Delightsome Land

When God Seems Silent Because the soul is the deepest expression of the person, the soul is the place of greatest pain. We do not speak of the dark night of the mind, or the will, or even the spirit. only the soul. The dark night of the soul. The phrase comes from a brilliant Carmelite monk named John who lived in Spain in the sixteenth century. He devoted his life to reforming the church, but his attempts were heavily criticized, and he ended up in prison. It was there in confinement, with his dreams lost, that he wrote his most famous work: The Dark Night of the Soul. It is an account of how God works to change us not just through joy and light, but through confusion, through disappointment, through loss. Because of his commitment in the midst of suffering, he became known as “St. John of the Cross.” The dark night of the soul, as he described it, is not simply the experience of suffering. It is suffering in what feels like the silence of God. This saint who bore the name of the cro...

The closest communion with God comes, I believe, through the sacrament of tears. Just as grapes are crushed to make wine and grain to make bread, so the elements of this sacrament come from the crushing experiences of life. And sometimes the crushing starts early. One day your dog doesn’t come home, and you go calling for it. Another day passes, and you go looking for it. And on the third day when you’re looking for it, you find its stiff body on the side of a well-trafficked street, and you bundle it up, carry it off, dig a hole in the backyard, and you bury it with a rock as a tombstone and tears as a eulogy. Or someone at school dies from a cerebral hemorrhage, or several someones in a sudden car wreck. Or someone you’ve fallen in love with hasn’t fallen in love with you, and you think life can’t go on. Or you learn from the orthopedic doctor that you can no longer play the sport you have loved for half of your still very young life, and maybe it’s not the thing that should bring t...

We played every game we knew. We ran up and down the hall. We played “find me” behind the couch. We bounced the beach ball off each other’s heads. We wrestled, played tag, and danced. It was a big evening for Mom, Dad, and little Jenna. We were having so much fun that we ignored the bedtime hour and turned off the TV. And if the storm hadn’t hit, who knows how late we would have played. But the storm hit. Rain pattered, then tapped, then slapped against the windows. The winds roared in off the Atlantic and gushed through the nearby mountains with such force that all the power went off. The adjacent valley acted as a funnel, hosing wind and rain on the city. We all went into the bedroom and laid on the bed. In the darkness we listened to the divine orchestra. Electricity danced in the sky like a conductor’s baton summoning the deep kettle drums of thunder. I sensed it as we were lying on the bed. It blew over me mixed with the sweet fragrance of fresh rain. My wife was lying...

It's the most timeless underdog story in all of history:  David versus Goliath. A shepherd boy that no one believed in, looking up at a nine-foot giant that everyone believed was undefeatable.  It's a story we apply to business to sports to politics... to a wide assortment of challenges and struggles that each of us face in our lives.  And in every version of this story we want to see ourselves as David. It's easy to think…  If I could just be like David, I could fight the giants in my life. We all have a giant.  That’s the bad news. But here's the GOOD NEWS.  We are  not  David. The story of David is not the story about us…   It’s ultimately a story about Jesus, the one who slayed not just one giant, but every giant.  For all time, for all people,  Jesus is the ultimate giant slayer.    This is the message at the center of  Goliath Must Fall , a new community Online Bible study with Louie Giglio.  This  Go...

God allows temptation and trial because they can be good for us. Seriously? Yep. The same Greek and Hebrew words are used in Scripture for both temptation and trial. The distinction depends on intent and motivation. Is the difficult situation for the purpose of tearing down? It’s a temptation. Is it for the purpose of building up? It’s a trial. Temptation is a lure to sin. God doesn’t do that, but He  does  test. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from abov...

The apostle Paul said about a healthy community, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” The Christian community, known worldwide by the symbol of a cross and by our regular partaking of a sacrament “in remembrance of Me,” should be able to make a unique contribution to those who suffer. Alas, as I have heard repeatedly, all too often “the church made it worse.” When the Indonesian tsunami killed a quarter-million people on a sunny day in 2004, geologists blamed it on the rupture of an undersea mega-thrust on the sea floor, triggering the giant wave. Some televangelists credited it instead to God’s wrath against “pagan” nations in that region that had been persecuting Christians. Along the same line, one Christian leader traced the cause of the 2011 Japanese tsunami to the fact that “Japan is under control of the sun goddess.” When terrorists killed three thousand people by crashing airplanes into the World Trade Center, ...

It’s Always the Shame When my little sister, Lisa, was born on my third birthday, my parents told me that she was my birthday present from God. We’ve been inseparable ever since. Of course we endured occasional sibling rivalries and conflicts, but she was always my baby sis, whom I loved as much as anyone else in the world. She still is. I always believed I was her protector. Like a mother lion protecting her cubs, I was the big brother looking out for his little sis. You can imagine how I felt when I learned of the tragedy. I found out that my little sister had been molested for years by a close family friend. Max had been Lisa’s sixth-grade teacher. He taught me to play racquetball, shopped at my dad’s retail store, and often cheered for my sister at her school drill-team performances. At the time, this single man in his mid-thirties seemed like a nice person looking for friends. Our family readily accepted him, unaware that behind the supportive teacher facade was a very sick...

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him  be  the glory both now and forever. Amen.  2 Peter 3:18 NIV Not many people can say that on the day they were saved, someone explained the steps to spiritual growth. Unfortunately, some believers  never hear how to develop in their relationship with the Lord. Since none of us matures as a Christian without taking action, Peter instructs believers, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pe 3:18). Then how are we to grow? Second Peter 1:3 promises, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.” It is God who transforms us into his image, but it is our responsibility to implement all that he teaches us. Second Peter 1:5-7 continues, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, god...

Rejoice always.  — 1 Thessalonians 5:16 If you’re waiting for everything in life to be perfect in order to begin rejoicing, then here’s a rather disappointing spoiler alert: life will never be all sunshine and roses; thorns and clouds will always make an appearance. Jesus said it this way, In this world you will have trouble.  — John 16:33 Though it may not seem so at first, this is actually good news. We don’t have to wake up each day and examine our current circumstances before choosing to live joyfully. Every moment of every day is the perfect time to rejoice. Paul, the same one who taught us to be content in every circumstance (Philippians 4:12), instructs us to rejoice in every circumstance as well. Christ died so that we could live joyfully; let’s embrace it. Let’s rejoice when the load seems heavy because we know we don’t bear it alone. Let’s rejoice when there’s more month than money because we know our God provides. Let’s rejoice, well, always. Thank You, Lord...

There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. — Proverbs 18:24 Think of it: the infinite, all-powerful, holy God of the universe wants to be your friend! This is a staggering truth. He wants you to know Him personally and to discover what it means to walk with Him every day. He wants you to know He is with you, and He wants to have communication with you through His Word and through prayer. He wants to comfort you when you are upset or anxious and to encourage you when you are dejected or depressed. He wants to guide you when you face difficult decisions, and He even wants to correct you when you are about to do something foolish or wrong. Human friends may fail us, but God never will. He wants to be our friend and for us to be His friends as well. Once you understand this, your life will never be the same. Put Here by God The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. — Psalm 138:8 God created us to be His friends. This was the divine plan right from the beginning, when Ada...