Tag: trusting
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Your Contentment
Psalm 111; Genesis 18:1–15; Philippians 4:10–20 One of the harder things about being a Christian is that God often doesn’t give our heart’s desires. We describe God as good, loving, giving, and many other positive traits. Yet, the giving (or lack thereof) often gets in the way of our understanding of God’s goodness, loving, and…
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Facing It
Psalm 119:81–88; Jeremiah 16:1–13; James 5:7–12 The yearning in Psalm 119:81–88 is almost palpable. The need for relief with a counterbalance of trust produces a huge amount of tension within a few verses. This tension is often part of our own lives as we desire immediate relief from our trials, the fulfillment of our hopes…
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Show Stopper
Psalm 65; Exodus 9:13–35; Acts 27:39–44 But I’ve left you standing for this reason: in order to show you my power and in order to make my name known in the whole world. Exodus 9:16 Depending on your context and current life situation, these words could be good or they could be bad. The Scriptures…
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Prayer Signs
Psalm 65; Exodus 7:14–24; Acts 27:13–38 Do the right thing! Then, do the next right thing! If there is a question of what the right thing is? You’ll just know. Right? Sounds completely rational. You’ll just know. Except it doesn’t always (or even often for many) work that way. Many times awe-inspiring stories are told…
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Worship Even Here
Psalm 20; Numbers 9:15–23; Revelation 4:1–8 Trusting God is hard. Trusting that all things work for good is hard. How can COVID be good? How can a bad economy be good? How can not being able to be with our loved ones be good? A lot of this hasn’t been good. For the psalmist, that…
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Nice Dirt
Psalm 33:12–22; Genesis 2:4b–7; 1 Corinthians 15:42–49 It is doubtful that many (if any) people think humanity has it all together. There is the cynical quip that the greatest proof of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven’t contacted us. Regardless of your political orientation and whether US or world, there is no…
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Community Essentials
Psalm 133; John 20:19–31; Acts 4:32–35; 1 John 1:1–2:2 Security is a very important thing. In many respects, a number of the high-profile political arguments are over what exactly is security. Differing opinions of what includes security and the perception of who is responsible for such security can really create the potential for discord. The…
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Get Lifted
Psalm 25:1–10; Psalm 32; Matthew 9:2–13 Have you ever carried something really heavy for a while and then put down? Do you remember that moment when you put it down? That feeling of freedom? That is should be just a taste of the feeling that the Psalmist brings out: The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,…