Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:3 Anyone who knows me well has been frustrated by the reality that if I don’t want to do something, I’m probably not going to do it simply because I should. Likewise if I want to do something, even though it may…
Read more
As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. Obadiah 1:15 Whenever I have caused my own misery, I have always cried out to God to get me out of my mess. I’ve even thought it was a little unfair that I was in the mess in…
Read more
But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune . . . Obadiah 1:12 I go to a gym where competition is an inherent part of the experience. One doesn’t need to compete to be there, but my buddies and I enjoy trying to outdo one another. Unfortunately, my…
Read more
In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter – I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins – and will rebuild it as it used to be . . . Amos 9:11 (NIV) The worst part of my addiction – worse than alienating my family and losing my job – was that I…
Read more
If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Amos 9:2 Enslaved to his self-destructive appetite, the addict tells himself various lies to justify his behavior. In my own addiction, every time I relapsed, I convinced myself that this time,…
Read more
Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 Most of us in chemical dependency treatment were compelled by some outside force to be there. This meant that most of us felt that in some way, we were being mistreated. It’s not fair! I shouldn’t have to stay this long. I’m the…
Read more
The days are coming when I will send a famine on the land – not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. Amos 8:11 I’ve been eating right lately, not gorging myself before bed, which means waking up hungry. It was in such a state, that…
Read more
Go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel . . . Amos 7:12-13 I must admit that sometimes, I get irritated in ways that are just ridiculous. When I’m in a hurry and get stopped by a train, I imagine the engineer is…
Read more
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21 I’ve often been a hypocrite, but nowhere have I been guiltier than in church on Sunday morning, where I have sung of my love for and obedience to God, while using drugs. I wanted my words to be true,…
Read more
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live . . . Amos 5:14 At the end of my junior year of high school, I told myself I was going to lift weights every day that summer in preparation for my senior year of football. I was going to get bigger, stronger, and faster. When football…
Read more
Recent Comments