Connecting Points

By Peeter Lukas

“You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
~ 2 Cor. 1:11

As a child I didn’t have or read stories of Biblical heroes like David, Samson, or Paul. But I do remember reading and loving Greek mythology, with characters like Zeus, Hermes, Titan, and Antaeus. Who needed Marvel or D.C. comics? Antaeus was the son of the sea god Poseidon and the earth goddess Gaea. He was a combative god and vanquished everyone who dared cross his path. His secret weapon was that when struck to the ground, Gaea, his “mother earth”, would renew his strength. Hercules discovered this and finally killed him by holding Antaeus in the air.

In the opening chapters of 2 Corinthians Paul is transparent with his labors as an evangelist, teacher, pastor, and church planter. In chapter 1, he says “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.” (v8,9)

In chapter 4 he says, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus,…” (v8-10) And later in the same chapter he says this: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” (v16-18)

I’m sure we can see the upward trend in Paul’s experience within these three passages. He realistically called Christians “jars of clay.” He first despaired of life itself; then he says that he was afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, though not crushed or driven to despair or forsaken or destroyed; and he finally sees it all as being light and passing when compared to the eternal weight of glory to come.

Overwhelmed? A “ying” of overwhelmed with a “yang” of not so bad? It’s all good? Paul, which is it for you (and for us)? Are these things good or bad? And the answer, of course, would be “Yes.”

All his trials produced the same result: “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (1:9)…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies (4:10)… is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (4:17)”

“Death” for Jesus’ sake brought life to the Apostle. Or as Jonathan Edwards once said, “Thus there is a difference between having an opinion that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness.”

The trials of a pastor’s life are many (and yes, “especially in these days” should be added to that). Dear Brethren, continue to pray for our pastors. Antaeus drew his strength from “Mother Earth”, but his life was a myth. What is true is that every “death” our pastors live is one that can renew their souls. Pray that they can better have a sense of the sweetness of the loveliness of Christ, that they would be able to say with the apostle “we have set our hope that he will deliver us again…so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh…and we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.” And with George Whitfield, “We are immortal until our work on earth is done.”

And as we pray may we be drawn into the bigger story of 2 Cor.4:12 – “So death is at work in us, but life in you.” And of 2 Cor.1:11 – “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”

Pray for God’s blessing upon their lives and ministries, and your own lives will be blessed.

by Zane Meibeyer

Philippians 3:12-14…

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Scripture has many warnings for the sluggard and the indecisive. Ecclesiastes imparts the wisdom to do with your might whatever your hand finds to do (9:10) and cautions against letting uncertainty prevent the work of planting and harvesting (11:4). The exhortations of the Old Testament are fully developed in the coming of Jesus and the salvation that he brings. In Luke 14:12-24 Christ clearly stresses the urgency of the gospel, and the danger of delay in one’s response to his call in the parable of the great banquet. The apostle Paul takes up this appeal in his ministry, as we see in 2 Cor. 6:2: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Praise God that by the Holy Spirit’s work, so many have heard this call and by faith have looked to Christ for salvation! And yet, there are many opportunities for Christians to fall into indecision. We know that we should not grow weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9). Though if we are honest, we can feel overwhelmed by the need to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), particularly when forgetting to acknowledge that perfection is only found in Christ. Once this error occurs, we can read Ephesians 5:15 – “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,” – and attempt to answer ourselves, rather than looking to God’s word, the question raised in verse 16: What is the best use of our time?

In terms of human behavior, the perfect can become the enemy of the good. This is a frequent refrain in my work, including when there is a struggle to translate an ideal world treatment to a real world context. This pattern arises in spiritual life and development as well. Do any of these statements sound familiar? Yes, I’d like to share the gospel with my coworkers or family members, but my scripture memory should be a little more polished before I enter into these conversations . . . I meant to set aside an hour for some rich time in the word and prayer, but today I’ve only got 15 minutes in the car . . . How can I enter into supplication without spending sufficient time in adoration, confession, and thanksgiving? . . . It’s better to wait on doing family worship until it can be daily – my schedule is just too inconsistent right now.

Here is where Paul’s example and encouragement in Philippians can be so helpful to Christians stuck between awareness of their imperfections and desire for things to be “just right.” Like Paul, we are not perfect, but Christ Jesus has made us his own. We can acknowledge the gracious gift of salvation already given to us, recognize that the full consummation of that salvation is yet to come, and rejoice that we can press on; not by our own strength, but by the sustaining power of being united to Christ.

by Jeff McAlvey

The last year has been hard, very hard. We’ve endured a pandemic, social justice issues, unrest in our cities, and a very contentious election. Each by itself would have been challenging. All together it has been overwhelming, exhausting. Most of us at various times have experienced discouragement, loneliness, confusion and/or anger. There has been turmoil on social media, in families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and sadly even in our churches. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find both my countenance and my head down.

Fortunately, we know as Christians where to turn. As David tells us in Psalm 3, the Lord “is the lifter of our head.” He does that most often for us through his word. There is no other place where we can find his wisdom, perspective, and comfort. I have no wisdom of my own to offer for this devotion. I learned early in my eldering that often the most important thing I can do is to point people to Scripture. So, let me offer three verses that have been helpful to me these past months. I encourage you to consider and meditate on them this week.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:6

Doesn’t it seem like this was written just for 2020? These are just the words I have so often needed to hear…don’t fear or be dismayed, I am your God!

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke”. Isaiah 6:1-5

There have been days when the best thing I can do for my soul is to focus on the glory of the Lord. Meditating on Isaiah’s vision helps me to do that better than any other Scripture. Plus, it reminds me that just as King Uzziah died, presidents will also die, pandemics will fade away, but the King of Glory is eternal.

But he said to me “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor 12:9

This verse reminds me that God knows where I am emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and He will provide what I need. Not only that, but He actually uses my weakness and struggles for my good and His glory. I have not yet to come to the place where I’m boasting in my weaknesses, but I am comforted in them.

God’s word is such a treasure! These verses have been a great encouragement to me, I hope they are to you as well. I’d love to hear what verses have especially spoken to you in these past months.

by Chris Spencer

Adam and Eve knew perfect happiness with God in the garden, until one day, the crafty serpent sowed the seeds to distrust God. The tempter challenged Eve, “Did God actually say…?”, directly contradicted what God had said, “You will not surely die,” and finally suggested that God was holding back something desirable from her, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” We know the terrible consequences that followed that initial unbelief, and we can trace that same thread through the history of God’s people right into our own lives.  Our responses to those same accusations of God lie underneath our every act of disobedience: “God didn’t really mean that” “Is obedience really consequential?” “Is he withholding something from me that I’d be better off having?”

Having trust issues with God is no trifling matter. We call his constancy, justice, goodness, wisdom, his whole character into question. In Numbers 13 and 14, we see how the Lord defines distrust. The same Israelites who had just been mightily delivered from slavery in Egypt are told to “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.” As you may remember, 10 of the 12 spies came back with the message, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” By their anxious report, the whole congregation turned to rebellion. The Lord’s response is very informative: “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?”  The Israelites did not believe God’s promise to give them the land or in his power to do so, despite His recent demonstrations to the contrary. He defines this unbelief as despising his very self.

People are not trustworthy, but “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”  To conflate our trust issues of man with God is to make him in our image. To despise our life-giver is death. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, the 10 spies and their followers did not go into the land. Our own pet excuses will meet a similar end. But! (a gospel signal word) But by the blood of Jesus, our distrusting, God-despising hearts are healed.  He restores to us the eyes to rightly see His nature as he has revealed it to us and to interpret everything else accordingly. The 2 faithful spies could see the God who heard the cries of his people in bondage, who used his power to deliver them from Egypt, and conclude that the enemy giants in the promised land were of little consequence.

Likewise, dear Christian, we need not sinfully fear the obstacles on our road to glory or distrust the commands our heavenly Father has given for us to be happy and holy. Romans 8:32 is incredibly illuminating on this point: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”  Thomas Brooks gives us a good thought about what is included when God promises to be our God and give us all things:

“That is as if he said, You shall have as true an interest in all my attributes for your good, as they are mine for my own glory…My grace, saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and my power shall be yours to protect you, and my wisdom shall be yours to direct you, and my goodness shall be yours to relieve you, and my mercy shall be yours to supply you, and my glory shall be yours to crown you.  This is a comprehensive promise, for God to be our God: it includes all.”

by Dave Hinkley

Acts 26:19-32…

[19] “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, [20] but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. [21] For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. [22] To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: [23] that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

[24] And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” [25] But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. [26] For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. [27] King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” [28] And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” [29] And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

[30] Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. [31] And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” [32] And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

As Peter commands us in 1 Peter 3:15, Acts 26 is an account of Paul giving a reason for the hope that is within him. Governor Festus is entertaining the visiting King Agrippa and says, “Hey, I know that you are into all that Bible stuff; do you want to hear from this dude I have in the dungeon? The Chief Priests and elders in Jerusalem hate him because he says that this guy Jesus came back to life.”

Paul has been unjustly imprisoned and is brought out in chains before this powerful audience and is asked for his story. As we read the book of Acts, we may get used to seeing Paul as a kind of faith superhero and forget to consider the emotions of a moment like this. What might someone in Paul’s position say? “Please let me go! I didn’t do any crimes and everyone knows it. I am a victim of conspiracy and prejudice! I have rights and they are being abused!” If you look at Agrippa’s words at the end of that chapter, a self-defense might have resulted in freedom. Could we blame Paul if he had chosen that direction?

Paul’s brain processes the situation differently. He sees a Governor, King, Queen, several guards and attendants, and recognizes the actual stakes. The stakes in the room were far higher than Paul getting his handcuffs off. The stakes were higher than his honor, higher than his rights, higher than his comfort, higher than his earthly life. This is a room full of people who will only escape eternal destruction if they hear and embrace the message of the gospel.

To Paul, personal safety and individual liberty were not worth the testimony of the gospel. In a COVID divided world, where everything is about not getting sick or not wanting my liberties violated, Christians must fight to have Paul’s priorities.

Asked by the Governor to give an account of himself or a reason for the hope that is within him, Paul lets it loose. He shares how Jesus has rescued him from his life of religious hatred and set him on the path of freedom by the gospel. After hearing everything Paul has to say, King Agrippa is rattled and says “Wait, are you trying to convince me to become a Christian?!” to which Paul says, “Absolutely I want you to be a Christian! I want everyone to be a Christian. Why do you think that I am here standing before you?”

Where does the Lord have you standing? Who is listening to you? Are you telling them about your rights and fears or are you telling them about your hope?

by Josh Puuri

Our Christian sisters, Abby and Sam, depart this Friday to a country the size of Iowa that is home to 150+ million people. It is estimated that 90% of the people there are unreached concerning the gospel and only 0.3% of the population are adherents to the Christian faith. They will be serving local and tribal populations as a nutritionist and nurse at a local hospital, but their primary aim is to support the work of planting churches. They leave behind their homes, ease of life in a first-world country, warmth of fellowship with family and friends, familiarity of speaking their native tongue, and countless other comforts their current life affords them. No one would deny the level of sacrifice being demonstrated here, but Mark 10 offers an encouraging reminder to Abby, Sam, and all believers, that sacrifice for Christ comes with a great promise.

In Mark 10:17-23, Jesus had just reminded His disciples in consecutive teachings that following Him requires great sacrifice as we must rely less on this world and learn to put our trust in Him: “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Likely anxious in wondering if Jesus was directly addressing their level of commitment, Peter replied to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

Noticing that Peter’s reply focused solely on their depth of sacrifice, Jesus graciously taught His disciples that anyone who has forsaken their past life for the sake of Christ will be even greater recipients of his blessing both here in this life and in the eternal one to come. He taught them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Theologian J.C. Ryle says of this passage, “There are few wider promises than this in the Word of God. There is none certainly in the New Testament which holds out such encouragement for the life that now is. Let every one that is fearful and faint-hearted in Christ’s service look at this promise. Let all who are enduring hardness and tribulation for Christ’s sake, study this promise well, and drink out of it comfort.”

What might the rich blessing of this life look like? Here are some of the ways that come to mind:

In a season of weakness? He is your strength and shield. Trust in him.

In a moment of loneliness? He offers you communion with saints worldwide.

Unsure of decisions or outcomes? His faithfulness endures to all generations.

And while this life still presents persecution, recall Jesus’ final promise to the disciples: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Sam and Abby, we are thankful for your obedience to the call that the Lord has placed on your lives. He is your great reward in this life and eternity to come. Your church family at URC supports you and is praying for you.

URC, may their example spur us on to live sacrificially here as we seek to be obedient in advancing the great commission over there.

by Brad Beals

Thus says the LORD:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
~Jeremiah 17: 5-8

I would not have done 2020 like that. If I were all-sovereign over the events of last year, I would have skipped global pandemic and widespread social unrest. I suspect you would have too.

But thankfully, we are not sovereign and God is not like us. He does not think as we think. He does not do things as we would have him do things. And though it may be hard to see blessing in 2020, and though we may already be wondering how the events of 2021 could be for our highest good, that’s ok. Our call is to trust Him. We don’t have to be able to see what He sees.

That being said, there is much in God’s word to help us see, in a very general sense, HOW he works. For example, throughout scripture we see a common image for how God deals with people: we are as fruit-bearing plants. We might be trees planted by streams of water, branches abiding in the Vine, and wild olive shoots grafted into the holy root. But hang on. We might also be shrubs in the desert where we will see no good, diseased trees bearing bad fruit, and fruitless branches thrown into the fire.

The first lesson from such a repeated image is obvious: We should pay careful attention to the kind of trees we are and strive to be counted among the former group. The second lesson is not as obvious. As we the church see ourselves in this imagery as being the good kind of tree or vine, we can also see that there is no getting around the fact that God uses a particular method of keeping his flora healthy – He prunes. We’re being pruned. Individually, this local church body, the Western church, the entire global visible church — all of God’s people are getting a severe pruning this year. And it hurts, as pruning should.

But while it’s true that pruning produces fruit and that good fruit takes time, it’s also true that we can see even now places in the branches where fruit is likely to grow.

1  “Keep close watch over your life and doctrine.” (1Tim 4:16) Consider this: at no time in recent memory (my memory, at least) has the church expended such deliberate and continuous effort in looking into vital doctrines of the faith. Sphere sovereignty, ecclesiology, justification by faith alone, law and gospel, loving God and neighbor – It is good that we’ve had to go deep into such things. May God keep us at it!

2  “…that the things that cannot be shaken shall remain.” (Heb 12:27) Churches that have remained closed, may not ever re-open. This is sad. Every shuttered church building, whether a cathedral in some European city or the corner church that let covid have the final say, is a sad story. But these are very likely branches that had to be, or will have to be, removed. Jesus is building his church, and there’s demo work to be done.

3  “…scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”(Acts 8:1) For three centuries, the caesars tried to put out the pernicious cult of Christianity, but their efforts always seemed to have the reverse effect. The lesson is clear: church and state are truly not of the same kingdoms. As Christians become increasingly marginalized, if real persecution should break out, we should look for God to grow even more fruit.

No doubt you’ve seen the memes. 2020 craziness was just a warm-up for whatever 2021 has in store. No matter. Our God does not think as we do, so be hopeful, joyful, and do not despair. If 2021 lives up to the hype, it is likely to be our most fruitful year so far.

by Tim Herwaldt

Psalm 146…

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,
    in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
    on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7     who executes justice for the oppressed,
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
    he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

The phrase that the author of this Psalm inserted in verse 6, “the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth”, is one that should catch our attention. It is not an uncommon phrase in scripture. A quick search on Biblegateway.com turned up 14 occurrences of this phrase or a variation of it, several in the Psalms alone. It is a phrase that all of us have seen and read many times, and it is a phrase worth lingering over. I think that scripture returns to this phrase numerous times because it reminds us about who it is that we should trust, and why we should trust him.

Think about one of the implications of this phrase. We do not live in an accidental universe. The Lord made this universe in which we all live. It is a massive place, where measurements of distance must be made in terms of how far light travels in a year at 186,000 miles per second, or, if you prefer, 670,000,000 miles per hour. For reference, the farthest known galaxy is about 13.25 billion light years away from earth. Our God made this, and it staggers the mind to think about the unimaginable knowledge, wisdom, power, and understanding that brought this about. Colossians 1:17 reminds us that he not only made it, but continues to hold it all together. These things alone should move us to praise, worship, and trust him, but this Psalm doesn’t stop there.

Prior to this phrase, the author tells us in whom we ought not to trust. Don’t trust in political leaders because they can’t save you. Every one of them will die, and when they do, their plans perish with them. This is where he contrasts this impotence with the magnificence of the one who made all things. The Lord our God, “who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever.” Think about that. His promises have no expiration date. He keeps faith forever.

He goes on. Not only has this mighty God made all things, but he reaches down into our daily lives in a multiplicity of ways. He executes true justice for those who are oppressed, he feeds the hungry, and he sets prisoners free. He gives sight to the blind, he lifts up those who are weighed down by the burdens of life, and he loves the righteous. And so that we remember, those whom he looks on as righteous are not those who think they have done enough good things, but those who, like Abraham, believe the promise of God and are thus counted righteous by God.

Further, he watches over the sojourners, he upholds widows and those who have no earthly father. And over against all of these ways in which he cares for his own, he brings down the wicked to ruin.

The Psalmist is not wearing rose colored glasses as he looks around at real life. He sees that sometimes God’s people are oppressed, sometimes they go hungry or are imprisoned. He recognizes that sometimes God’s people are burdened, or homeless, or fatherless. He knows that all of us, at some time or another, deal with the hard realities of life.

Even so, he seeks to remind us of who it is that we look to and hope in, and – as if to add an exclamation point – the Psalmist reminds us that his reign, the reign of our God who made heaven and earth, will never end. He is great and mighty and powerful, he cares for his people, and he will reign forever.

Praise the Lord!

by Tim McCormick

When Blue’s Clues aired on Nickelodeon in 1996, my youngest daughter was four. She was enthralled with the hunt to solve each episode’s puzzle. Coaxed into participation by the “clueless” host Steve, she would point to the screen and call out loud, “look behind you!” If you are not familiar with the show, the dog Blue would leave a trail of clues with his signature blue paw print. After a series of mini-puzzles, Steve would sit down in a comfortable chair— the Thinking Chair—to ponder the meaning of the puzzle clues with the help of his at-home, pre-school audience. The next day, Steve would do it again. Not just the same show format and a new puzzle. No, the same episode would repeat five days in a row! Why did she not tire of the message? Her bewildered eight-year-old brother wondered, too, wasn’t once enough?

In Lamentations, Jeremiah is grieving over Jerusalem. The city had been sacked and burned, and her people carried off into exile. For over 300 years, prophets like Joel, Isaiah, and more recently, Zephaniah and Jeremiah, broadcast (maybe even five days a week!) the same message to repent, to return to God or experience the consequences of their continued rebellion. Now, the evidence of judgment has God’s fingerprints all over it.  Jeremiah recounts the LORD’s righteous judgments against Jerusalem in chapter 3 of Lamentations as graphic, deep personal wounds. The anguish mounts as he confesses that his hollowed soul has no peace, and his tired mind knows no happiness or hope (3:17-19).

Then Jeremiah turns the corner in his funeral poem saying,

     ²¹ But this I call to mind, 
and therefore I have hope: 
     ²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 
his mercies never come to an end; 
     ²³ they are new every morning; 
great is your faithfulness. 
     ²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, 
“therefore I will hope in him.” 

On his own “thinking chair,” Jeremiah recalls God’s steadfast love and his covenant affection for his people. He reminds his own soul that God’s mercies are endless, and his faithfulness is great.  As Paul and Silas found reason to sing in prison (Acts 16:25), Jeremiah finds reason to hope.  When everything is stripped away, his soul answers, “I will hope in him because he is my portion, my inheritance.”

As we turn the page into 2021, we have much to lament from 2020. The world without Christ yearns for this change of calendar year and celebrates with “good riddance 2020” parties.

But the tone is more superstition than hope for the new year.  We, however, belong to a God whose covenant commitment to us never ceases, whose tender compassion never fails. And when January 5 rolls around and we have already failed in our New Year’s resolutions, we can know that His love and His mercies are renewed each morning.  We need to repeat that message to our weary souls and tired minds every day.

by Barry Peterson

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”  ~ John 6:68-69

Almost every morning my alarm wakes me up at 6:00 am – if our baby boy doesn’t do it sooner – and this verse runs through my head and heart. These words of Peter motivate me as I turn on the coffee pot and grab my Bible for another day, looking to the promises of God as the satisfaction that I know my soul needs and my heart desires.

Perhaps you drink from this same well each day, or maybe you’ve given up because the ground seems more like a desert wasteland and the search for an oasis doesn’t quite fit into the daily routine anymore. Whether you can identify with either of those, or you’re somewhere in the middle, I’d like to offer three practices that help me when I turn on the light and sit down at the breakfast nook with the Scriptures in hand.

1. Don’t play catch up. People often make the resolution to get through the Bible in a year, get a few months in, and are already discouraged playing catch up with their plan. I love mine. It’s a combination of one half of the M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan and D.A. Carson’s For the Love of God commentary. I do miss days, but I never play catch up. If a Bible reading is going to be a lifetime habit, and we are going to be drinking from the fountain regularly, then we shouldn’t worry if we miss a day occasionally, it’ll still be there when we come back around next year.

2. Focus on a paragraph. It’s too easy to read the Bible, put it away, and forget what we’ve read 15 minutes later. That’s normally what happens to me if I don’t pick something to dig into. With a pen in hand, we should expect the Spirit to illumine our hearts to something we want to take a closer look at.

3. Look for God. God’s word is full of, well, God. Two questions I ask every time I read are, what is God up to? and what is he like? It’s hard to describe what deep comfort and love for God comes with simply answering those two questions and writing down the answers every morning for years on end. He speaks to us through his word, and in his word is where we will find him, and when we find him, we will be satisfied in him.

A Bible reading plan is not an end in itself; it is a way to fall deeper in love with Jesus, the Holy One of God. Following a plan to be in God’s word for the rest of life, not just the New Year, is the best way I’ve found to be satisfied in him. He has the words of eternal life. Where else shall we go?