Head-dibs

Firm trust. Children have no difficulty with confidence. They trust without question. Children trust firmly, with resolution. Confidence comes naturally to a child. Then, everything changes. Sometime, somewhere, somehow, confidence wanes, trust falters. One grows and the focus of trust shifts away from the parent to self. We throw ourselves off balance when God’s natural design is corrupted by the sin nature. Confidence is significantly weakened and distrust takes over. Confidence must be relearned, re-established and to have it fully, one must return to the one who instilled that in our design. We must return to our maker, and in so-doing, retrain ourselves to think, live, believe differently. Confidence takes discipline. We need to practice trusting God and practice takes time, requires focus, saying “yes” to some things and “no” others. Our mental, physical and spiritual diets may have to change, get rid of the fat that weighs us down, build up the spiritual muscles we...

I was going to write on Psalm 9, but I never made it past the Superscript. It’s too rich. It reads, “To the choirmaster on muth-labben, a psalm of David.” See what I mean? You don’t? Well, let me ‘splain. We get the idea right away this is some kind of musical instruction, but we get sort of hung up on that nearly unpronounceable “m” word (just say it with confidence—it’s not that difficult). There are many different thoughts about what “muth-labben” means: some divide the word up [ לַבֵּן מוּת עַלְ (al mut labben)], which can be read “on the death of the son.” Others, based on the Greek translation of the Old Testament keep it all together as one word, עַלְמוּת (almut) which can be understood as a musical instruction, such as “sung with a young voice.” Why could it not be both: the tune is “on the death of the son,” and it is intended for the principle instrument: a young voice? David was very specific to include this instruction and while it may be debated as to whether or...

“What is this confidence that you have?” These are the words of an invader. The Assyrian army has seized all the fortified cities of Judah and is now on the doorstep of Jerusalem. The Assyrian king sent three generals to speak with Hezekiah, not face to face, but to shout public humiliations over the wall. Listen to them strip every ounce of hope in the hearing of the people, “You say (but they are only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? . . . Have I come up without the Lord’s approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’” (see 2 Kings 18-9-19:37) I am firmly convinced that when J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Battle of Helm’s Deep in “The Two Towers” he had the Assyrian invasion in mind. Peter Jackson did a fairly good job capturing the scene for us: Yes, I think that is fairly accurate (even of the Assyrians). Psalm 46 was composed during this...

Psalm 27 reminds us that God is not only trustworthy, but that He shares that attribute with us; that is, we can be trustworthy too. We should give thanks. If you think about it, the fact that He shares this attribute with us is astounding because I think I’m a pretty good person--sort of like Peter, the Rock—solid, right? Sure, if you look past the hot-headed impulsiveness. The truth of the matter is I need trustworthiness (among so many other things—but trustworthiness is the topic at present) and to get it, I have to look beyond myself, God-ward.   The first two paragraphs of Psalm 27 (verses 1-11) help us learn the principle of trustworthiness and one cannot help but note the repetition of the command, “Do not fret” when we first see the contrast of evildoers against God.   Evildoers cannot be trusted, so don’t get worked up over the fact that someone has done you wrong. Make absolutely certain you don’t envy them and the reason is this: they may be tall and thick, ...

A reader from the Philippines wrote me with the following: "I have not prayed to receive Christ and I would like to investigate more.  I want to trust Jesus with all my heart but How?"  I post my reply here for your encouragement as you talk with others about Jesus. Thank you for writing with such an excellent question. I will not only answer your question, but I will also tell you God’s will for your life. First, let’s look at what God says about the heart in the Bible: “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds .” (Jeremiah 17:9-10). How do we trust Him who is Perfect with something He says is deceitful and sick? Think for a moment about what is in your heart. We can do this by looking at God’s perfect standard (the Ten Commandments) which acts like a mirror to help us see what He sees—here...

ht: Tony Miano "Herman Cain lead a Q&A session at the Douglas County Tea Party when a young woman asked him about the attack by the Left on our Judeo-Christian heritage in America...He addressed her question, then went to the last question of the night, and the crowd was not expecting what happened next..."

I'm a Texan by birth, and everyone knows that Texans enjoy nothing more than a good lie story. Many take great pride in their ability to yarn. Must be something in the water, or the air. Too many cattle, perhaps. Two riverboat captains who got into a shouting match around the campfire one night about who was the better liar. One of their crew suggested a contest to find out who could tell the best lie. Wagers were made and the captains took a moment to gather their thoughts. The first captain stood up in the light of the campfire and spun his story of that summer the Old Muddy ran so low and dry that they used their paddle-wheel steamboat to plow and furrow the once soggy bottom. They turned miles of the rich riverbed into farmland. The soil was so rich that instead of waiting weeks, the first crop came in mere days in the heat of the summer sun. As they began to harvest the corn by backing their paddle-wheel downstream through the fields, the summer sun beat down so hard that all...

“There are four great impelling motives that move men to action: Fear, Hope, Faith, and Love—these four, but the greatest of these is Fear.” Fear makes people do the strangest things. The Russian revolutionary Joseph Stalin had eight bedrooms that could each be locked up like a bank vault, and nobody knew which room he was sleeping in on any given night. “Cockpit country” in Jamaica was once called the “Land of Look Behind” after the 1600’s. Runaway slaves (“maroons”) fled into the jungles and waged guerilla warfare against the English. The government troops so frequently looked over their shoulders to avoid ambush that they gave the mountainous area it’s name. Fear does not prevent us from greeting a stranger in the grocery store, nor does it keep us from talking about the best deals in town (we may perhaps even swap coupons) or discussing the best brand of toilet paper (I was being random). Yet, turning the corner in the store and seeing some young men with nametags that read "T...

“What should I do? I am upset with God and I am tired of crying. My sister had a miscarriage and I think it is my fault because of sin. I keep asking Jesus/God to give my sister another baby. I am ready for her to have another, but I am afraid of another miscarriage. What can I do to convince God to let my sister have another baby?” Have you ever read Psalm 139? I encourage you to make verses 1-6 a prayer of admission of who God is. He knows everything about you, your sister, how you feel. The Lord is God and He is at work to display His own glory in His own way. Oftentimes we tend to get upset because we have a limited perspective on what He is doing—but He sees the big picture. These verses help us remember who is in control. Make verses 7-12 a prayer of surrender. No matter what you experience, trust Him—believe Him. He cannot lie, so if we don’t trust Him, we are saying we know better than Him. God is right there with you, your sister, the baby--even through the darkest hour. Remem...

Of all that I’ve forgotten, I sometimes wish I could forget my first dream (the first I actually remember) as it truly was a nightmare. I must have been only 7 or 8 years old and for some reason, I was truly terrorized in my dream--I can still see the images vividly. Years later, 1986 came and went, sort of just slipped by as if a dream (more like a nightmare) and like most dreams I have presently, I certainly don’t remember most of it—and of course, the parts I do remember I wish I could forget. The Wilson Sisters and their band “Heart” gave many of us a sound-track for the year with their pop hit, “These Dreams” in which some were the princesses and others the prince (whatever that meant to our drug-induced, hormone-driven, sin-pattern behavior). As time passed we learned our sleepy thoughts, images and emotions had to become goals or purpose for living—for those that lived to tell. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and I am not talking about the one he had to rule the world. His dre...

Dedicated Christians who are not for sale; Who are honest, sound-true to the heart's core; Who condemn wrong in friend or foe, in themselves as will as others; Whose conscience are steady as the needle to the pole; Who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels; Who can tell the truth and stand by it; Who neither brag nor run; Who neither flag nor flinch; Who can have courage without whistling for it, and joy without shouting to bring it; Who have the current of everlasting life running deep, still and strong - Who know their message and tell it, know their duty and do it, know their place and fill it - Who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor. Who are willing to eat what they have earned, and use what they have paid for.

Psalm 125:1, “Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.” [i] One need not be a scholar of the Psalms to know how often the writers describe the strength and security he finds in the LORD God being illustrated in those pictures of mountains, rocks, even bulwarks and fortresses. Here is a peculiar occasion where the writer describes not the LORD as the Mount; rather, he likens the one who trusts in the LORD as Mount Zion, specifically. Like skipping a stone on the surface of still water, we are apt to skip over these first few verses before delving into principles and applications that lead us toward Godliness. Let us instead pause to reflect on that surface and consider first what is meant by “trust” and how that understanding helps us know how this makes one like Mount Zion. Trust is related to belief; that is, who (or what) is the object or authority and who is in subjection to that person or thing? Trust is another way of describing depe...