Lately, I find myself trying to encourage myself with the mantra of Psalm 127:3: “Children are a heritage of the Lord… the fruit of the womb is His reward.” Blessing. Heritage. Reward. Psalm 127 puts “children” right in the same line of blessings as sleep—and, oh, we know what a blessing sleep is! But when we’re surrounded by toddlers, preschoolers,…
1 Kings 13:11-34 is one of the most strikingly sad and terrible stories in Scripture. It’s about two men of God—prophets—who make some “small” sins for apparently minor reasons and pay a heavy price. The story opens with a “certain old prophet,” name unknown, from Bethel, and a “man of God,” also a prophet, also nameless, from Judah, who goes…
Luke 5:1-11 is a tremendously powerful little story. Jesus sees two boats, and the fishermen washing their nets—after a long night of catching nothing. The fishermen are Peter, James, and John, partners in a fishing enterprise (v. 10). Jesus gets in the boat, and He tells Peter to go out deep and put out the nets. The nets they just…