God can protect you, but will He?

The famous story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan 3:16-28) provides modern Christians with a sound way of anticipating God's deliverance, while accepting His hard decisions. The faithful trio believed that God could save them, but were willing to accept God's plan, even if He decided not to. What trying circumstances do you want to be delivered from, and have you asked God to do this?

David prays alone

Psalm 51 is David's prayer for forgiveness, after committing a cowardly act of murder and betrayal. David doesn't bring all of the sacrifice his wealth would afford, but rather, he declared that God wanted a contrite and broken heart. What acts of sin are you afraid of confessing to God? Could you find the joy that David ultimately discovers, by admitting your wrong-doing and trusting God to still love you?

God cares for the oppressed

God describes Judgement as His calling card (Psalm 9:16), and reminded the oppressed of the many great and terrible judgments He has enacted on oppressors. As Christians, we should take notice of this warning and ensure we are not oppressing or supporting oppression of any population. 

The Gospel and the "Other"

The Apostle Peter was reluctant to believe that God had the same regard for believers who differed in race or ethnicity. (Acts 10) God provided a unique vision to Peter and then demonstrated how loved the "others" are. As Christians, we are called to understand this and embrace and support those who do not look like us. How are you carrying the good news to those who seem "other?"

Are you guilty?

One of the cornerstones of the Christian faith is the acknowledgement of our wrong-doing. Psalm 41 gives us an excellent example. The Psalmist admits his sin and seeks God's forgiveness. Until we admit our wrong-doing, we cannot expect forgiveness. What wrongs are you willing to own?

God's judgement is OK, as long as it's not on me...

While it's easy to understand, accept, and even embrace the mercy of God, we often stumble at His judgement - until we are affronted by sin that is so out alignment with our values that we cry out to God ask Him why has He not yet judged the perpetrators. Passages such as Revelation 6, remind us that God will send punishment, such as the four horsemen, but even in this, there is His mercy.

Pslam 42

 Even Jesus felt the loneliness of God's distance, as demonstrated by his words on the cross (Matt 27:46).  When we feel like God has abandoned us, Psalm 42 gives us words to express our pain. How have you felt abandoned by God, and have you been able to pray something as honest as Psalm 42 in those times? While we don't know why God is sometimes distant, we do know that we can trust He will return.