When we do God's work or our own work with slackness and lethargy, we are as culpable of spiritual terrorism as if we had strapped a bomb under our coats, blowing ourselves to smithereens in the middle of a crowded mall. Who needs bombs …
Having rehearsed Israelite history from Abraham's call to the return of the Judean exiles from Babylon, we can see that—though Israel had disappointed God, and He had punished them severely—He did not cast them off …
We live in a loud and jarring world, full of sounds, interruptions, bosses yelling, parents demanding, children screaming, and televisions blaring in every room of the house. Data is pouring in at a breakneck pace. There is an urgent …

(1) Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
(2) I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
(3) I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
To understand fully what God has done, it is necessary to go back to the beginning to see His purposes in choosing Israel. Israel's beginning occurs, not with Jacob, but with the calling of Abraham. God's final remark in verse 3 is the …
As the Feast of Tabernacles approaches, our to-do lists grow longer and longer. For me, as a landscaper with the seasons about to change, many things begin to happen all at once. The Feast becomes a deadline for getting crucial things done before having to take off for eight days or more. My clients’ grass must be cut and trimmed, hard surfaces blown off, weeds sprayed—regular maintenance jobs continue. But every year, before the Feast arrives, my goal is to have most, if not all, of the shrubs on the properties we maintain trimmed and ready to go dormant until next spring. I also try to …
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