Whispers of Truth

Jer. 29:11 says, “For I know the plans for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope” (NASB). As a senior in high school, I received a gift of Jer. 29:11 written out in calligraphy.   Honestly, at the time it was just another gift, but I framed it and set it on my dresser where I could see it each day. I had no way of knowing that soon the verse would become a touchstone for me. Like any other senior, my year involved much planning for the future—thoughts of schools and careers—and all those thoughts were full of my own hopes and dreams. Frustration over school and what to major in, relationship issues, and sadness were not part of my plans, but they did crop up those first three years of college. When things got really tough, I decided to look for answers in God’s word because I just wasn’t finding them anywhere else. That’s when Jeremiah 29:11 became more than just a verse. In order for me to believe that verse and apply it to my li

During the course of my week, I found myself teaching one of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, which usually involves delving into the dark condition of the human heart. As I led the discussion, a verse popped into my mind and I shared it with the class in light of the topic of the heart. In Luke 6:45, Jesus spoke to his disciples and said that the nature of the heart can be seen—either good or evil by what comes out of the mouth—its fruit. The version I memorized reads: “For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45b, NIV). This set me thinking. In the multitudes he encountered, Jesus found both resistance to and acceptance of the salvation he offered, and it was the condition of the receptors on the human heart that made all the difference. Those with good reception understood, but the warnings fell on the deaf ears of all those whose receptors were in a state of disrepair. Proverbs 4:23 offers advice for caring for our hearts and tells us to “guard” our hearts because

Snatches of the lyrics of hymns have been playing in my mind all day. The theme you ask? The lavish love of Christ. The reason? This lavish love has been played out in my life recently; I’ve been loved with the love of Christ through my husband. The Bible commands husbands to love their wives “just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25, NASB). Mine has. We have been married twenty years (as of yesterday), and with three teenagers in the house at the end of a long six-week stretch between paychecks, my only expectation for the day was to receive a lovingly-crafted poem in a tradition begun a few years back when money was extremely tight. (It’s what I get for naively choosing to get married at the end of January—what was I thinking?) I waited in anticipation for my poem to arrive via email at approximately 11:30, which is the time I normally eat lunch. I got it, read it, and loved every word my husband wrote. As I had no further expectations, I was shocked beyon

If you’re a woman and you’ve ever had a bad day, raise your hand. Higher . . . I KNOW that there is someone out there besides me who’s had one or more of these. If you’re married and you’ve experienced this, raise both hands. Could I have an amen, sister? Sometimes it’s just plain hard to share common space with others, whether it be a cubicle, a room, or a house, but let a woman have a (Shall I say it?) “hormonal” (translates “really bad”) day then it’s just a whole ‘nother story. The Bible shares some wisdom for the co-workers, husbands, and family members in the lives of women having “bad hair days.” Apparently Solomon, because of his seven hundred wives and concubines (Can you imagine?), had a lion’s share of wisdom about how to deal with women in this condition, and trust me, he needed every particle of it to survive. Let’s take a look at what he says. In Proverbs 19:13 he first compares a contentious wife to a “constant dripping.” In Proverbs 21:9 and 25:24, he says that it would

The prophet Ezekiel was known as the watchman. Twenty-six hundred years ago, a watchman’s duty was critical: he was to stand on the wall of the city and watch for invaders with evil intentions and warn the people in time for them to protect themselves and their city. If he did so and people ignored his warning, their blood was not on his head (Ez. 33:5). However, if he saw the danger approaching and chose not to blow the trumpet and warn the people, then the blood of those who died (or were taken as captives) was on his head. Ezekiel’s call to be a watchman was not literal—it was spiritual. He was called by God to watch over the house of Israel and to speak God’s warnings to them (Ez. 33:7), and he did so. In Ezekiel 33, God warned the people through Ezekiel of spiritual danger. He told Ezekiel to warn them of trusting in their own righteousness (vs. 12). People tended (as we do today) to become secure in their righteousness, which can lead to a false pride and then sin, which can onl

Your beliefs drive your actions. Consider John the Baptist, who believed that God called him to “give people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins” and would prepare him to do so (Luke 1:77, NASB). As a result, John lived a rather austere life in the deserts until it the time came for him to appear publicly as God’s prophet to His people (v. 80). Even though his was a lonely voice proclaiming the word of the Lord, he believed the message and spoke it boldly as he led people to repentance through baptism. After his ministry gained momentum, many people vocally wondered if John was the anticipated Messiah, but he believed in One greater than him, so he refuted any claims that he was the One. John baptized people with water in preparation for the One to come who would offer spiritual cleansing because he believed what God told him (Jn. 1:33). John didn’t believe himself worthy to baptize Jesus, so he balked a little at first, but because he believed God had a plan, h

I find it interesting that Jesus likens worry to self-indulgence and drunkenness (Luke 21:34). At first glance, it seems an unlikely comparison, as I would never place drunkenness in the same category with worry. I’m not sure about you, but when I choose to indulge in worry and entertain anxiety there is always good reason, at least from my point of view. Worry gives the illusion that we are accomplishing something positive, but in reality it only hurts us. In the same verse in Luke, Jesus says that worry weights our hearts down. Even worse, worry (and selfishness and drunkenness) distract us from fellowship with Christ.   When we wallow in our own helplessness and let the worries of the world choke us, we lose the power that comes from dwelling in His peace and strength. One of my favorite Bible verses in the KJV deals with worry: “ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof” (Matt

Our capacity as humans to doubt what we cannot see is fathomless, which makes the gift of faith extremely precious. Hebrews defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (11:1, NASB), and goes on to tell us that faith is how “the men of old” received God’s approval (vs. 2). How hard that must have been!  I can understand the struggles of faith in Elijah when he faced Jezebel’s wrath after God used him to purge the nation of 400 Baal prophets at Mt. Carmel (I Kings 18-19); however, it gives me pause when I consider his doubt when faced with the amazing work God had just accomplished through him. His lack of faith caused him flee Jezebel’s wrath immediately following a footrace against Ahab’s chariot (which he won, by the way). I say give the guy a break--God came through for him in unlikely ways, but Elijah did not have the Holy Spirit resting on him continually as we do as New Testament believers. Jesus has paved the way for us through the gift

Although slavery in America was abolished in 1865, many of us choose to remain in slavery even today. Slavery is bondage to a person and can be voluntary or involuntary, but that is not the type of slavery to which I refer. I am speaking of slavery that is a bondage to the things of the world. For people who value freedom as much as Americans do, it amazes me that we choose to allow ourselves to be controlled by the “stuff” and busyness of our lives; yet we steadfastly refuse to submit ourselves to the One who can truly set us free. In Luke 4:18 Jesus proclaims that He has been sent to offer good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, and sight to the blind (NIV; references Isaiah 61). II Cor. 3:17 tells us “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” In I Cor. 10, Paul warns believers against idolatry (putting other people or things above God); later in the same chapter, he also refers to the freedom believers in Christ have.   He points out that while we have freedom i

             I must admit that for the majority of my life, I’ve been a people pleaser.   I recently noticed  (with some consternation) that the harder I try to please God, the less I seem to please the people around me and possibly vice versa. That discovery led me to look at whom I was trying to please (and why). God’s Word is definitely not mute on this. Jesus says in Matthew 6:1 to “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (NASB).   This checks my motivation in wanting to please people. In I Thessalonians 2:4, Paul talks of being “entrusted with the gospel” and speaking to please God “who examines the heart” rather than speaking to please men. Paul’s choice to please His God rather than the ones who could destroy his life is not one without cost, but it yields him eternal life.  Alternately, in Isaiah 30:10-11, God speaks to a rebellious people who beg to hear pleasing words rather tha

            Earlier this week I approached the sign-in sheet at work and saw a handwritten note at the bottom that said, “You are what you eat and the company you keep.” I didn’t think about it much at the time, but the thought has stuck with me through the week. With all of its other resolutions, January usually brings thoughts of what I eat—nothing new there, most of us need to lose a few pounds, right?—but the idea of being what I eat has given me pause this week. Am I really the rather bland carbohydrate-packed diet I’ve been keeping lately—rice, potatoes, etc., or am I something chocolate, which I always crave? Hmmm. While I don’t necessarily think of myself as bland, I also don’t think I am always ultra-sweet. As I considered what I eat and the company I keep, my thoughts turned to more spiritual in nature. In John 6:48, Jesus says that He is the “bread of life” (NASB). Do I get the nourishment I need to sustain me, or is my diet bland and inadequate? With what do I stuff myself,

           In Philippians 3:17, Paul encourages believers to model their lives after those who live for Christ. This encouragement is appropriate today, as it was then, because many people who call themselves Christians and associate themselves with His name live as “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18, NASB). Paul identifies these people as those “whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, [and] who set their minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). Sound familiar? Unfortunately, we all know people (or are people or have been people) who want the rewards of Christianity without a relationship to Christ, and their lives reflect the world around them more than they do Him. One has only to turn on the TV to see that in our culture our appetites have become a god. The commercials are designed to appeal to the flesh in every way—earthly, sensual things; likewise, the news centers on the world and its shame as well. Our culture is r

          A new year naturally lends itself to the making of grand plans and resolutions, but most of us don’t even need a new year as an excuse to make big plans for our lives. Often, we tend to think past the present to what the future holds, and we arrogantly prioritize and plan our lives around our whims and desires without consulting God first.   James 4:13-14 reminds me of the arrogance of humans: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (NASB).   It is so easy to live in our plans for the future—the goals we want to accomplish, the places we want to go, the things we want to enjoy—when we fail to see the temporal nature of our lives. When we’re young, it is so difficult to picture the life-altering events that time will bring our way. It is dif

          Regardless of the chaos that swirls through this world in which we live, God’s name will be glorified in the heavens and the earth. Sometimes that’s easy to forget—especially when we focus on our circumstances and the events going on in the world instead of Him. Psalm 46 reminds us to “cease striving and know that [He] is God” (NASB), and that He will be exalted among the nations of the earth. The same verse in the New International Version reads a little differently; it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” This is a command to rest in His strength and not our own. (OH, how often I forget this!) When we continue to struggle in our own limited power, frustration is present and peace is absent. Our struggles are futile and what we can accomplish is miniscule compared to what God can do if we simply rest in His mighty power. God tells Paul in II Corinthians 12:9 that His grace is “sufficient” for him because His “power is perfected in weakness.”   It is especially hard to be

            I often tire of my imperfections. It seems the older I get, the more struggles emerge, and I feel rather defeated because of this at times. When I shared this with my husband, wise sage that he is, he told me that it isn’t that I necessarily have more struggles emerging in my life so much as it is that I now have spiritual eyes to see them. God’s law is now written upon my heart (Heb. 10:16), so when I sin (defined in James 4:17 as knowing the right thing to do and NOT doing it), I more readily see my sin.   The sins that “beset me” (Heb. 12:1, KJV), “entangle” me (NIV), and “trip [me] up” (NLT) loom everywhere, but the encouragement I receive when I read my Bible causes me to press on. The Message has a powerful interpretation of Paul’s struggle in Romans 7:18b-20: For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but

         Having a strong urge or motivation to do a thing for God does not necessarily mean that it is God’s will—even if it’s a really good thing. For instance, David wanted to build a house for a dwelling place for the ark of God, yet God told him in II Samuel 7:6-7 that He had never lived in a house up to that day and had never asked for one. This strong desire to build God a house seemed commendable, but God did not let him carry through with it. Instead, God chose to establish a house for Himself (vs. 11) in His timing through David’s son Solomon. Solomon said in one of his proverbs, “No one can comprehend the height of heaven, the depth of the earth, or all that goes on in the king’s mind!”   (Proverbs 25:3, NLT). When the idea of building a house popped up, David was musing out loud about the fact that he lived in a cedar house while the ark of God resided in a tent (II Sam. 7:2). Whatever David’s motivation for wanting to build God a house, God quickly and clearly addressed Dav

Friends are a gift. This isn’t really a new thought, but God has begun to open my eyes to the true value of friendship, and He has done this through His word and the friends He has placed in my life. Jesus demonstrated friendship when he willingly laid down His life for my sin before I was even born. I can more closely grasp the concept of Him dying for His disciples who walked the earth with Him than I can grasp the crazy love he showed for me when He died (and rose again) almost 2,000 years before my birth for a future relationship with me. When I think on it, the idea that God would send Jesus to die for my sin amazes me; the fact that I am not a person worth dying for—not good or noble or pure—astounds me even further. The Message states this idea powerfully in Romans 5:8 when it says that God offered Jesus for us “while we were of no use whatever to him.” That is friendship of a kind I really do not have the capacity to understand, but can genuinely appreciate. In Luke 15:13 Jesu

Solomon’s story has always disturbed me. In Proverbs 4, he speaks of the instruction that David gave to him when he was a young boy. David’s teachings, specifically regarding wisdom, were imprinted upon his young heart. While speaking to his sons, Solomon says in Proverbs 4:4-6 that David taught him and said to him, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live; Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will guard you” (NASB). This teaching so resonated within Solomon that when David died and he became king, one of the first things he did was offer a prayer to God asking for an understanding heart and discernment in leading God’s people (I Kings 3:8), and it pleased the Lord (vs. 10).   Solomon had seen David’s love for God and he truly loved the Lord (I Kings 3:3), yet from the beginning of his rule, he let the world distract him. He formed an alliance with Egypt , and thus Pharaoh, th

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14 NASB). Words have always fascinated me. I remember sitting as a young child in front of the bookcase in the living room floor whiling away the hours lost in the pages of my family’s set of the World Book Encyclopedia. Almost ten years ago, my purchase of a republication of Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary made me remember my fascination with words as well as the change of values in our country since 1828. As I began using this epic dictionary, I noticed that a stark difference existed between the definitions found in the 1828 dictionary and the modern version of the same dictionary. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary was replete with words whose meanings were steeped in a culture that valued Christ. Many of the definitions featured scripture references that helped the reader relate the meaning of any word to familiar knowledge of the Word. In comparison, today’s

When God speaks to my heart I don’t always listen the first time…or the second time…or the third time—especially if the message isn’t something I want to hear.   Through the events of this year, I feel God has tried to impress on me the value of time spent for Him versus time spent for me. Even when I choose to spend my time wisely, it doesn’t necessarily mean that God is pleased with my choice, particularly if I didn’t consult Him first. So what did I do with this message that my husband has probably wished to beat into me multiple times over the past twenty years (but hasn’t)? I ignored it, of course, like I usually do. The end result being that I have felt frustrated, worn out, and even defeated although I am doing things that have value. The last few days God has been speaking to me again, but I haven’t really wanted to listen. When I’m in that mood, one of two things usually happens. I either ignore His whispering until my heart hardens against what He’s trying to say, or I eventu