Posts Tagged ‘Trouble’
God’s Perspective on Our Troubles
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. Daniel 1:1 To the people of Judah this was a terrible time in their history. They thought Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion was disastrous and they would have hated him. There are always two perspectives to…
Read MoreChanges over the Past Forty Years of Ministry – Has This All Been Worth It?
It’s been forty-three years since I graduated from Bible school, and forty years since I began my formal ministry. I was ordained in Madison, Indiana, in the fall of 1981, shortly before my wife and I moved to Manitoba to begin our first ministry. Forty years! It hardly seems possible. Forty years ago, I was…
Read MoreCrying Out to God in Chaotic Times, part 3
See here for Part One and here for Part Two Daniel 9:20-23 What should you do when you live in a society characterized by these words: “There is no fear of God before their eyes?” The absence of the fear of God was the unmaking1 of the nation of Israel (Zephaniah 3:7-8). When they began…
Read MoreSeeking the Lord in Troubled Times
“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that…
Read MoreWhy Am I in the Wilderness?
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the…
Read MoreA Horrible Kind of Happiness
One of the key events in the history of Israel is the Babylonian exile. The Jewish people taken into captivity longed to return to Judah. Psalm 137 presents this longing in a heart-rending retrospect (vv. 1-3) that quickly turns defiant (vv. 4-6) and vengeful (vv. 7-9). The final lines of the psalm depict what one…
Read MoreGod’s Pressure Cooker
Practical Help from 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 As a child, I well remember the sound of a whistle blowing to indicate that dinner was almost ready. It was the release valve on one of my mom’s favorite cooking utensils, her pressure cooker. Pressure under controlled circumstances produces greater effectiveness and productivity, making water do what it…
Read MoreHow to Pray in Perilous Times
2 Samuel 15:31 Two hundred men of Issachar were among those who followed David when he fled from murderous King Saul. About these men, 1 Chronicles 12:32 says, “And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do;” In this urgent hour in…
Read MoreBearing the Yoke in Your Youth
Armchair sociologists are already calling them “Generation C.” A recent article in The Atlantic, put it this way: “Generation C Has Nowhere to Turn: Recent history suggests young people could see their careers derailed, finances shattered, and social lives upended.”1 The article went on to describe the depressing consequences of COVID-19 crisis. Young people, especially…
Read MoreTo Live Stream or not to Live Stream
advice for the small church in a challenging time What are we to do in a time when government in its wisdom dictates that we curtail all public meetings for reasons of public health? How can the church function as a body of believers in circumstances like this? One solution already in place for many…
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