May 27th 2025

FAITH IN THE DARKNESS

Who among you fears the LORD & obeys the word of His servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD & rely on his God. But now, all you who light fires & provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires & the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from My hand: You will lie down in sorrows. Isaiah 50:10,11

This may be one of the most frightfully sobering scriptures in the Bible. God makes it clear that providing our own illumination, following our understanding, & making our own way forward will result in sorrows. Very few people like total darkness & certainly, there are times when the circumstances of life or relationships make us feel we are alone, afraid, & sitting in darkness. But we must stay upon our God, trusting in His faithfulness, everlasting love, & abundant grace. Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12); He is the sun of righteousness who rises with healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2). Be still, trust, & wait for the Lord; avoid the certain sorrows of self-reliance & self-help. The dawn of His redemption is coming! He never fails!

May 20th 2025

FAITH TO LEAVE
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people & your father’s household & go to the land I will show you.” So Abram left, as the LORD had told him. Genesis 12:1, 4

Imagine being 75 years old & being called by an unseen God to leave home & extended family, to travel unrevealed miles, to an unknown destination, without GPS assistance. Would we answer the call & leave our comfort zone & all that’s familiar to journey into the unknown? The answer depends on our faith in God & faith is “being sure of what we hope for & certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Our faith is planted in the perfect character & unconditional love of our Creator God which is revealed over & over within His Word, the Bible. Our faith doesn’t have to be sizeable; Jesus said faith the size of the tiniest mustard seed would move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Abram answered God’s call to leave, had his name changed to Abraham & became the father of many nations.
What has God planned for us if we trust, obey, & follow Him?

ARE WE HIDING IN THE TOMB?

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18

We all desire to put our best self forward & present as good an impression as possible. Beauty products, hair dye, cologne, self-improvement resources & higher education aid us in this pursuit. Some of us even tidy our environment before accepting housekeeping assistance! All too often, we make these attempts of self-cleaning before we seek time with God. When we try to hide our bad, ugly & very ugly, we actually find ourselves in the darkness, fear & loneliness of the tomb. God desires that we come to Him, just as we are, with no attempts of self-improvement. He calls us out of our self-made tombs of fear & hiding so that we may experience transformation by Christ’s resurrection power of love, grace & life to the full. Jesus did not rise from death for us to live in our tombs! How will we respond to God’s invitation to come & reason with Him?