“And David said to Ornan, ‘Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.’ Then Ornan said to David, ‘Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems […]
“What is my strength, that I should wait?… Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?” Job 6:11-12 “I love you, O LORD, my strength.” Psalm 18:1 Hearing Job’s despair, reflecting on all he had lost – his property, his servants, his health, his children – I was drawn to this […]
“For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’ ” Jeremiah 30:17 I love this declaration of God. His recognition that outsiders mock His people, believing them to be abandoned. His unequivocal statement […]
“That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 “God wants to meet you […]
“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Psalm 16:6 “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.” Psalm 116:7 There is a particular peace that settles over me when I dwell on these two verses. I seem to sense my […]
“Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end.” Matthew 26:57-58 The last phrase […]
“Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends… Why do you, like God, pursue me?… I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:21-22, 25 Despite his heart-wrenching circumstances, despite his friends’ accusing him of wrongdoing and guilt, Job still holds to […]
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures” Job 3:20-21 I don’t presume to know every reason why God allows such heartache to reach us…why one’s soul can experience […]
“Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer’” Ruth 4:14 No matter how hopeless our circumstances appear, our Lord has not left us without a Redeemer. This truth has really been impressed upon my heart over the past few years. All of those […]
“When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a […]
In Pleasant Places 