Search Results

Praise and Lament In the preface to his commentary on the Psalms, John Calvin describes the book in this way, “I have been accustomed to call this book . . . ‘An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul,’ for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as a mirror.” The Psalms are a true reflection of...

Rescued At Last In 2010 a mine in Chile collapsed trapping thirty-three miners over two thousand feet underground. An international rescue team worked round the clock for days, drilling exploratory holes from the surface to locate the missing men. After seventeen days, when food and water were running short, the miners were discovered. One...

From Despair to Hope In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus makes only one statement from the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani” (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)” (Mark 15:34). Many people understand Jesus’ words as a cry of despair. Some critics of Christianity have incorrectly argued that Jesus was distraught and did not...

Our Refuge We all need a safe place where we can escape the fears and anxieties of the world. Young children who enter a new and intimidating situation will often hide behind their parent and grab onto their leg. Their parent is their safe place, or refuge. As adults, we choose different things to help feel secure. Our home or a favorite...

Taste and See “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” describes the experience of getting out of one difficult situation only to land in another. In 1 Samuel 21, David was on the run from King Saul. He went to the last place anyone would expect to find him, the Philistine city of Gath. However, officials there identified him as David, the...

Be Not Proud In his masterpiece, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote perceptively about pride. He said, “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” In a similar way, the wicked have a skewed...

God Promises Deliverance Despite a discouraging start, the Israelites would be liberated exactly as God had said. And even though he initially wavered, Moses would end up in Hebrew 11’s Faith Hall of Fame: “By faith . . .[he] chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded...

Locusts and Darkness Nearly every book in the Old Testament refers to the dramatic moment of the Exodus, especially the Psalms. Psalm 78, for example, looks back to “the day he [God] redeemed them [the people of Israel] from the oppressor, the day he displayed his signs in Egypt . . .He brought his people out like a flock; he led them like...

The First Passover The Last Supper, celebrated by us today as communion or the Lord’s Table, was actually Jesus’ last Passover. This special meal commemorating freedom from slavery in Egypt has endured through the centuries as a celebration of God’s redemption. In the Last Supper, Jesus established a new symbolism—the bread for His body,...

Firstborn Sons and Blood on Doorposts When the Law was given on Mount Sinai, the Israelites learned to make various sacrifices for atonement and worship. The blood of animals symbolized a ceremonial or outward cleanness that became spiritually real thanks to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross for sin (see Heb. 9:11–22). But even before...