After 20 years of working for Laban in Haran, God told Jacob it was time to go home: “The Lord said to him, ‘Go back to the land of your fathers’” (Gen. 31:3). Do you wonder how God spoke to Jacob? Did He speak in an audible voice? Did the voice come in a dream,…
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The presence of God changes everything. Imagine a weary Israelite on the 40-year journey through the wilderness. In the darkness of the night he lifts the flap of his tent, looks up at the pillar of fire in the sky, turns to his wife and says, “Everything’s okay, God’s still with us.” Consider the disciples…
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Sibling rivalry is as old as … well, the Old Testament. To this day it still puts great stress on families. My two grandsons are both teenagers. In my humble, but correct, opinion, they are the finest, kindest, smartest, and most promising two grandchildren the world has ever known. But they are truly “biblical” brothers.…
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“The devil made me do it.” My generation remembers Flip Wilson popularizing this catchphrase in the early 1970s. It was comedy. We laughed when his character, Geraldine Jones, said, “The devil made me buy this dress. I didn’t want to do it!” Flip Wilson may have popularized the catchphrase, but he didn’t originate the notion…
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Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Whoever first spoke this “back-at-you” proverb probably did so after being stung by someone else’s words. The truth is, words often do hurt. They can help and heal, but they can also hurt and destroy. And while it’s true that words are…
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