God’s overruling sovereignty in the face of our failures
1 Kings 1:1-53 Prior to my doctoral studies, I was given much well-meaning advice about where to get funding. None of it seemed appropriate to me and I felt a little lost about what to do. Supporting higher academic study…
Introduction to Kings
In our Bibles, Kings is divided into two parts (1-2 Kings), but it is meant to be read as one book. The division is purely for practical reasons at roughly the half-way point because ancient scrolls became unmanageable beyond a…
The difference that hope in God’s promise makes
Amos 9:11-15 There used to be a memorable advert for Hungarian Airlines whose tagline was, ‘We give wings to your dreams’. I think of hope as the wings that carry us through dark patches in life and keep us going.…
What happens when we become complacent
Amos 9:1-10 Towards the end of my first degree, I was teaching English as a second language part-time in a grammar school. One of my students was the son of a colleague and as such, he knew himself to be…
God’s warning about sin and His severe mercy
Amos 8:4-14 The Christian youth hostel in Israel where I worked as a volunteer in my gap year had a dog. Around 11pm every evening, we would lock the office for the night and, occasionally, we failed to notice the…
Learning the skill of listening well
Amos 7:10-17; 8:1-3 I was once asked to contribute a part to a document on a biblical issue compiled by the bible college where I taught. This was later publicised in the denomination of the college. One church’s leadership particularly…
Intercession: the power to shape the future and its limits
Amos 7:1-9 After a tsunami hit Samoa in 2009, many there had physical injuries and/or suffered mentally in the aftermath of the disaster. When the little daughter of a plastic surgeon in New Zealand heard what had happened, she earnestly…
The temptation of wealth and how to fight it
Amos 6:1-14 John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist in the 19th century and arguably the richest American in history, was once asked how much money was enough. He famously replied, ‘Just a little bit more’. His observation brilliantly captures…
The challenge to confront our false cultural beliefs
Amos 5:18-27 A commonly raised objection to the Christian faith is, ‘If God is love, how can He judge and condemn people?’ Behind the question are a host of cultural assumptions. For instance, God’s love is taken as self-evident even…
Is the relationship with God conditional on good deeds?
Amos 5:1-17 Protestant Christians like to emphasise that we are only saved by God’s grace as we trust Him to do it (Eph 2:8). However, in many churches the emphasis on grace has become so dominant that obedience to God…