Words from a Branch

  Lord , do not rebuke me in your anger   or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord , for I am faint; heal me, Lord , for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord , how long? Turn, Lord , and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;   the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame. Psalms 6 ESV             This is a short psalm, a short prayer. A prayer and a song asking for help in a time of weariness and weakness ...

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25 ESV                 This formulation is found in every gospel, Mark 8:35, Matthew 10:39, 16:25, Luke 9:24, 14:26, and 17:33. John 12:24 says, “Truly, Truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies it bears much fruit. One life must end so that a greater life may begin. You cannot have your own life, and have the life of Christ abide in you. The call to follow Christ as these verses tell us is a call to die to self.   This is exactly as difficult as it sounds. The more we are invested in this life, the more difficult it is to lay this life down.                 We want to eat our cake and have it to. We want to keep our lives, and gain the eternal lif...

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:16 ESV             What is true of the psalmist is also true of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1:5, it is true of all of us according to Ephesians 2:10, and in Matthew 10:29-31.   The admonitions the Bible makes against anxiety are not unreasonable, but have the very best reasons behind them. The best of all these good reasons is that the Christian is in the hands of loving God. John 6:37-39 tells us this is the safest place we could possibly be. Our souls are secure in life everlasting.             As for our days on this Earth they are numbered friend. They are all accounted for in God’s book. We have only so many. And for those of us in Christ this good, for death is the doorway to a better life. There is simply no...