God is gracious and that is a very good thing, and, normally, we consider it a good thing. But what happens when God shows His grace to those who have hurt us or others? All of a sudden we're not so certain anymore. When God gives grace to the undeserving it raises...
We tend to get frustrated when things don’t go our way. And if we’re honest, sometimes our frustration is tied to our stubbornness. But what if God uses tough circumstances to get our attention for a reason? What if He wants to give us a second chance to overcome our...
You may not be a prophet like Jonah, but there are times when God wants you to do something you should not ignore. You can respond in obedience. Or you can run. Running from God is never a very good option. You may not get swallowed by a giant fish, but you will be...
There are some songs of the heart that we might rather not sing out loud. They express thoughts and feelings that are brutal and dark - feelings we'd rather others not know we feel. There are Song of the Heart in the Bible that curse others or invoke evil and they...
WEEK FOUR Songs of Judgment The notion of blessing is one that Christians are quite comfortable with - the idea of cursing not so much. While we don’t want to spend time with people who abuse power or commit injustices, we don’t like the idea of wishing harm on them....
Ever felt like God was far away, uninterested, or worse yet, that He had abandoned you? You’re not alone. In Psalm 13, David expresses the raw emotion of wondering where God is when he needs Him the most. Far from being unspiritual, cries of lament create a dialogue...
WEEK THREE Songs of Lament When we are heartbroken or angry at the way life has turned out, it can be tempting to turn away from God and write Him off. But David and the other psalmists didn’t hide their feelings of disappointment in God. They felt all the feels and...
It seems like we spend a lot of our time searching. We chase money, relationships, fame, and plenty of other things, hoping that some of it will deliver a sense of goodness, security, and joy. But those searches ultimately leave us wanting. We tend to forget that...
WEEK TWO Songs of Confidence Have you ever been awake in the middle of the night feeling overwhelmed or afraid? When David and the other psalmists were feeling this way, they expressed their unfailing confidence in the goodness, power and deliverance of God. This week...
God invites us to authentically express what we’re feeling when we ponder life’s realities. Many of these expressions are recorded for us in the Psalms—the songbook of the Bible. Psalm 8 is a Psalm of praise. In it, David encourages us to instinctively look up and...
WEEK ONE Songs of Praise Majestic. Glorious. Excellent. Perfect. True. Gracious. Merciful. Awesome. The Psalms of Praise help put into God’s greatness into words. This week as you read through these songs that worship God for who He is, may you be filled with awe and...
Money can activate either greed or generosity within us. When God urges us to share our financial resources for the good of others, He doesn’t do so by appealing to guilt or obligation. God tells us that we can invest in things that really matter by sharing the money...
Everywhere we look, we are confronted with messages telling us about the things we need to be happy and whole. If only we can get, the better phone, go on the better vacation, drive the better car, get into the better college, then we will be content. We will be...
We are created to crave. We all want something. And we all realize that there’s something lacking in our lives, so we always want more. More food, more time, more money, more stuff. But with all of our desire for more, our ability to get more is always limited. So we...
Money is strange. You need it to live, yet it can squeeze the life right out of you. We shouldn’t find it surprising that God has a lot to say about money and our possessions. Far from being an off-limits conversation even in the church, your view of money reveals...
The words “fear of the Lord” appear over one hundred times in the Bible. But throughout scripture, God also tells his people not to fear. Is God contradicting Himself, or could the fear of the Lord mean something completely different than fear? As we discuss the...
With photography, as an illustration, discover the power of seeing the light. God reminds us that “light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” Discover how you can see the light in your own life. Pick up a camera if you’re so inclined, but,...
The arrival of God to earth could have been the most extravagant welcome ever seen—an all-out effort for an over-the-top celebration. But it didn’t happen that way. A few private announcements confirmed the arrival of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. But the Savior’s...
The love of material things often steals our attention. This leads us to focus on growing our collection of possessions, even thinking that those items can somehow provide authentic, deep life satisfaction. And when our idea of Christmas revolves around a misplaced...
We generally associate Christmas as being a season of joy and celebration, but many of us experience deep feelings of grief and loneliness during Christmas. That grief and loneliness grows as we tell ourselves we should be feeling positive emotions instead. If that’s...