Month: July 2018

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Psalms 23:1-3 I’ve had more than one counselor attempt to identify some childhood trauma or depression that led to my drug use. Perhaps there is some such reason for…
Read more

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge . . . (Psalms 18:2) Many times, I have worked at a problem, trying many different ways to solve it, resorting to prayer only when all else has failed. When I finally get to that…
Read more

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked . . . but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalms 1:1-2 I usually look for the easy way to do everything. When I had to go to treatment, I didn’t…
Read more

Though he slay me, I will hope in him . . . Job 13:15 Most of my suffering has been self-inflicted, so I’m not well versed in what to say when bad things happen unfairly. If anyone ever suffered in a way that seems unjust (to me) though, it was Job, who endured incredible loss, precisely…
Read more

He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. Job 5:18 We’ve all been there. A friend goes through something terrible and in our desire to comfort – and to say something spiritual – we offer up ill-conceived advice. We don’t mean to be insensitive, but we compound misery by suggesting…
Read more

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:21 When bad things happen, most of us want to know why. When times are good, we thank God, but when life falls apart, we want a reason. We like formulaic answers, so we may turn to passages…
Read more

Whom would the king delight to honor more than me? Esther 6:6 Today’s passage on pride, as always, is for me. Though I find other’s pride so ugly, I find I am often completely comfortable with my own. In the story, Haman was elevated to a powerful position by the king of Persia, but Mordecai, a…
Read more

I will go to the king . . . and if I perish, I perish. Esther 4:16 I hear this not infrequently in Christian circles, regarding drug addiction: It’s simple. Just believe in Christ and your free. What’s odd to me, is that those I hear saying it, still struggle with food, tobacco or pride, just…
Read more

Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?  Esther 4:14 Looking back, it’s easy to see God’s hand working through my addiction. God used the miserable consequences of my toxic choices to change me. Now, I’m able to share Christ’s transforming power with others. In retrospect, it’s…
Read more

If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Esther 4:14 When I go to the local jail for Sunday morning bible study, I would love to say that it is simply out of some noble desire to share…
Read more