AUGUST 11, 2025

   "To proceed very far through the desert, you must be willing to meet existential suffering and work it through. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. This happens when we accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth.” 

― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth

PSALM 90-92

14“Because he^b loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15He will call on me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.(91:14-15)

ROMANS 11:1-21

1I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^a ? 4And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^b 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

JOURNAL 

M. Scott Peck wrote, “To proceed very far through the desert, you must be willing to meet existential suffering and work it through. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. This happens when we accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth.”

That truth echoes through Psalm 91, where God promises, “Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” The connection between this promise and Paul’s words in Romans 11 strikes me deeply. Paul makes it clear that salvation and God’s favor are not the result of our works. “If by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

This is where faith and works can become confusing. Works are not the root of grace; they are the fruit of it. I cannot earn the life I have been given. I did not create myself, set my own birth in motion, or establish the time and place in which I live. I do not consciously keep my heart beating or my lungs expanding. These things happen every moment, sustained by God’s power and not my own. Even the most sophisticated human achievements pale in comparison to the complexity of a single cell in the body.

My very existence is evidence of grace. To live without acknowledging God in that reality is to live in ignorance, even arrogance. I have no ultimate control over seasons, years, or even the next moment. Yet God, in His sovereignty, has given me choices within this grace. Those choices allow me to experience love, joy, beauty, and truth, but also pain, loss, and struggle. It is not a paradox, it is simply reality. I am free to choose, but only because my life has been allowed by God.

When I recognize that today is not something I have earned or deserved, but a gift granted by the Creator, my response must be worship. To honor God for the gift of life is to see each moment as sacred. In that recognition my heart and mind are renewed. I see with fresh eyes. I notice the beauty that has been there all along. I live with joy not because circumstances are perfect, but because God has made this day and I am in it.

Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:16 then ring true: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Works will follow because a grateful heart cannot help but act. But the root remains faith, trusting in the grace that holds my existence together and choosing to live in response to it.

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

 2 CORINTHIANS 4:16

AUGUST 10, 2025

 

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” 
― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth

PSALM 88-89

50Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked,

how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,

51the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked,

with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.52Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen. (89:50-52)

ROMANS 10

3Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

JOURNAL 

There is something in me that still wants life to work out exactly the way I want. When it does not, I either scramble to fix it or try to soothe myself with distractions. I find myself longing for some ultimate answer that will make me happy, successful, and at peace...a magic formula, a hidden fountain, a shortcut to paradise. Yet the more I search for ease, the more I discover it does not exist. What I truly resist is the struggle, the frustration, and the obedience to God that requires endurance. I want the outcome without the process. I want the peace without the perseverance. This is the oldest temptation in the book, sin’s invitation to bypass trust in God for my own comfort.

M. Scott Peck was right when he wrote, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths… once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult… because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” Scripture affirms this in its own way. The psalmist cried, “Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked… the taunts with which your enemies have mocked every step of your anointed one” (Psalm 89:50-51). The Bible does not promise that the path will be smooth; it promises that God will be faithful on the rough path.

The irony is that the moment I stop resisting the reality that life is hard, I discover the strength to live it well. When I submit to God’s way instead of trying to establish my own (Romans 10:3-4), trusting Him becomes desirable rather than something I must be forced into. I am created for dependence on Him, and I am at my best when I accept that truth and live in it.

Paul learned this when he wrote, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’… For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). That is the paradox of the Christian life; strength comes not from making life easier but from embracing the difficulty and letting God’s grace carry me through it.

The only way life gets easier is when I stop expecting it to be easy. Once I accept that the hard road is the road, the weight of resentment and disappointment begins to lift. The struggle is no longer something to escape; it becomes the very place where God shapes me, strengthens me, and reveals His sufficiency.

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” ... For when I am weak, then I am strong. 
- 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10

AUGUST 9, 2025

  “Because salvation is by grace through faith, I believe that among the countless number of people standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands (see Revelation 7:9), I shall see the prostitute from the Kit-Kat Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, who tearfully told me that she could find no other employment to support her two-year-old son. I shall see the woman who had an abortion and is haunted by guilt and remorse but did the best she could faced with grueling alternatives; the businessman besieged with debt who sold his integrity in a series of desperate transactions; the insecure clergyman addicted to being liked, who never challenged his people from the pulpit and longed for unconditional love; the sexually abused teen molested by his father and now selling his body on the street, who, as he falls asleep each night after his last 'trick', whispers the name of the unknown God he learned about in Sunday school.

'But how?' we ask.

Then the voice says, 'They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'

There they are. There *we* are - the multitude who so wanted to be faithful, who at times got defeated, soiled by life, and bested by trials, wearing the bloodied garments of life's tribulations, but through it all clung to faith. 

My friends, if this is not good news to you, you have never understood the gospel of grace.” 
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

PSALM 85-87

11Teach me your way, Lord,

that I may rely on your faithfulness;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

12I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

13For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths,

from the realm of the dead.(86:11-13)

ROMANS 8:19-39

35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^j

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^k neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

JOURNAL 

There are days when life simply gets the best of me. I am distracted, forgetful, or fall flat on my face. In those moments, I can understand why some people feel like giving up entirely. The grind feels endless, and hope can seem like a distant memory. Hiding away in some dark corner or running off to start over somewhere new can feel like the only relief.

But then I return to the truth of Scripture, and I am reminded that this is not abnormal. This is part of life. It is the common human condition, filled with trials and failures that reveal my desperate need for grace. It is in this space that faith becomes my anchor, holding me steady in storms I would otherwise be swept away by. As Psalm 86:11-13 says, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.”

The storms, struggles, and heartaches I face are not detours from God’s plan. They are a necessary part of the journey where His love is proved true. Paul’s words in Romans 8 remind me, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That promise means that even in my lowest moments, even when I have blown it, God is still there, still faithful, and still ready to embrace me.

Brennan Manning once painted a picture of heaven filled with the bedraggled and burnt out. The prostitute who wept for her child, the man who compromised his integrity under crushing debt, the abused teen whispering God’s name before sleep. Their common hope is this: “They have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9,14). If grace can welcome them, it can welcome me.

This is the gospel. It is not that I am perfect or always faithful, but that God is, and that His love never lets go. Even when I stumble, He works through the heartache to bring about beauty and purpose. As Psalm 28:7 declares, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”

And so today, even in the middle of uncertainty, I can rest in this truth. My strength is not in my performance, but in the God who holds me fast. That is enough.

7The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

PSALM 28:7

AUGUST 8, 2025

 “He loves the unwanted, the weak and unloved. He is not just a king and we are the subjects; he is not just a shepherd and we are the sheep. He is a husband and we are his spouse. He is ravished with us—even those of us whom no one else notices.” 

― Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters

PSALM 82-84 

10Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;(84:10)

ROMANS 8:19-39

26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

JOURNAL 

It really hit me this morning that once we truly submit to the spirit of God our lives become directed by that spirit. Our desires begin to change. They can't possibly stay the same. The things we want most in life must become God's desires and wishes. I believe the struggle will always be there...that struggle with the worst in us, but the ultimate direction and hope of our lives must move from self-preservation and self- interest. 

That is precisely why the struggle and process are so important. It reveals the change in our hearts. When I read scripture I am able to see time and time again those who persist in pursuing and obeying God regardless of their circumstances. They find joy in the midst of tragedy, heartache and suffering. This is not "typical" human behavior...this is evidence of a transformed mind and heart. 

2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

ROMANS 12:1-2

AUGUST 7, 2025

     “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” 

― Timothy J. Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

PSALM 79-81

11“But my people would not listen to me;

Israel would not submit to me.

12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts

to follow their own devices.(81:11-14)

ROMANS 8:1-18

 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^f 

JOURNAL 

I am a co-heir with Christ. What? How is that even possible to accept? I constantly misplace things, I have sinful thoughts, I fall prey to laziness, I constantly fail to give my best and yet God considers me a "co-heir"? To accept and embrace this reality is to be humbled in my own weakness. Yet it is this exact weakness that brings me into the presence and grace of God. That's the Gospel...that God would love me no matter my failure...actually that my failure brings me to a place where God can love me deeper than I could ever believe possible. 

Accepting and acknowledging this undeserved love it what changes me for the better.

5Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.^a

PROVERBS 3:5-6