When I was younger, verses like Jeremiah 30:11 perplexed and disturbed me. Of course, I felt encouraged by the fact that God was with his people and would save them. But I wasn't...
As an avid gardener, I’ve often pondered the difference between flowers and weeds. How does one define the term "weed"? Is it a relative designation? What distinguishes a desirable annual or...
I work for a nonprofit organization and have spent many years of my adult life hovering around the U.S. poverty level. Despite the apparent hardship for a family of four, we are wealthy...
Because, for centuries, the Jews had consistently disobeyed the Lord, worshiping idols and rejecting justice, he finally sent the Babylonians to sack Jerusalem and take the finest of her people...
I am sitting on the back porch looking out over the meadow behind our house. The sun is high in the sky, its heat tempered by a light breeze. A couple of Grackles...
Jeremiah 28 describes a gripping conflict between two prophets, Jeremiah and Hananiah. The story began in chapter 27, when the Lord told Jeremiah to wear a yoke that symbolized the yoke of...
Jeremiah 27 records several prophetic messages of Jeremiah that were delivered early in the reign of King Zedekiah, around 594 B.C. Though...
I’ve been a father for eight years now, but it was only last weekend when I finally figured out what exactly being a father meant.
As I watch younger Christian leaders today, I remember how much I was once like them. With youth comes enthusiasm, vision, boldness . . . and often arrogance. I think of some things I once said to...
Jeremiah 25 is surely one of the more distressing passages in all of Scripture, for it reveals the imminent judgment of God upon, not just Israel, but all of its neighbors as well.
Sometimes poetry is the only acceptable way to talk about spirituality in the workplace.
A friend of mine has a fig tree in his yard, but he rarely pays attention to it. Thus, during the time of year when he should be harvesting figs, he often ends...
How many times have you heard Christians say, “God told me to do this” or “The Lord told me to do that”...
I was traveling with my grandparents down a country road on vacation one summer when we came upon a warning sign that read: ROAD CLOSEDBRIDGE OUT"What should we do?" we wondered. Clearly we...
They say the two things you have to find when you move to a new city are a good doctor and a good mechanic. I’ve had several physicians in the twenty years that...
When we think of knowing God, we rightly focus on our relationship with God, on his revelation in Scripture and, most of all, in Jesus Christ. But knowing God isn’t simply a matter...
I completely forgot about God for two entire weeks. I know, that sounds terribly unspiritual of me. Couldn't I have at least garnered a passing nod to the one who created me, the...
Jeremiah 21:12-14 is a prophetic word for Judah’s royal family, the descendants of King David. It begins: "Give justice each morning to the people you judge! Help those who have been robbed...
"And now," my boss said, "we come to the part about improvements you can make."She was giving me my first job performance...
Most of us have experienced heartburn at one time or another. We eat a particular spicy meal, or we eat too much at Thanksgiving, and in a couple of hours our insides feel...
