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Lord of Both Mountains and Valleys Atheism and agnosticism are higher than ever among American young people, according to research done by the Barna Group. Among those of Generation Z (ages 13 to 18), 21 percent declare themselves to be atheists or agnostics, as compared to 15 percent for Millennials, 13 percent for Generation X, and 9 percent...

Meeting God in the Valley of Dry Bones Seventeenth-century Puritan minister William Bridge prayed, “Ah Lord, my prayers are dead, my affections dead and my heart is dead; but you are a living God and I bear myself upon you.” Our God is a God of life and hope, as we see in today’s reading. The topic of this vision is the end of the exile and...

A Sacrifice on Mount Moriah Mount Fuji—or “Fuji-san” in Japanese—is the highest mountain in Japan at 12,380 feet. A dormant volcano, it is considered a treasured symbol of the nation. More than 200,000 tourists climb it every summer. The name Fuji originally meant “fire mountain” but also carries a traditional meaning of “immortality” or...

Mount Ebal or Mount Gerizim? The site of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim had deep roots in Israelite history. When God first called him out of Ur, Abraham built an altar there, at “the great tree of Moreh at Shechem” (Gen. 12:6). The city of Shechem was still there, more or less in between the two mountains, when Joshua and the people returned...

Judgment in the Valley of Ben Hinnom The worship of Molek (also spelled Molech) was a particularly notorious Ancient Near Eastern religion. Known in Scripture as the “detestable god of the Ammonites” (1 Kings 11:5, 17), Molek demanded child-sacrifice. This practice was strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law, on pain of death. A person who did...

“Where Does My Help Come From?” Frida was a very special member of the Mexican Navy. An eight-year-old Labrador (now retired), she was a rescue dog who searched for survivors under rubble and debris after earthquakes. Wearing goggles and special booties, she helped locate and save twelve people after an 8.1-magnitude quake in Oaxaca one year...

Dark Valleys and the Good Shepherd Logan Runnalls introduces Into the Valley: Spiritual Reflections on Depression with these words: “The following is a series of explorations into my depression and my healing. It is part confession and part question. This is my heart as I know it. There are no new secrets to success revealed in this book.

The Mountain of the Lord, Part 1 In the north garden at the United Nations in New York City stands a sculpture entitled, “Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares.” A gift from the former Soviet Union, this bronze artwork was created in 1957 by Evgeniy Vuchetich. It shows a blacksmith hammering a sword into a plow, “symbolizing man’s desire to...

Greater than Moses The importance of the person of Moses to all of Israelite history cannot be overstated. He was the faithful messenger of God, the instrument through which the Law was given, and the one who established the Levitical priesthood. One ancient Jewish text describes Moses as “equal in glory to the holy ones.” Yet, just as the...

The Danger of a Hard Heart Many Old Testament passages provide a correspondence between ancient Israelite figures and events and Christian realities and experiences. In today’s reading, the Israelite experience in the Exodus and Wilderness is depicted as a significant type for the Christian journey itself. Just as Moses led the Israelites...