Bible Study

Take and Eat

Do you ever find yourself jolted when you recognize a new connection between the Old and New Testament? Over the last few years the idea that the Bible tells one story has become more pervasive in popular theology. As Tim Keller states in Counterfeit Gods (pg. 36): We...

Truth and Love: Paul the Pastor

I’ve been working through the book of 1 Thessalonians for a Bible Study and was deeply impressed by the way this letter describes Paul’s pastoral ministry.  I was moved to tears as I considered his relationship to this group of believers. Acts 17 describes Paul...

Where is the King?

If you follow Christian news, you have probably heard the term “deconstruction” being used to describe the behavior of some high-profile believers who have walked away from their faith. Miriam-Webster defines deconstruction as “the analytic examination of something...

A Garden Discovery

I know the Bible gets deeper and wider the more we read it. Many truths are like gold that we have to dig and search for, as Solomon describes the way to seek wisdom as silver or hidden treasures in Proverbs 2. But other insights are given to us like nuggets lying on...

Pleasant lines?

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” Psalm 16:6 This verse struck me with special force yesterday in my daily reading of the M’Cheyne plan. I have certainly thought about this psalm before, for David’s words have a particularly powerful way of directly...

A Selah Moment

We thought it might be a few weeks, now it seems like it may be a few months, or even longer. The world has slowed down, stopped. Highway 101 near our home is almost empty. Even the parks, once full of moms and kids, are now empty. Recently I had the path on the ocean...

Purge Me with Hyssop

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7 As the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan has led us through the book of Exodus, I was struck by how the word intricately is always used to describe the ephod, the special...

Thoughts on Moses and COVID-19

The Power of Intercession and a God who Relents Today, as part of the M'Cheyne reading plan, I read Exodus 32, which describes God’s wrath when the Israelites began worshipping the golden calf while Moses is on the mountain. In response, God tells Moses that he will...

Thoughts on Habakkuk

Make the Vision Plain, the name of my  website, comes  from a verse in Habakkuk: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. Habakkuk 2:2 I’ll have to admit that I chose this theme verse because it was about writing, which seemed a natural...

Did Elijah have a secret?

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17-18 Even though James is telling...

First and Last

I have always found great comfort from Revelations 22:13. It reminds us that God existed in the beginning: nothing exits apart from his plan. And it reminds us that he will triumph in the end: all the sorrows we don't understand now will be forgotten. Recently,...

Defeating the D Words

It may be an anomaly of English, but it seems like many of the distressing words in English start with the letter D. The dictionary informs us that de (and the closely related di and dis) is a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin used to indicate privation,...
A Garden Discovery

A Garden Discovery

I know the Bible gets deeper and wider the more we read it. Many truths are like gold that we have to dig and search for, as Solomon describes the way to seek wisdom as silver or hidden treasures in Proverbs 2. But other insights are given to us like nuggets lying on...

read more
Pleasant lines?

Pleasant lines?

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” Psalm 16:6 This verse struck me with special force yesterday in my daily reading of the M’Cheyne plan. I have certainly thought about this psalm before, for David’s words have a particularly powerful way of directly...

read more
A Selah Moment

A Selah Moment

We thought it might be a few weeks, now it seems like it may be a few months, or even longer. The world has slowed down, stopped. Highway 101 near our home is almost empty. Even the parks, once full of moms and kids, are now empty. Recently I had the path on the ocean...

read more
Purge Me with Hyssop

Purge Me with Hyssop

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7 As the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan has led us through the book of Exodus, I was struck by how the word intricately is always used to describe the ephod, the special...

read more

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