Presence of God

I was recently struck anew by reading Genesis 26. It’s the story of Isaac dwelling in Gerar. The story is familiar. We might read it in “like father, like son” fashion. As Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister, Isaac did the same. Yes, we sometimes learn from our parents. Even the...
If we fail to see to see the glory of Christ predicted in the Old Testament and then unveiled in the New Testament, we have failed to truly understand God’s Word. The Bible is replete with proclamations of the glory of Jesus Christ, and even the minor prophetic books declare the majesty of this...
Many people suppose that “true believers are able to fall through their own fault into shameful and atrocious deeds, to persevere and to die in them; and therefore finally to fall and to perish.” [i] This opinion seems to be supported by Scriptural warnings against falling away, and examples in the...
God frequently called the prophets to physically demonstrate the truth that God had for his covenant people to learn. Hosea was no exception. When God told Hosea to marry “a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom” he did so because “the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (1:...
The Church of England, increasingly angry over the Puritan’s unwillingness to conform to their practices (for which they found no Scriptural warrant or felt were throwbacks to Popery), began to persecute the Puritans to drive them out of their pulpits for being non-conformists. These non-conforming...
J. Douglas MacMillan shares how fisherman alerted him about one of his sheep stuck on a lonely cliff’s edge with nothing left to eat. And having had no water to soften and digest the food, it later died. [1] In contrast, Psalm 23 promises that God will always guide Christians where they can eat and...
One of the greatest gifts we can give others is a commitment to pray for them, a commitment that will also bring us great joy. But it’s easy to just pray through a list of petitions instead of first thanking God for their faith and fruitful ministry. Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer for the...
There’s a bright thread of connection between the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the way the sermon on the mount begins. The tree stood as a perpetual sign for Adam and Eve to rely upon and walk submitted under God’s word. God declared all that was good or not good and they, as His...
When you hear the title Expository Preaching, you may expect to find a “how-to” manual written for pastors. But David Strain’s contribution to the Blessings of the Faith series speaks instead to the congregation, providing a stout defense for expositional preaching in your Reformed church. David...
Families tell stories. Often they tell the same stories over and over again. They elicit the same laughter at just the right moment. They are familiar. I heard one person even quip that instead of retelling the stories they should number them so at family gatherings they can call out the numbers...