Author: Scott

When Dreams Die

Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the Lord: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.” 1 Chronicles 17:4 Suffering from nostalgia, I experience some grief when almost anything ends. I love to visit childhood haunts and I tell my poor family the same stories over and over. I…
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Does God Want Me to Be Happy?

Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you. 1 Chronicles 17:2 Does God want us to be happy? I’ve encountered two answers to this in church. I’ve heard some well-meaning Christians insist that we should pursue our desires because ultimately, God just wants us to be happy. Contrarily, I’ve heard others…
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Angry at God

David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. 1 Chronicles 13:11 I have many destructive appetites and flaws. Some are genetic and some are environmental but either way, I didn’t pick them. I didn’t choose to like donuts or drugs. I am of course, responsible for my actions, which has caused me to…
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Remorse for Breakfast

They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.  2 Kings 25:7 Remorse is a predictable response for most of us when we have caused some misery. If only I had known what would happen. If only I…
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More Life Lessons from the Dog

Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.2 Kings 23:25 I have a confession that may be unpopular – I don’t…
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Just One Bite

He burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. 2 Kings 21:6 No matter how many times my plan has failed, I still find myself saying, I’ll have just one bite. Only a little cheat and then I’ll go back to eating healthy. Then, after…
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Selfishness and Addiction

Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days? 2 Kings 20:19 I can now look back at the disaster that I caused myself in my addiction and see that, even if I could, I wouldn’t change my past, as God used that misery to shape me. When I think of the pain…
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Does Prayer Change God or Me?

I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. 2 Kings 20:5 While enslaved to my addiction, I prayed over and over for miraculous transformation, for God to instantly take away the appetite for that which was destroying me. He did not. Though I still believe He could have…
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Steps One and Two: Helplessness and Hope

Hezekiah received the letter . . . and went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 2 Kings 19:14 Step One of AA says, We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable. Step Two says, We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves…
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The Despair of Addiction

Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” 2 Kings 6:17 Working with addicts, despair is a common encounter. I heard it again recently. My son believes that I’ll never come home from prison. I’ll never change. Even if I do, I’ve caused so much destruction that my life…
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