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“Surely now, God has worn me out.” Job 16:7 Angry with God? It's not unusual. To be honest, I can't say I have a lot of experience in this area, but that hardly makes me superior. My struggles with God have usually been along the lines of neglect or disappointment fueled by an eloquent self-pity. So there. If you're feeling angry with God right now, don't think that you're particularly bad. Take grace out of the equation and we're all in deep trouble. Anger with God, though, is a special case.  People often struggle not only with the anger itself,

“Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds.” 2 Timothy 4:14 Last week’s GraceWaves was “Dealing with Difficult People.” The main points were that you cannot be surprised when people act according to their lower natures and you don’t need to give up on anyone. I want to revisit the topic this week because I sense people struggle mightily in this area and need some practical support. Let’s use Paul and his experience with Alexander the coppersmith as an example. First, remember that all people are like an Olympic diving competition: they

“But Jesus did not trust Himself to them . . . for He Himself knew what was in man.” John 2:24-25 These words come after Jesus’ first visit to Jerusalem for the Passover. After performing some signs (John’s word for miracles) some people believed in Jesus, but apparently their faith was based solely on the signs and not on the person. In return for this shallow faith, Jesus literally did not have faith (this is the Greek word behind the translation “trust”) in them. This is an important phrase. In other words, Jesus knew people could be shallow and fickle.

"What is man that Thou are mindful of him?" Psalm 8:4 Life sometimes is a grind, a meaningless grind. The chirpy writer of Ecclesiastes put it this way "Nothing is new. Everything is empty. All things are full of weariness." While not uplifting, these thoughts do have a ring of truth. They reflect the way many people feel on a Sunday afternoon as they get ready for another week of work. Another. Week. Of. Work. And it's going to be hot down here in south Louisiana, again. And people are just as surprised by the heat this year as they

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 A few weeks ago Leslie and I spent some time in the Shenandoah National Forest in northern Virginia enjoying cooler weather and, of course, the mountains. I love all mountains. They're nature's way of declaring what it can do with a combination of time, pressure, heat, and pure muscle. The Rockies are jagged and young, geologically speaking. Precambrian adolescents at best. The Appalachians beat them by 400 million years or so. The Rockies are brash and tall and full of boasts. The Appalachians were once

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 The movie Titanic came out in 1997. My daughter at the time was nine years old and according to her was “the only person my age not allowed to see it!” Despite her indisputable accuracy, and due to the fact that we, her parents, were obviously social Neanderthals, I would not allow her to go see the movie due to a few racy scenes. Besides I ruined the story for her when I quite

“After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.” Matthew 14:23 What do you do when life becomes difficult? When the rpms of the day rev up and life gets a little bit crazy what do you do? Jesus prayed. I’ve always found that infinitely significant. The Son of God relied in prayer on the Father and the Spirit. What possible hope do we have without an enduring reliance on prayer? And yet… When pressed by life most of us tend to become practical. We want to

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should live in them.” Ephesians 2:10 Grace is wonderful. God is a Giver. He smiles when He fashions a sunrise, a new baby, a redeemed life, the love of family and friends. God does love to give. Thank God for grace! But do we have a role in receiving grace? I say yes, not in the sense that we earn anything, but in the sense that we make ourselves available to God. God doesn’t take hold of a closed fist. We must

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 We find various forms of “do not be anxious” sprinkled throughout the Bible. Jesus even devoted a great deal of the Sermon on the Mount to the crippling effects of anxiety and His solution to it (Matt. 6:25-34). In the passage for today’s Gracewaves Paul again reminded us to “be anxious for nothing,” and he provided some

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1. This verse, and this section of Ecclesiastes, is one of the more familiar in Bible. Even the Byrds knew it (Turn, Turn, Turn). The beauty of Hebrew poetry is clear, and the rhythms of a time for this and a time for that offer a strange comfort. I say strange because if you look at the different “times” some make a great deal of sense, such as “a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted.” In other words, planting

“Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me?” Psalm 118:5-6 Fear is debilitating and lies at the root of a great many spiritual, emotional, and even physical ills. It solves none of tomorrow's problems and steals all today's joys. God did not create us to be fearful creatures, so not surprisingly the Bible actually has a great deal to say about fear and how God wants to relieve us of it. Psalms 113-118 are called

“I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 We have a problem with grace. In my experience most people long for grace, believe in grace, and are astounded by grace. Grace is both amazing and puzzling. It is beyond my comprehension, but personally I accept its reality and presence in my life. I no longer have nagging questions. But I increasingly sense that this is not typical even for faithful Christians. Here is the problem in a nutshell: Most people do not for a serious moment believe that the

“And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” Matthew 1:7 It’s the middle of June. How about a lesson from the Christmas story? The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy, tracing Jesus’ ancestry back to Abraham. The dizzying list of names threatens to lull the casual reader into drowsy nap through the begats. Nothing here. Let’s move on to the real story that begins with Mary and Joseph. However, if you slow down and look closely at the genealogy, you will find some very interesting details. For example, Matthew noted especially for us that Solomon’s

“We felt we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9 In the opening paragraph of his second letter to the Corinthians Paul referenced a particularly difficult time he encountered in Ephesus. He wrote that he felt that he had received the sentence of death while in Asia. He was utterly and unbearably crushed, despairing of life. We do not know the specifics, these details do not fit any particular period we know of in Paul’s life. What we do know is