Kings
How to grow trust in God after failing
2 Kings 19:1-19 On 21 December 1989, a fierce storm hit the northern coastline of Brittany, France. The waves crashing into La Jument lighthouse were 30 metres high (about 100 feet). The next morning, a photographer hired a helicopter to…
Clever tactics of discouragement and how to resist them
2 Kings 18:17-37 In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis imaginatively describes the tactics of Satan to discourage and lead Christians astray. His fictional character, Screwtape, is an experienced senior demon, who instructs his nephew in the art of temptation. The…
The challenge of faith and how we respond
2 Kings 18:1-16 According to Greek myth, Achilles’ mother dipped his baby son in the water of the Styx, the river that runs through the underworld, to make him invulnerable. His only exposed area was on his heel where his…
What makes for an effective witness about God
2 Kings 17:24-41 I have an old print that I bought during my gap year in Israel when I fell in love with an original painting that I saw in an artist’s shop. Since I could not afford the real…
How sin empties us out and the choice we face
2 Kings 17:1-23 I have mentioned on this blog C.S. Lewis’ imaginative treatment of heaven and hell in The Great Divorce, as busloads of hell-dwellers get a chance to visit heaven. These people experience heaven as a beautiful but unbearably…
How quick fixes can destroy us
2 Kings 16:1-20 A student at a Bible college where I taught was in his last year before becoming a pastor. He was having trouble submitting his last assignment in time and, in desperation, he copied substantial parts of someone…
Heeding God’s warning signs in time
2 Kings 15:1-38 When I was about twelve, my family spent a week’s holiday by a branch of the River Danube. The first day when we went down to one of the beaches nearby, my brother and I were about…
What to do when others get the grace we hope for?
2 Kings 14:1-29 The funny thing about God’s undeserved grace is that we revel in it when we receive it but can feel resentful when others get it whose behaviour is less than ideal. I remember catching myself in this…
The astonishing mercy of God and why it matters
2 Kings 13:1-25 Many people respond to a near-death experience with a deeper appreciation of the supernatural, and it can create an openness for living differently than before. Some who are miraculously healed or narrowly escape an accident can likewise…
How to be deeply rooted in God?
2 Kings 12:1-21 I read once the reminiscences of a church member in an American mega-church. She describes how as a teenager, it was a wonderful and exciting place to be. Having the support of her friends and the structure…