration for Jews since that time. Moses said: “ When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood ...

Reading: Isaiah 52-57, Hebrews 6 Oh, killer passage! There is so much to think on here. A whole book could be written on these chapters—and probably has. But let’s go backward to go forward. Hebrews 6 ends with the assurance that the promise God has made concerning our salvation is absolutely solid. God doesn’t lie. And because He doesn’t lie we can “…be greatly encouraged. We have this hope [of salvation] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek ” (Hebrews 6:18-20, NIV). The picture here is of the function of the High Priest in the Jewish sacrificial system who entered the Holy of Holies in the Temple to offer a yearly sacrifice for the sins of the people. Jesus is pictured as that priest. The writer will later explain the nature of His priesthood and how Jesus became the ultimate sacri...

“ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners ” —Isaiah 61:1, NIV. Years after Isaiah spoke these prophetic words, they were quoted again in Luke 4:18 as God Himself walked among men. The mission of Christ was a redemptive one. His life models for us our mission in life. In John 13, on the last night before going to the cross, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. For many this has become symbolic of what our service to others should look like. But the lesson goes much deeper than that. Peter’s initial refusal to allow the Lord to wash his feet prompted a conversation about redemption. Peter was embarrassed that his Master, the Messiah, should be on His knees with a washbasin and a towel as though He were an ordinary servant. When the big fisherman pulled his feet away, Jesus told him that if ...

“ Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God’ ” —Ruth 1:16, NIV Ruth’s words are often used in wedding ceremonies—the pledge between a wife and her new husband. In fact they were a promise made between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law—after the husband and son had passed off the scene. Added to that unusual circumstance, Ruth was a Moabite who was about to embark on a journey to a foreign country with a women who could make no promises in return. Naomi was going back home without her husband and her sons, without protection or the expectation of provision once she returned to Bethlehem. But the bond between the two women was held together with much more than a now defunct marriage or a shared widowhood. What Ruth saw and heard in her mother-in-law’s life during those years when Naomi and her family lived in Moab, was enough to convince Ruth ...

Job 32-34 “ But Elihu…became very angry with Job for justifying myself rather than God…because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him ” (32:2). We’re always right. An alternate text says that the “him” at the end of this statement does refer to Job being condemned, but rather states that because they couldn’t refute Job they had agreed that God was at fault and had condemned God. He will later say (34:12) “ It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice. ” Elihu’s argument in chapter 33 is eloquent, and true. But once again he is assuming that Job is guilty of something that has brought down God’s anger on his head. However apart from that he paints a beautiful picture of how God restores those who come to him in repentance and faith. “ He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God’s face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state. Then he comes to men and says, ‘I sinned, and perverted what was r...

Christmas Memories 1 I stood in the "wings," the annex the ran parallel to the main auditorium of the the church. The rustling began to quieten as proud moms and dads took their seats and settled themselves in for the annual Christmas Concert. Lines had been carefully and sometimes painfully memorized, songs rehearsed, and now the moment, long anticipated, had finally come. My while leotards sagged and I pulled them up. I rubbed a toe on the back of my leg, giving a last polish to my shiny black shoes. My braids were tightly bound, ends neatly resplendent in red ribbons. But the crowning touch was the red velvet dress with the puffy sleeves and white collar, reserved especially for this occasion. The dress only came out at Christmas. I carefully ran my fingers down its soft folds. Around the neck the heart-shaped crystal pendant sparkled in the light—a diamond resting on a blood-red pillow. The first Christmas song was announced and the congregation rose at the urging of the ...

Hebrews is the most amazing book. Take these two verses for example: " Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sin of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him " —Hebrews 9: 27, 28. HUGE theology in two verses. Man's state: Destined to die . The question of sin and its consequences: Judgment The introduction of the Saviour: Christ The remedy for our sins and their consequences: The sacrifice of the perfect for the imperfect. The efficacy and finality of that sacrifice: It will not be repeated. The second coming and its purpose: The final piece to our salvation. Our posture: Waiting for Him—not for judgment but for completion. The Gospel in a nutshell. One of the wonderful things about Scripture is the ability it gives us to find an explanation of the Gospel throughout its pages. From Genesis to Revelation we find illus...

Last night a friend emailed me asking for prayer for her mother. Marion has just found out that her cancer is growing. The fear of pain and death, the reluctance to leave her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren behind, has left her anxious. She is only one on my list of people who, for various reasons, are suffering. Suffering takes many forms, but usually we think of it in terms of the physical. So when Paul writes in Romans 8:17: " Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory ", our natural inclination is to think of physical death. But not everyone will suffer a painful death—certainly not death on a cross. Such suffering wouldn't be a prerequisite for sharing in Christ's glory. But Paul clarifies the statement in the verses that follow. He writes: " I consider that our present sufferings are not worthy comparing with the glory that will be...