Grains of Sand

Google Images Despite all the tools of modern society, feeling alone still ranks high on the list of ills suffered by many people. Despite Twitter and FACEBOOK, despite an endless variety of groups to belong to, including church, these communities don’t always spell “communion.” Even where relationships are possible, the number of times people who move from one relationship to another, always seeking that elusive something but never finding it, astounds me. Equally disturbing is the number of co-dependent and abusive relationships out there. Some people don’t dare let go—the prospect of being alone is too frightening. The Weather Network calls us “The Angry Planet,” but we’d be better called “The Lonely Planet.” Every relationship, no matter now good, is transitory. That’s what we struggle to understand. People move, people change, people die. People come into our lives and they move out of our lives. Jesus touched on the subject in a statement he made, recorded for us in John 16:3...

Other Food: Daily Devos (Google Images) He wouldn't win any prizes for being the best of Judah's kings, but one incident in Amaziah's story, contains a lesson many people choose to ignore. Friction between neighbours in the Middle East is nothing new. Amaziah felt that he needed to bolster the number of soldiers he could call on if he was attacked, so he hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel (2 Chronicles 25:6). And got his knuckles rapped for doing it. God's prophet arrived on the scene and said: " O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for the Lord has power to help or to overthrow " (25:7, 8, NIV). The New Testament would call this an "unequal yoke," an instruction given to us in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 that begins like this: " Do not be yoked ...

Ham probably didn’t notice much change in his status as a result of his disrespect of his father, Noah, as recorded in Genesis 9. The punishment for Ham’s crime was actually directed against his son and his son’s descendants (9:18, 24). But even the grandchildren and great grandchildren didn’t feel the effects of their forebear’s sin. That would come a lot later. Canaan was to be a slave to his brothers. Now Canaan was the son of Ham, but Canaan would also become the name of a nation of people who would settle in the land that God would eventually give to His people, Israel. The prophecy would come true, generations later, as Israel took control of the land God has promised them and subjugated the Canaanites. But before the time for Ham’s crime was served by his descendants, the fortunes of his family were quite impressive. Genesis 10 describes Nimrod as a mighty warrior and, “ a mighty hunter before the Lord ” (10:9). Ham’s branch of the family was to become a fierce lot. They...

I've been reading this morning from 1 Samuel 17-20. In summary, the passage concerns the complicated family relationships between David, Saul, Jonathan, and Michal. It's not often that your father-in-law tries to kill you, not once but several times, as was David's experience. But the truth is that sometimes family life can be challenging. My family relationships are not nearly as tricky as David's were. So for my post today, I am including a picture of some of those uncomplicated people who share a blood relationship with me. We may not see eye to eye on lots of things, but they haven't tried to kill me yet. In fact, we get along just fine, for which I thank the Lord.