Monthly Archives: September 2017

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The Eye-Opening Results You’ll Discover by Using Maps in Your Bible Reading

How a good atlas can serve as your biblical GPS

How do you know which way to go when your smartphone has no service? Just this week, Cathy and I faced this problem as we drove through Glacier National Park with some friends. So, we used something I hadn’t used in years. An actual roadmap. 

The Eye-Opening Results You'll Discover by Using Maps in Your Bible Reading

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

Amazingly, the roadmap worked! We made our way just fine. (Back to the service of our smartphone satellites.) 

It struck me how we don’t have a GPS for our understanding of Bible lands. Instead, we have great maps in a wonderful variety. 

 Do you use maps when you read your Bible? Here’s why you should.

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When God Finally Gives You Want You’ve Begged For

Remember that some of the Lord's most gracious answers are nos.

Got any unanswered prayers? That may be a good thing. Sometimes the only thing worse than God refusing to give us what we want occurs when He gives us want we want. 

When God Gives You Want You've Begged For

(Photo by Photodune)

Many years ago, our young daughter had only one thing on her mind.

She knew we planned an Easter egg hunt, and she asked if she could eat lots of candy on Easter. We told her no, but she kept after us, day after day. Easter came and she continued to plead. So we decided to let her learn by experience what she refused to learn by instruction. We let her eat as many little chocolate eggs as she wanted.

That night was pitiful.

“Oooooh, mommy, my tummy hurts!” She had learned by experience what she refused to learn by instruction. My toddler’s lesson gets repeated in the life of most of us adults.

But it doesn’t have to.

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God’s Incredible Plan Includes Your Ordinary Days

The Dothan Valley shows how our God wastes no experience in our lives.

Sometimes the ordinary days make us wonder if God has forgotten us. After all, when we read the Bible (or Facebook), it all seems so exciting. God is working! Our lives, on the other hand, seem exceedingly boring.

Your Natural Stuff in God's Marvelous Plan

(Photo: Dothan Valley, where Joseph’s brothers sold him. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

But the events in Joseph’s ordinary day in the Dothan Valley revealed God behind the scenes.

Jacob’s 10 oldest sons had traveled north to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. So Jacob dispatched Joseph, whom he loved more than all his other sons, from the Valley of Hebron to check on their welfare.

When Joseph arrived, he found that his brothers had moved further north to the lush pastures of Dothan. Seeing him in the distance, the brothers—jealous of their father’s love for Joseph—purposed to kill the boy. But the presence of a nearby cistern convinced them instead to hurl Joseph into it—and leave him there to die (see Genesis 37:12-28).

It seemed that God dropped the ball. But His painful providence would prove wiser than Joseph’s limited insight.

The same is true for you. God uses your ordinary days in His marvelous plan.

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The Amazing Blessing of Your Average Life

Sometimes the blessing comes with a simple change of perspective.

Would you say your life is average? More ho-hum than awesome? You’re not alone. You’ve probably noticed, but very few people attain stardom status in life. That’s probably a good thing. 

The Amazing Blessing of Your Average Life

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

Solomon’s words, “money is the answer to everything,” come from an earthly perspective (Ecc. 10:19). Among the rich and famous, so few find satisfaction—even in their success.

For some reason, it seems uncommon for exceptional lives to handle success well. Perhaps because success ranks just as much a test of character as does poverty. Maybe more.

Have you ever considered the blessing of being average?

It may surprise you.

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Why the High Price of Humility is Worth What You Pay

Horeshat Tal reminds us of unity's essential ingredient.

Living together in harmony make life great. But dealing with disharmony is like draining the marrow from your bones. King David knew both extremes. He offers wisdom from the voice of experience.

Horeshat Tal—A Reminder of Unity's Essential Ingredient

(Photo: Horeshat Tal National Park. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Many places in Israel today adapt their modern names from biblical names or references. Horeshat Tal National Park takes its name from David’s words in Psalm 133. Horeshat Tal means “The Dew Grove,” a name derived from verse 3:

It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. —Psalm 133:3

Sitting in the shadow of Mount Hermon, this extensive park with its lush surroundings includes beautiful lawns, rolling streams, stone bridges, and a large swimming pool and water slide.

But the best parts of the park are the beautiful groves of centuries-old Tabor oak trees.

  • At one time, these oaks grew in abundance on the hills of the Galilee.
  • These trees are all that remain—saved partly due to a local legend that claims whoever harms a tree will endure suffering.

The superstition reminds us of a principle of unity that Psalm 133 speaks as truth—not legend.

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God’s Amazing Goals for Your Life Begin Here

The small things we do matter to God.

Sometimes the dreams and goals you have for life are good goals—even godly goals—but just not God’s goals. Your expectations of life are just that—yours. God has His own set of plans, and He isn’t telling.

God's Goals for Your Life Begin Here

(Photo by Photodune)

God may lead you initially one direction simply to take you another.

  • He may give you a vision as a single, or for a family, or for a ministry only so that He can sanctify you by his grace in experiencing a slammed door.
  • Slammed doors do more than bend your nose; they keep your heart pliable, sensitive, and available to God’s leading.

Not only does He keep secret the difficult valleys you’ll experience (and many of the mountaintops), but also the tremendous lessons you’ll glean no other way. Lessons you didn’t know you needed to learn. Lessons you’ll thank Him for one day.

Very often, we fail to recognize God using us significantly because we define God “using us” in terms of what we consider significant: results.

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How to Discover the Secret to a Lasting Satisfaction

How do we deal with the futility of life when the satisfaction always fades?

Have you ever noticed how we dedicate so much time and money to feed feelings that last only a moment? Think about your upcoming weekend for a moment and see if it isn’t true.

The Secret to a Lasting Satisfaction

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com)

  • We pay five dollars for a cup of coffee we drink in five minutes.
  • We long for that glorious vacation but come home in a week to face the same daily grind.
  • We plunk down twenty bucks for a movie (and even more for popcorn), and it’s over in two hours.
  • We enjoy the zing of a new relationship or a new church fellowship only to discover it’s just like the last one.

Nothing wrong with any of these activities, per se. But when joy and satisfaction in life elude us, we need to ask an obvious question with a not-so-obvious answer: How do we deal with the futility of life when my satisfaction always fades?

Eventually we figure out we can’t exist for the next relationship or vacation or pat on the back. Instead, we need to learn to live for what never fades and what always satisfies.

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A Map Shows What Happens When Bias Takes the Throne

Solomon’s administrative districts reveal a weakness we must avoid.

Have you ever known someone who fails to take their own advice? Somehow what they see so clearly in the lives of others becomes a personal blind spot that undermines their success.

Jerusalem looking north to Solomon's 12 districts

(Photo: Jerusalem looking north to Solomon’s 12 districts. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

When we look at Solomon, we see a man who literally wrote the book on wisdom. However, his divided heart ultimately divided his nation. But why?

We often point to the influence of Solomon’s foreign wives and their imported idolatry as the cause of his downfall. But let’s look beyond the obvious. The problem went deeper.

We can see the source of Solomon’s fatal flaw on a map—literally.

Is the weakness on the map of your life too?

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