June 4, 2009
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

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June 3, 2009


The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him . . . —Psalm 25:14

What is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At...

June 2, 2009
Secure Hope
Psalm 42

God wants us to be people with desires and expectations that are motivating and enriching. But the disappointment of unrealized hopes is inevitable while living in this fallen world. How are we to determine where to place our hope--and how to respond if it is not fulfilled?

Hope is secure when it is aligned with the Lord's desires, which are revealed in Scripture. However, many of our expectations are based on wishes or...

June 1, 2009

1 Samuel 1:1-18

Hannah's situation looked hopeless. She was heartbroken because "the Lord had closed her womb." This alone was a source of great disgrace for a Hebrew woman. But Hannah suffered even more because of the deliberate provocation by her husband's other wife, who was blessed with children.
Holding onto hope can be difficult when circumstances are miserable and show no signs of improving. For believers, this can be even more discouraging,...

It's interesting to look through the pages of Scripture and note how God came to various people in the way they needed Him to come.

To Abraham the pilgrim, God came as a traveler. Remember those three visitors who came to his tent before the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah? One of them was the Lord himself.

To Joshua the general, Jesus came as the Commander of the Lord's army, telling him to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.

Jacob,...