In just six months, Gerald’s life fell apart. An economic crisis destroyed his business and wealth, while a tragic accident took his son’s life. Overcome by shock, his mother had a heart attack and died, his wife went into depression, and his two young daughters remained inconsolable. All he could do was echo the words of the psalmist, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).
The only thing that kept Gerald going was the hope that God, who raised Jesus to life, would one day deliver him and his family from their pain to an eternal life of joy. It was a hope that God would answer his desperate cries for help. In his despair, like the psalmist David, he determined to trust God in the midst of his suffering. He held on to the hope that God would deliver and save him (vv. 4–5).
That hope sustained Gerald. Over the years, whenever he was asked how he was, he could only say, “Well, I’m trusting God.”
God honored that trust, giving Gerald the comfort, strength, and courage to keep going through the years. His family slowly recovered from the crisis, and soon Gerald welcomed the birth of his first grandchild. His cry is now a testimony of God’s faithfulness. “I’m no longer asking, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ God has blessed me.”
When it seems there’s nothing left, there’s still hope.
What will help you to remember and cling to God’s sure and certain hope of deliverance? How has trusting in God sustained you in a difficult challenge?
INSIGHT
Psalm 22 is a song of lament in which David pours out his heart to God during a time of great heartache and struggle. Yet in his pain David’s words anticipated the cosmic struggle of Jesus on the cross. Christ claimed the opening words of Psalm 22 during His own suffering (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34), but that’s only the beginning of the song’s anticipations of the cross. The mockery David experienced (Psalm 22:8) looks ahead to the words that targeted Jesus (Matthew 27:39–44). David spoke poetically of piercings (Psalm 22:16), which Jesus experienced literally through the nails of crucifixion (Luke 24:39–40). And the sadness of oppressors’ gambling for David’s garments (Psalm 22:18) finds echoes in the soldiers at the foot of the cross gambling for Jesus’s seamless robe (Matthew 27:35). The Holy Spirit utilized the poetry of an Old Testament psalm to prepare the way for the experience of Christ in His passion.
A Kind Critique
During a landscape painting class, the teacher, a highly experienced professional artist, assessed my first assignment. He stood silently in front of my painting, one hand cupping his chin. Here we go, I thought. He’s going to say it’s terrible.
But he didn’t.
He said he liked the color scheme and the feeling of openness. Then he mentioned that the trees in the distance could be lightened. A cluster of weeds needed softer edges. He had the authority to criticize my work based on the rules of perspective and color, yet his critique was truthful and kind.
Jesus, who was perfectly qualified to condemn people for their sin, didn’t use the Ten Commandments to crush a Samaritan woman He met at an ancient watering hole. He gently critiqued her life with just a handful of statements. The result was that she saw how her search for satisfaction had led her into sin. Building on this awareness, Jesus revealed Himself as the only source of eternal satisfaction (John 4:10–13).
The combination of grace and truth that Jesus used in this situation is what we experience in our relationship with Him (1:17). His grace prevents us from being overwhelmed by our sin, and His truth prevents us from thinking it isn’t a serious matter.
Will we invite Jesus to show us areas of our lives where we need to grow so we can become more like Him?
How is Jesus using grace and truth to point out issues in your life? Where might He want you to make changes to honour Him more fully?
INSIGHT
In the prelude to today’s text, Jesus decided to leave Judea and head back to Galilee with His disciples (John 4:3). But instead of taking the longer route usually taken by the Jews to avoid meeting Samaritans, whom they detested, Jesus “had to go through Samaria” (v. 4). Jesus was compelled to go to Samaria, knowing that there He would meet a woman at a well who desperately needed “living water” (v. 11)—and that through her His message would extend to others (vv. 39–42).
A Longing in Stone
“Ah, every pier is a longing in stone!” says a line in Fernando Pessoa’s Portuguese poem “Ode Marítima.” Pessoa’s pier represents the emotions we feel as a ship moves slowly away from us. The vessel departs but the pier remains, an enduring monument to hopes and dreams, partings and yearnings. We ache for what’s lost, and for what we can’t quite reach.
The Portuguese word translated “longing” (saudade) refers to a nostalgic yearning we feel—a deep ache that defies definition. The poet is describing the indescribable.
We might say that Mount Nebo was Moses’s “longing in stone.” From Nebo he gazed into the promised land—a land he would never reach. God’s words to Moses—“I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it” (Deuteronomy 34:4)—might seem harsh. But if that’s all we see, we miss the heart of what’s happening. God is speaking immense comfort to Moses: “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants’” (v. 4). Very soon, Moses would leave Nebo for a land far better than Canaan (v. 5).
Life often finds us standing on the pier. Loved ones depart; hopes fade; dreams die. Amid it all we sense echoes of Eden and hints of heaven. Our longings point us to God. He is the fulfillment we yearn for.
What are your unfulfilled longings? What places in life are you trying to satisfy with wrong things? How can you find true fulfillment in God alone?
C.S. Lewis
INSIGHT
The final chapter of Deuteronomy recounts how Moses wouldn’t be allowed to enter the promised land because of his disobedience to God at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:1–13; Psalm 106:32–33). However, he was permitted to see it from the vantage point of Mount Nebo in Moab (modern-day Jordan), east of the River Jordan (Deuteronomy 34:1–4).
The first generation of Israelites aged twenty and over had all died in the wilderness, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb (Numbers 32:11–12). Moses was preparing the second generation to enter Canaan when the Israelites complained against Moses because they had no water to drink (20:1–13). God told Moses to “speak to that rock . . . and it will pour out its water” (v. 8). But instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it twice (v. 11). By doing so, he publicly demonstrated his lack of faith in God to provide for His people and thus dishonored Him (v. 12).
Love Won’t Stop
After I turned nineteen, and years before I owned a pager or a cell phone, I moved more than seven hundred miles away from my mom. One morning, I left early to run errands, forgetting our scheduled call. Later that night, two policemen came to my door. Mom had been worried because I’d never missed one of our chats. After calling repeatedly and getting a busy signal, she reached out to the authorities and insisted they check on me. One of the police officers turned to me and said, “It’s a blessing to know love won’t stop looking for you.”
When I picked up the phone to call my mom, I realized I had accidentally left the receiver off its base. After I apologized, she said she needed to spread the good news to the family and friends she had informed that I’d been missing. I hung up thinking she’d overreacted a bit, though it felt good to be loved that much.
Scripture paints a beautiful picture of God, who is Love, relentlessly beckoning His wandering children. Like a good shepherd, He cares about and seeks out every lost sheep, affirming the priceless value of every beloved child of God (Luke 15:1–7).
Love never stops looking for us. He will pursue us until we’ve returned to Him. We can pray for others who need to know that Love—God—never stops looking for them either.
How does it encourage you to know that God continually pursues you in love? How is He using you to reveal His love to others?
INSIGHT
This parable (Luke 15:1–7) is the first in a series of parables about lost things: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the well-known story of the prodigal son (vv. 11–32). What prompted Jesus to tell these stories was the indignation of the “Pharisees and the teachers of the law”—the religious leaders. We’re quick to judge these self-righteous leaders, but we might want to pause and consider why they were upset. They were irritated that Jesus was welcoming “tax collectors and sinners” (vv. 1–2), who did not even attempt to live up to the high standards the religious elite set for them. Tax collectors, for instance, extorted from their fellow Hebrews, effectively exploiting the power of the Roman occupation force in order to get money from their own countrymen. Jesus sees such people not as rabble to be avoided but as valuable “lost sheep” to be rescued.
The Lord Will Provide
My anxiety increased throughout the summer between my undergraduate and graduate programs. I love to have everything planned out, and the idea of going out of state and entering graduate school without a job made me uncomfortable. However, a few days before I left my summer job, I was asked to continue working for the company remotely. I accepted and had peace that God was taking care of me.
God provided, but it was in His timing, not mine. Abraham went through a far more difficult situation with his son Isaac. He was asked to take his son and sacrifice him on a mountain (Genesis 22:1–2). Without hesitation, Abraham obeyed and took Isaac there. This three-day journey gave Abraham plenty of time to change his mind, but he didn’t (vv. 3–4).
When Isaac questioned his father, Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering” (v. 8). I wonder if Abraham’s anxiety grew with each knot he tied as he bound Isaac to the altar and with every inch he raised his knife (vv. 9–10). What a relief it must have been when the angel stopped him! (vv. 11–12). God did indeed provide a sacrifice, a ram, caught in the thicket (v. 13). God tested Abraham’s faith, and he proved to be faithful. And at the right time, to the very second, God provided (v. 14).
What answer to prayer has been long in coming? When have you seen God provide at just the right moment?
INSIGHT
By sending Abraham to the region of Moriah for the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:2), God prepared for future sacrifices. David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah for a sacrifice that would end a plague (2 Samuel 24:21–25). On that same site—Mount Moriah—David’s son Solomon built the temple where sacrifices would be offered for the nation (2 Chronicles 3:1).
Minister of Loneliness
Following her husband’s death, Betsy has spent most days in her flat, watching television and boiling tea for one. She’s not alone in her loneliness. More than nine million Brits (15 percent of the population) say they often or always feel lonely, and Great Britain has appointed a minister of loneliness to find out why and how to help.
Some causes of loneliness are well known: We move too often to put down roots. We believe we can take care of ourselves, and we don’t have a reason to reach out. We’re separated by technology—each of us immersed in our own flickering screens.
I feel the dark edge of loneliness, and you may too. This is one reason we need fellow believers. Hebrews concludes its deep discussion of Jesus’s sacrifice by encouraging us to meet together continually (10:25). We belong to the family of God, so we’re to love “one another as brothers and sisters” and “show hospitality to strangers” (13:1–2). If we each made an effort, everyone would feel cared for.
Lonely people may not return our kindness, but this is no reason to give up. Jesus has promised to never leave nor forsake us (13:5), and we can use His friendship to fuel our love for others. Are you lonely? What ways can you find to serve the family of God? The friends you make in Jesus last forever, through this life and beyond.
Who needs your friendship? How might you serve someone in your church or neighborhood this week?
INSIGHT
Many of the letters of the New Testament close with what is called a hortatory section. Hortatory means “to exhort; to encourage the reader to do something or act in a certain way.” This is what we have at the end of the letter to the Hebrews.
In rapid succession, the writer lists a number of things the reader is to do, and very few of them are connected. What’s unique about this list is that a reason is usually given for each instruction. For example, we are to show hospitality to strangers (v. 2), because we may be entertaining angels. We’re to keep the marriage bed pure (v. 4), because God will judge. And we’re to be content with what we have (v. 5), because God is with us. We’re not given instruction for instruction’s sake, but for our good.
The Best Strategy for Life
As we watched my daughter’s basketball game from the bleachers, I heard the coach utter a single word to the girls on the court: “Doubles.” Immediately, their defensive strategy shifted from one-on-one to two of their players teaming against their tallest ball-holding opponent. They were successful in thwarting her efforts to shoot and score, eventually taking the ball down the court to their own basket.
When Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, grapples with the toils and frustrations of the world, he too acknowledges that having a companion in our labors yields “a good return” (4:9). While a person battling alone “may be overpowered, two can defend themselves” (v. 12). A friend nearby can help us up when we fall down (v. 10).
Solomon’s words encourage us to share our journey with others so we don’t face the trials of life alone. For some of us, that requires a level of vulnerability we’re unfamiliar or uncomfortable with. Others of us crave that kind of intimacy and struggle to find friends with whom to share it. Whatever the case, we mustn’t give up in the effort.
Solomon and basketball coaches agree: having teammates around us is the best strategy for facing the struggles that loom large on the court and in life. Lord, thank You for the people You put in our lives to encourage and support us.
Who has helped you through a difficult time? Who could use your support and encouragement? How will you help them?
INSIGHT
After observing life in this world, the writer of Ecclesiastes concluded: “Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (1:2). Meaningless is a translation of the Hebrew word hebel (used thirty-eight times in the book) that literally means “vapor” and figuratively speaks of things that are transitory, fleeting, purposeless. But readers are not left with despair. Solomon reminds us of the meaning and satisfaction we find in community with others (4:4–12).
Bowl of Tears
In Boston, Massachusetts, a plaque titled “Crossing the Bowl of Tears” remembers those who braved the Atlantic to escape death during the catastrophic Irish potato famine of the late 1840s. More than a million people died in that disaster, while another million or more abandoned home to cross the ocean, which John Boyle O’Reilly poetically called “a bowl of tears.” Driven by hunger and heartache, these travelers sought some measure of hope during desperate times.
In Psalm 55, David shares how he pursued hope. While we’re uncertain about the specifics of the threat he faced, the weight of his experience was enough to break him emotionally (vv. 4–5). His instinctive reaction was to pray, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (v. 6).
Like David, we may want to flee to safety in the midst of painful circumstances. After considering his plight, however, David chose to run to his God instead of running from his heartache, singing, “As for me, I call to God, and the
When trouble comes, remember that the God of all comfort is able to carry you through your darkest moments and deepest fears. He promises that one day He Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). Strengthened by this assurance, we can confidently trust Him with our tears now.
What causes you to want to run away? What’s your instinctive reaction when trouble comes?
Listen to Discover the Word conversations, “Tearful Expressions” at discovertheword.org/series/tearful-expressions.
INSIGHT
In Psalm 55, David laments a deeply felt personal betrayal, often speculated to be that of Ahithophel, an advisor who supported David’s son Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15:12). However, the psalm withholds identifying details, allowing it to be an expression of the deep pain and difficulty of trusting again after a betrayal (Psalm 55:6–8), especially when it’s disguised as friendship and service to God (vv. 12–15).
Someone Who Leads
Who do you think of when you hear the word mentor? For me, it’s Pastor Rich. He saw my potential and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. He modeled how to lead by serving in humility and love. As a result, I am now serving God by mentoring others.
The prophet Elijah played a critical role in Elisha’s growth as a leader. Elijah found him plowing a field and invited him to be his protégé after God told him to anoint Elisha as his successor (1 Kings 19:16, 19). The young mentee watched his mentor perform incredible miracles and obey God no matter what. God used Elijah to prepare Elisha for a lifetime of ministry. Toward the end of Elijah’s life, Elisha had the opportunity to leave. Instead, he chose to renew his commitment to his mentor. Three times Elijah offered to release Elisha from his duties, yet each time he refused, saying, “As surely as the
We all need someone who models what it means to follow Jesus. May God give us godly men and women who help us grow spiritually. And may we too, by the power of His Spirit, invest our lives in others.
Who are mentors that are currently building into you or who have built into your life? Why is it vital for us to mentor others in Jesus?
INSIGHT
An interesting facet of Elijah and Elisha’s journey described in 2 Kings 2:1–6 is that, aside from Bethel, it includes some of the places important to the Israelites’ entrance into the promised land. At Gilgal the children of Israel stopped for their first Passover celebration in the land and for the circumcision of males born in the wilderness (Joshua 5). Jericho was the first major conquest as the people began taking possession of the land (Joshua 6). And the Jordan River was the point where the Israelites entered the land as God miraculously parted the waters (Joshua 3). Crossing this river would have reminded them of the parting of the Red Sea forty years earlier, which had allowed their ancestors to cross from Egypt to freedom and life as a new nation.
Come and Get It!
I peeked over the grape-stake fence that encloses our backyard. There I saw folks running, jogging, walking, and shuffling around the track that surrounds the park behind our home. I used to do that when I was stronger, I thought. And a wave of dissatisfaction washed over me.
Later, while reading the Scriptures, I came across Isaiah 55:1, “Come, all you who are thirsty,” and I realized again that dissatisfaction (thirst) is the rule, not the exception in this life. Nothing, not even the good things of life, can fully satisfy. If I had strong legs like a Sherpa (mountain-climbing guide), there would still be something else in my life that I’d be unhappy about.
Our culture is always telling us in one way or another that something we do, buy, wear, spray on, roll on, or ride in will give us endless pleasure. But that’s a lie. We can’t get complete satisfaction from anything in the here and now, no matter what we do.
Rather, Isaiah invites us to come again and again to God and the Scriptures to hear what He has to say. And what does He say? His love for David of old is “everlasting” and “faithful” (v. 3). And that goes for you and me as well! We can “come” to Him.
In what ways are you thirsty? How can knowing God is faithful help you today?
Mary Bowley
INSIGHT
Isaiah 55 builds on the previous two chapters. Chapter 53 prophetically spoke of the Messiah’s future suffering and pointed to the offspring that will result because of it. Through this suffering the Messiah would “[bear] the sin of many” (v. 12)—in other words, bring us to salvation. In chapter 54 we see how this Messiah will one day completely restore the nation of Israel. Now, in chapter 55, the prophet shows us that God offers this salvation to all of us: “Come, all you who are thirsty” (v. 1). The invitation is to receive what we desperately need yet cannot earn. And in contrast to the bread that “does not satisfy” (v. 2), Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Through Christ the Living Water (4:1–15), we quench our profound spiritual thirst. But we can’t buy this satisfaction with money, nor can we earn it with effort.