Author: Dave Dishman (Page 25 of 390)

During the Covid pandemic I often heard the phrase stay safe when leaving a business or restaurant or a friend’s home. Yet how does one truly stay safe in a world brimming with assaults on my well-being?

Even though we tread carefully, ultimate safety lies beyond our control. Accidents and disillusionments proliferate. It pays to know where true safety lies.

King David possessed vast wealth and multiple palaces. He led powerful armies in conquest of surrounding nations. Yet as he sat ringed by wealth and power, he turned to the Lord.

From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.

While I work to ensure a safe and prosperous life for myself and my family, it layers peace over my soul to remember my one true towering rock of safety.

Psalm 61 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Luke Stackpoole

Kids can be annoying. I speak from the varied experiences of being a kid, raising kids, and sitting next to kids on airplanes. But Jesus never found kids annoying or distracting. Rather, they brightened his day.

A group of parents brought their children to Jesus for a blessing, but the disciples shooed them away. More important ministry took precedence in their minds. Jesus noticed and spoke up: Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.

What does Jesus mean when he says like these children? I can be petulant and juvenile, but I’m confident that was not intended.

Kids trust those they know and tend to be shy around strangers. Yet children ran up to Jesus, no doubts about a man they’d never met. Ready to eat when hungry, nodding off when tired, kids live in the moment. Small and overlooked, children need help and aren’t afraid to ask (over and over again).

Perhaps some of these attributes yield clues. Don’t stay away—come closer to Jesus. Share your needs. Take what Jesus gives and say thank you in return. The modesty of a child’s situation, not yet a player, speaks to our need for humility.

Jesus loves the little children, is more than just a cute Sunday School song. It’s a statement of profound theological significance. Jesus indeeds loves all the children of the world, including those of us who should get over ourselves and approach him with an attitude long outgrown.

Matthew 19 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Ban Yido

I get a lot of encouragement to care for myself, which is good advice in the right circumstances. But the focus goes too far when my love of self tramples over fear of God and concern for others.

The psalmist wrote of those who loved wealth and named estates after themselves—Their fame will not last. They will die, just like animals. Many hope to establish a legacy. But after a few generations, no one remembers.

The author also points out that the grave is their eternal home, where they will stay forever. But another way to translate this line is their inward thought is their eternal home.

Intense self-focus constructs a prison for those who love themselves and disregard others. It may be that such lost souls teeter through eternity, locked inside their self-fabricated world, never noticing or experiencing the presence of God. How ironic to miss the greatest love of all while pursuing the shrunken love of self.

This is the fate of fools. If I treat myself and fail to notice the Lord as he extends his goodness all around me, then I might just find myself—with only myself—for a long, long time.

Psalm 49 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Jen Theodore

Years ago on a summer mission in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I walked past my pre-school daughter and her little girlfriends playing on the porch. The two-story bungalow where we stayed fit into the student housing category—meaning it needed work.

The girls were digging at one of the supports holding up a deck on the second floor. With just a stick, they carved out crumbling chunks of wood. One 4×4 already sported a hole I could stick my fingers through. Quite industrious, this trio turned to the next post. After slowing down their efforts with a snack I searched out our landlord.

She first accused these bite-sized hoodlums of destroying her property, but when we inspected the supports she grasped the issue. All the six posts were rotten to the core.

Rot destroys slowly, imperceptibly, and thoroughly. The people of Israel blatantly abandoned God, and the Lord described his wrath in terms of leisurely deterioration: I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.

The judgement of the Lord seldom arrives as a raging flood or massive explosion. Mostly we ignore God while moths eat away at our soul. Eventually we notice the damage, but the decay takes years to repair.

A valuable garment worn away by moths goes in the trash pile. Posts designed to bear massive loads are torn apart by children. The Lord never stops trying to garner our attention, whether it be through grace or through rot.

Hosea 5 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Koa’link