Category: Bible (Page 36 of 356)

I try to be a generous giver. I help with needs in my community, I support my church, and I give towards missions efforts around the world. So I feel pretty good about giving at the level of my ability.

But Paul writes a pesky line in a letter to the church members in Corinth. While encouraging them to give generously, he praised the efforts of a set of sister churches in Macedonia: In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

How did these impoverished believers give beyond their ability? These were not wealthy people with money to move from one account to another. They didn’t cash in bonds or sell real estate. They possessed very little. It seems to me that the Lord provided them excess funds in some unexpected way, which they sent to a severe need facing the believers in far distant Jerusalem.

The Lord blessed them with extra which they gave away, resulting in more blessings from the Lord. Perhaps not financial, but certainly eternal. A virtuous cycle ensued.

Try a faith experiment based on this type of giving. Perhaps you have a cause or person on your heart you would like to support, but you don’t have the funds to help. Why not pray and ask the Lord to send you extra to give away? Ask God to help give beyond your ability? We can attempt this experiment without telling anyone, but simply ask the Lord and see how He provides.

Sounds crazy, but God works through crazy, and perhaps we can also experience the thill of giving beyond our ability.

2 Corinthians 8 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Josh Appel

The wise king Solomon once wrote, there’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant studies wears you out. As an author and student, I get the point.

As does my publisher, who recently sent me a number of both the books I’ve written: GO: Following Jesus to the Ends of the Earth, and Seers, Sayers, Schemers and Saints: Lessons on Leadership from Overlooked Men and Women of the Bible.

Written in a form similar to my blog, you can read more about the focus of each on the right panel of my page, or check them out at the links above.

These books will serve you in a Bible study, with your church or youth group to develop leaders or promote missions, or simply as encouraging gifts.

You can purchase them at my cost, and I will be happy to send you as many or as few you can use! If you would like to know more, please respond to this blog, or send me an email at dave.dishman@cru.org.

The prophet Habakkuk asked an age-old question, one every thoughtful person who believes in God struggles with at times:

How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but you do not listen?

The book of Job, considered the oldest in the Bible, wrestles with the same problem, a God of distance and disappearing. Remarkably, Habakkuk is not condemned for his questioning. The Lord answers his complaints, but with the news of impending disaster.

Even so, Habakkuk moved toward the Lord rather than away. As he waited for a Babylonian invasion he expressed both fear and faith:

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The answer to Habakkuk’s question was not deliverance but devastation. Habakkuk lived roughly 600 years before Jesus. No news of a Savior reached his ears, yet he cultivated an amazingly defiant faith. I also ask how long, Lord? Like all who call without a response, it requires prayer, reflection and determination to hold on while I wait.

Habakkuk in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Spencer DeMera

It’s easy to envy those whose lives flourish even as they spurn the ways of God. A psalmist wrote, I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong…always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. In despair the writer added, Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence.

Ostentatious displays of wealth and power blanket the airwaves. Whether one prefers a super-yacht cruising the Mediterranean, an expensive watch flashing from the wrist, or hundreds of thousands social media followers, exhibiting status and wealth remains a human pastime (personally, I’m partial to the yacht).

But the writer eventually turned into a quiet place and reality dawned. When I tried to understand all of this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. You place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.

Rejecting God, no matter the station of life or power status, brings devastating consequences. Decay waits at the end of the slide.

Still, it’s hard to remember in a world of noise and flash. An accurate view grows when I move away from the dazzle of wealth. Leaving social media behind, turning off the television and darkening my screens brings a bit of calm. Finding a quiet place, whether in the backyard or on a walk, stills my heart. Then I begin to understand.

The psalmist closes with the promise, My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Envy of the wealthy and powerful is misplaced. Their gains (and ours as well) are temporary. Souls are forever, and yours and mine finds strength and hope only in the Lord.

Psalm 73 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Michael Worden