God (Page 2)

Hezekiah was a breath of fresh air among the kings of Judah during the divided kingdom of Israel.  He “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” He tore down idols in the land and reinstated the worship practices that God had instituted.  He “trusted in God so that there was none like him among the kings of Judah after him nor before him. (2 Kings 18:3-5) He didn’t get his goodness from his dad.  Hezekiah, a son…

Some things you just can’t have too much of. Like ice cream. Or time with family. Or kisses from your three-day-old little girl. Of course, Paul wasn’t talking about any of those things in Philippians 1, though I doubt he’d disagree with me. Here’s what he says: And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for…

It is interesting that we don’t really recognize any of the prophets, who lived during the divided kingdom of Israel, up until Elijah, who served as a prophet during the reigns of Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. About Omri, it was said that he “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him” I Kings 16:25).  That sounds really bad, but Omri’s son, Ahab who succeeded him “did more to…

Sometimes I look at the world and get a little discouraged. I see inexplicable violence, blatant perversion, rampant materialism, and I worry about the future. I know they’re not, but sometimes like it looks like the bad guys are winning. The composers of the Psalms had the same thought, apparently, because thoughts like these are all over the place. Why are you letting them win, God? What are we supposed to do? Where are you? Why aren’t you doing something?…

Jesus might come back today . . . does that thought scare you? It frightened me when I was a kid. I’d hear a loud clap of thunder and think briefly that this might be it. Am I ready? Am I going to heaven? What if I’m not? The Bible has a much different emphasis, though, at least for believers. Notice the thread that runs through these verses: And be like men who are waiting for their master to come…

Our world is unfathomably huge. The sun’s light that bathes the earth today left the sun 8 minutes and 20 seconds ago traveling at about 186,000 miles per second. The distance it traveled—93 million miles—isn’t really that far, though, at least not when talking about the universe. Our little galaxy is just one of millions. I doubt David knew too much about astronomy, but he had looked up into the sky at night enough to know how incredible it is…

I get mad when I hear that a shooter has inexplicably killed more than twenty innocent people. Again. In a church, no less. It’s becoming all-too-frequent: concerts, schools, churches, other public spaces. These atrocities remind us that evil pervades our world, and we’ve got to be careful that we don’t develop a jaded attitude. We might even lose confidence in the power and sovereignty of the God we serve. Listen to the psalmist: Why do the nations rage and the…