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In Psalm 62:11 and 12 David speaks of the perfect blend, Power and mercy. Power without mercy leads to tyranny. Mercy without power is worthless. In this short psalm David sings of God’s character. He uses strong words like: rock, salvation, strength, glory and refuge to describe him. In  the last two verses he says, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy ....” David’s God, The God of the Bible is a powerful and merciful God. Salvation is about both these. Breaking God’s law launched an impassable barrier, an eternally deep abyss and an impossible problem. Man was severed from God’s perfection and from intimate intercourse with his Creator. Man who was made to commune with eternal God was now impossibly outside His sphere and cast from His realm. Disobedience had wreaked havoc on the perfect relationship. Man still reels from that act. Yet God’s power guided by His mercy worked a plan, His plan. God Him...

Joshua 14 Joshua and Caleb are my heroes. They made good solid choices. As I mentioned yesterday they chose to follow God and His leader Moses. When God spoke they believed Him without flinching. Sent out with ten other leaders they scouted the land. However, when the scuttlebutt came back negative they didn't fall in with the rest. Even though those others were chosen men, Joshua and Caleb weren't swayed. God had said that He would be with them and that the battle was already won. In my reading this morning, the conquest terminated, Caleb had a question. It went something like this, “You remember what Moses told me forty-five years ago when I was a mere forty years old? He promised me some land. I want it now. Please give me that mountain. The one where Anakim’s sons live. You remember them, right? Those “giants” that tripped up our Promised Land entry back then.” So Joshua said, “Hold on there brother! You are way too old for that type of a mission. Good Night, you ...

I  am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! Psalm 119:107 Where do you turn for help? Maybe where you turn is indicative of where your confidence lies. Assuming that David wrote this the longest psalm, his brief statement in verse 107 was at first puzzling to me. Our teens are memorizing this text and it has been a good challenge. However, during the six months there have been several verses that arrested my attention. This was one. David cries out, I  am severely afflicted ! He is in severe trouble. There seems to be no escape. Where should he turn? The answer comes with his next breath, give me life, O LORD, according to your word! David's trust was not in his great wealth. It wasn’t in his position. It wasn’t in the fact that his army was powerful. His trust was in God and His Word. They were his first recourse. David didn't have as much of the Word as you and I have. At best he had the Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy), some of the J...

A friend sent me the following email from a retired missionary lady. I had recently discovered that she was praying for our ministry, even though she had never received an update from us. I added her to my list without really knowing what this saint was doing. As I read her letter, that she said she "just   rattled off ... never expecting that it would be sent to others", I began to sob uncontrollably. Her prayer life had a tremendous impact on me. See if you can grasp what this jewel is embracing. She asked that I not mention her name. So, I didn't. But here is her letter. Dear -----, Sorry for the delay.  I got home Monday night but I had so much mail to go through, bills to pay etc. etc. I just now feel back to normal. When you retire from a very active life on the field,  you feel as though you are not accomplishing anything meaningful and then after (my husband) went to be with the Lord, the day seemed very long.  He was the prayer warrior of the...

Just a week after our work day we had visitors at church. Actually they visited our worksite not our church. They were mean people. They came kicking and bashing and crashing our party. They knocked over a lot of the work that our bricklayer had accomplished during the week. Remember that cute picture of Dawn in one of the windows? They leveled the windows. Mean people. Nothing better to do. Vandals! These people don't realize who they are messing with. They have no idea that they are toying with God’s building. They don't understand that their lives are at risk. They have no respect for anything or anyone and it will be the end of them. Unless. Unless they come to the Savior that is. Can it be that they will? God knows. We have be showered with blessings lately. So, when the crashing and crushing comes we are not discouraged. Mad, yes. Discouraged never. We’d love to crack some coconuts and break a few arms. We’d love to kick em right in the shins. But that is God’s business...

How many times have you watched Charlton Hest... er Moses part the Red Sea in the movie The Ten Commandments? When I was a kid I was amazed at the special effects. As I grew older I was disgusted by all of the stupid dialog. I haven’t seen that film in years. However, I just finished reading the on the set account this evening in the book of Exodus chapter 14 and 15. Something hit me this reading. The sea closed over the enemy. There were dead on the shore. There was an on the spot original score written by Moses and recorded in Scripture. There was a dance lead by Miriam of all people. She must have been ninety at the time. Everyone was happy. The big bad Egyptian army was no more. Victory was won! Then the phrase that caught my attention in Exodus 15. 22 where text says, “ Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. CUT! That can’t be right. We need to do that over again. Fresh from one of the greatest displays of God’s might since Creation. One of...

“But wait LORD! We can’t get going. Don't you see it? There is a big sea in front of us!” The COI (Children of Israel) had a point. There WAS a big bad old sea blocking any further forward progress. Why would God make the preposterous demand that they advance? Why would he be so unreasonable? Was he blind? How often do I face such “impossible” situations? Why is God so insensitive, so  insistent, so blind to my trouble? Why? If you and I had been in the COI’s sandals, hedged in on one side by the Egyptian army and on the other by the Red Sea, we would have been different, wouldn't we? Of course not. We’d have been right there in the middle of the mass, grumbling and complaining and whining. “Moses! All of this is YOUR fault! You got us into this mess! What are you some kind of weirdo?” Even though that Moses had become great in the eyes of the Egyptians he hadn't made much of a dent in the popularity charts for the COI. I would have loved to see the look on their faces as...