Tag Archives: trouble

Peace that passes understanding in no quiet place

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Mark 6:31I picked up a tract one time that had Mark 6:31 on the cover: “Come away with me to a lonely place and rest a while.” It held great promise at a time when I was experiencing great turmoil. I couldn’t wait to get home to see the verse in context. Then I would find out about real peace.

Imagine my disappointment when I read that 5,000 families invaded what Jesus intended to be a quiet place. All four gospels tell the story of the feeding of the 5,000. Three of them follow it with the disciples struggling in a storm at sea.… Read the rest

How Jacob became a tool in God’s hands

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God, who spoke the world into existence, can accomplish anything he wants by speaking it. Instead, he chooses to use flawed people as tools. And he deliberately breaks them. We will consider Jacob, but first, let’s look at tools in general, then how God uses tools in general.

Whenever I need a tool, whether it’s for the garden or the kitchen or something to do with the computer, I get the best I can afford. Then I do my best to take care of it and keep it in good condition.

If something breaks, I probably can’t use it anymore. If it can be fixed at all, it may not work as well as before it broke.… Read the rest

Grace and judgment in modern plagues

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Updated August 19, 2023

As I originally wrote this, most of the world had shut down on account of the coronavirus outbreak. Plenty of people are wondering about where God is in the modern plague of Covid-19.

We might as well wonder about God in modern plagues, plural. After all, Covid-19 isn’t the first plague outbreak in this century. Remember MRSA? SARS? H1N1? And maybe I’ve forgotten some. In any case, seasonal flu kills more than any of them.

Common and facile responses seem to divide into three groups:

  • Some Christians always come out of the woodwork to proclaim that this or that crisis is God’s judgment on whatever sin most upsets them.
… Read the rest

The blessing of persecution

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Jesus ended the Beatitudes saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10 MEV)

That statement is so counterintuitive that he repeated it: “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).

We can’t earn salvation, but we can earn blessings by exhibiting certain characteristics. Each Beatitude builds on the one before.… Read the rest

The book of Job: dispelling confusion

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Do you find the book of Job confusing? You’re not alone.

First, we get a conversation between God and Satan. It’s about the only passage in the Old Testament that doesn’t have an earthly setting. As a result of that conversation, Job suffers staggering losses, losses no sin of his can explain.

Then three friends show up to comfort him. Some comfort.

The anonymous author casts the main part of the book as a debate. The friends insist that no one suffers at God’s hands without having committed some grievous sin. Job insists on his innocence.

Then, some kid comes along and gives his opinion.… Read the rest

Isaiah’s parables of the sower: when God threshes you

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We’ve all heard sermons on Jesus’ parable of the sower, told in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. He told the crowd, “listen if you have ears.”

Then he quoted from Isaiah 6:9-10. He told his disciples essentially that he told parables so people without spiritual ears would not understand.

Isaiah himself provides two parables about farming. Like Jesus’ parable, they seem like obvious facts about what farmers do.

Those with ears to hear, those who belong to God’s kingdom, can find important spiritual truths in them. 

… Read the rest

Exchanging swords for plowshares

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God’s promise, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares,” stands on a wall near the United Nations. The UN exists because the world wanted to make it come true.

What happened?

The first four verses of Isaiah 2 leading up to that promise presents a compelling image: God’s house sits on a mountain higher than any other mountain on earth, and “all the nations stream to it.”

Imagine! A stream flowing uphill! 

… Read the rest

Who sinned? blaming God for our troubles

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Judge's gavelJesus died between two criminals. Did you realize that he died between two believers? The first one asked, “Aren’t you the Christ?” The expected answer to that question is, “Yes.”

But he was disappointed that Jesus wasn’t acting like he expected the Christ to act. In his hostility, he joined the unbelievers and scoffers and railed against him.

When something goes wrong, who do you blame? Or as the disciples asked about a man born blind, who sinned? They gave Jesus a choice of the man or his parents. The criminal on the cross blamed God himself.

… Read the rest

Fire, quail, and a worldly church

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Have you ever noticed that some people just like to complain? They don’t even need a legitimate reason. Alas, you can easily find them in churches.

But here’s a better question. What is the effect when griping goes into overdrive? It would try the patience of a saint. Or in the case of an Old Testament illustration, Moses. Nobody comes out looking good in the sorry story told in Numbers 11.

We often refer to the people Moses led out of Egypt as the children of Israel. They never acted like grownups, did they? But according to Exodus 12:37-38, 600,000 Israelite men left Egypt, plus the women and children—plus a large number of other people.… Read the rest

Mary: After the Angel Departed

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Have you ever had a vivid encounter with God? What happened a day or two later? A week? Years?

Quite often Christians have reported an overwhelming spiritual high followed by a deep spiritual low.

God’s presence can be so vivid that it seems like what he says is bound to happen in the next 15 minutes, but it never does.

A cherished promise never seems as far off and distant as it does after vividness of the divine presence fades.

Does that mean perhaps that we had no genuine spiritual experience? Did we get carried away by feelings? Was it all a lie?… Read the rest