Learning how to discern the true word from God
1 Kings 13:11-34 The story of the disobedient prophet makes for confusing reading because it defies our expectations. How could the man of God, who faithfully spoke God’s message to Jeroboam, be so deceived? How could God’s genuine word come…
God’s ways of getting through to us
1 Kings 13:1-10 Some years ago, a Christian friend shared how God wanted to move him to another country and into a different ministry, but he was unwilling. Shortly after, he became seriously ill and felt convicted that he was…
How to trust and worship God right
1 Kings 12:25-33 Can God be trusted? This is the most fundamental question in our relationship with Him, the one challenged by the serpent in Eden. As so often, what God says or promises seems less likely than its opposite…
The what-ifs in life and what we do with them
1 Kings 12:1-24 All of us may have experienced situations where we did all we could to push through difficulties and everything seemed to work against us, or where we look back on some circumstances and blame ourselves for missed…
The destructive nature of sin and God’s faithful mercy
1 Kings 11:14-43 Viruses are small organisms usually in a protective shell. They carry genetic information, instructions as it were, to reproduce themselves but they need the equipment of a host’s cells to do so. They are like an intruder…
Lessons from Solomon’s failure and our only hope
1 Kings 11:1-13 I once went to a birthday party where I accidentally met an old homegroup member from the time I was a young adult. She was about ten years older than me, and I remember her commitment to…
How to live well with God’s generous gifts
1 Kings 10:1-29 Some years ago on holiday, I returned to a church that I had visited before. It drew a lot of young people who enjoyed the upbeat musical worship, which in the past was headed by a talented…
The two sides of Solomon’s reign and its challenge for us
1 Kings 9:1-28 There is a famous optical illusion by W.E. Hill entitled ‘My Wife and My Mother-in-Law’, which depicts a young woman and an old one in the same figure (the young woman’s jawline as she looks right is…
How to gain a true picture of God’s character
1 Kings 8:22-66 In the first few years after coming to faith, my dominant emotion was fear that if I did the wrong thing God would punish me. Fearful by nature, my perceptions were not helped by a church setting…
How to live in God’s rest
1 Kings 8:1-21 The film Finding Nemo recounts the adventures of a young clownfish who is fished out of the sea, ends up in a tank in a dentist’s office in Sydney and manages to escape. At the end of…