Charis

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2)

It’s been almost two weeks since I posted—and not a particularly positive two weeks, either. I’m not sure what season of life I’m in, but I do know it’s been a test. Perhaps I’ve been having what some call […]

Yesterday, I read the story of Asa, king of Judah, in 2 Chronicles 14–16. I like reading about the kings in the Old Testament, because their lives so clearly show the long-term consequences of obedience and disobedience to God. Their stories also show the impact of one generation upon another as sons follow in the […]

One of the psalms in The Divine Hours yesterday was 123, which somehow did not show up in my search for scriptures with the word mercy. Here it is:

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the […]

If you’ve read my last two posts (here and here) on Isaiah 40, you may well have wondered why I totally ignored verses 9, 10, and 11. After telling us that we are all like grass before the Lord, Isaiah says,

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice […]

Friday, I wrote about the glorious promise of strength in Isaiah 40. As I noted then, the concluding promise of strength to walk, run, and rise up gets even better when put into the bigger context of the chapter. I backed up just a few verses to consider the contrast of the youth who faints with the strength that comes from God. But the picture Isaiah paints grows richer and fuller when we take the chapter as a whole.

It begins with the famous “Comfort my people” and continues with “speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” That sounds good. But then, as we move further, we find God’s greatness described in wonderful pictures and contrasted with the smallness, the weakness of man. We are told that “all flesh is grass” and that it dies under the breath of the Lord. And just so we don’t miss the point, Isaiah reiterates, “Surely the people are grass.”

A little later, we get a series of images that reinforce the magnitude of God and His power:… read the complete post

The last few weeks have been pretty stressful for me, with money problems, the usual midterm grading frenzy, and assorted other irritants and situations that add up to a real possibility of losing my hope and my joy. This past weekend, as I realized that some of these situations weren’t going away with the end of October but would continue into November (and beyond!), I got rather discouraged. Then Wednesday night a friend gave me good—but hard—counsel, and I was reminded that I was in for the long haul. To put it another way, I wanted a leisurely walk around the block, but he told me I’m in a marathon.

I don’t like running.

Yesterday, though, I had a wonderful reminder of God’s faithfulness. In her broadcast, Joyce Meyer read from Isaiah 40, and I heard something I had never noticed before:…