“Seek Me and Live” The seeking Amos called for is not casual. The Hebrew verb is dārash — to consult, to inquire, to make one’s way toward. It is the language of a person who has lost something valuable enough to upend their whole day looking for it. Amos was telling a religious nation that […]
“I Will Pour Out My Spirit” What Joel saw, and what Pentecost confirmed, is that the Christian life is not a life of self-sufficiency trying to reach God. It is a life of God’s Spirit-sufficiency working through you. The promise is not that you will figure out what to do. The promise is that the
“I Will Heal Their Waywardness” The Hebrew word that runs through this book is ḥesed — steadfast love, covenant loyalty, the love that does not let go when the other person does. It is what God is when his people are not. And the staggering claim of this book is that God’s ḥesed is not
“An Everlasting Kingdom” Most of us build our lives around small kingdoms. The kingdom of our career. The kingdom of our household. The kingdom of our reputation. These kingdoms are not evil, but they are temporary, and the mistake is to treat any of them as ultimate. When the ancient near east fell — Babylon
“A New Heart” Look at what the whole canon has been building toward. In Eden, a promise: the seed of the woman will crush the serpent. On Sinai, a covenant: I will be your God. In the prophets, a vow: I will send my Servant. And here in Ezekiel, the landing: I will put my
“New Every Morning” Notice what the writer does not say. He does not say the pain is not real. He does not say God was absent. He does not say it was a blessing in disguise. He says: I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and
“A New Covenant” The new covenant is not a different promise. It is the same promise delivered differently. The Abrahamic covenant was a person making a pledge to a person — I will be your God. The Sinai covenant was the people responding — we will be your people. And the Sinai covenant failed on
“Here Is Your God” The herald in verse 9 does not climb the mountain to make an argument. He climbs to point. Here is your God — not a theology to debate, a Presence to receive. The whole of Isaiah 40 builds to this: the God who measures the waters in the hollow of his
“Wisdom Calls” If wisdom was there when the foundations were laid, then wisdom is not an accessory to real life. It is real life, matched to the grain of the universe. To live wisely is to live with the grain. To live foolishly is to live against it. Proverbs is not a book of tips.
“I Shall Not Want” “I shall not want” is not a prosperity promise. It is a theological claim. The Hebrew carries the force of sufficiency, not abundance — the sheep does not lack, because the shepherd is enough. David is not saying he will never feel need. He is saying need will never be the