365 Reflections

Sometimes we make a false choice in the Christian faith. We believe God can only use people totally weak and helpless because any strength offered by man would boast of man's glory and take from God's glory. But is that the picture the totality of Scripture paints?  Yes, Paul talked about how strength comes from our weaknesses.  2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV) But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (ESV) For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. In back to back verses, Paul refers to God's strength in places of great weakness. Yet remember the context. He was speaking of his heavenly vision and the thorn in the flesh given him so that he might not grow proud and arrogant. In spite of that thorn...

No matter where you are, seek God and good things will result. Josiah is case in point. What's amazing is that he comes from a line of self-centered kings. Yet he will stand out. What's more amazing is who was involved in making Josiah King. His father Amon was betrayed and killed and the people struck back at his assassins and placed Josiah, his son on the throne.  2 Kings 21:24 (ESV) But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. What's even more amazing is that Josiah became king at a younger age than even Manasseh. 2 Kings 22:1 (ESV) Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. The turn about that Josiah will bring to Judah begins in his 26th year of life when a simple decree to care for the temple is sent out. 2 Kings 22:3–5 (ESV) In the eighteenth ...

We come to 2 Kings 13 and the narrative moves back to focusing on the northern kingdom of Israel where a new king is on the throne, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. But he's not exactly a noble leader... 2 Kings 13:2–3 (ESV)  He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat , which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them . 3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. This is a familiar refrain for Israel, their king commits idolatry and the people fall in line. God brings judgment in the manner of Hazael, king of Syria as he attacks and defeats them " continually ".  Jehoahaz gets a wake-up call during all this and turns back to God.  2 Kings 13:4 (ESV) Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppress...

Ruth 2:20–23 (ESV) And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’ ” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Ruth's haul from the day in Boaz's fields has floored Naomi. He has given her enough grain for weeks after one day and one encounter. It is a picture of the Lord's grace toward us. He is not the Lord who simply gives here and there, He gives extravagantly.  Now there is something deeper to this story here at the...

John 10:9 (ESV) I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:11 (ESV)   I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. These two "I am" statements of Christ beautifully depict the nature of His love for us. They also reveal what God is truly like. First, being the "door" and the "Shepherd" could mean the same thing. For a shepherd would lay down at the entrance of a sheep pen to keep watch over his sheep at night. Jesus certainly laid it down for us, allowing Himself to be nailed to a cross on which he was laid. He's the one who stops the thief then from coming in and us from wandering out. Second, He is the good shepherd that puts his life out there in exchange for sheep. I think of David's 23rd Psalm who said, "The Lord is my shepherd."  David was a shepherd who understood the sacrifice of caring for his father's sheep. H...