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Naming God
In his book The God I Don’t Understand, Christopher Wright observes that an unlikely person is one of the first to give God a name. It’s Hagar!
Hagar’s story provides a disturbingly honest look at human history. It’s been years since God told Abram and Sarai they would have a son, and Sarai has only grown older and more impatient. In order to “help” God, she resorts to a custom of the day. She gives her slave, Hagar, to her husband, and Hagar becomes pregnant.
Predictably, dissension arises. Sarai mistreats Hagar, who runs away. Alone in the desert, she meets the…
A Father’s heart
Luke 15 and Jesus’s parable about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son—they all make the point that our heavenly Father’s heart is a heart that “seeks and saves” the lost. And whether we think we’re the best of the best or the worst of the worst, we have a pursuing Father […]
A wasted inheritance
“It’s not fair!” It’s not just whiny little kids who say that, because we all want justice. Today on Discover the Word, we will continue to discuss the parable of the prodigal son. We know about the runaway son who wasted his inheritance. But the older brother was wasting an inheritance too . . . his relationship with […]
A father’s love for his son
What does forgiveness look like to you? Next time on Discover the Word, the group will continue to look at the story of the prodigal son. It’s a parable retold in thousands of sermons, of a father’s love for his son and the forgiveness he extends. But is it just a story, one that we wish […]
Context is king
Context is king—that’s one of the guiding Bible study principles of the Discover the Word group. And today on Discover the Word, we will discuss the need to understand the story of the prodigal son in the times in which it was written and to whom it was written. Why the context holds the key to […]
4 Benefits of Being Weak
Every society aspires to be successful or strong. In my tiny city-state, that has meant a constant effort to survive and to find stability and security over the past 50 years.
God Talk
Recently, my son-in-law was explaining to my granddaughter Maggie that we can talk with God and that He communicates with us. When Ewing told Maggie that God sometimes speaks to us through the Bible, she responded without hesitation: “Well, He’s never said anything to me. I’ve never heard God talk to me.”
Most of us would probably agree with Maggie, if hearing an audible voice telling us, “Sell your house, and go take care of orphans in a faraway land,” is what we mean by God communicating with us. But when we talk about hearing God “speak,” we usually mean…
Mission Possible
“Good morning listener, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to win the lost!” Today on Discover the Word, join us as they talk about “Mission Possible,” a “seek and save” rescue mission driven by a Father’s heart for the lost. Join the group for a fresh spin on Jesus’s most familiar parable—the […]
Dance of the Saints
“Eyes fixed where the Son reigns. Color them great cloud of witnesses now crowned, now reigning, dancing where the Son stay. They stayed, they stood, they praised and prayed, endured for the sake of the gospel. . . . Be not afraid to light up the dance floor, and dance more.” —Ciara Jones
Your Father Knows
I was only four years old as I lay by my father on a floor mat on a hot summer night. (My mother, with a baby, had her own room at the time.) This was in northern Ghana where the climate is mostly dry. Sweat covered my body and the heat parched my throat. I felt so thirsty I shook my father awake. In the middle of that dry night, he rose up and poured water from a jar for me to quench my thirst. Throughout my life, as he did that night, he exemplified the image of a caring…
When We Don’t Understand
Although I depend on technology every day to get my job done, I don’t understand much about how it works. I turn my computer on, bring up a Word document, and get to work on my writing. Yet my inability to comprehend how microchips, hard drives, Wi-Fi connections, and full-color displays actually function doesn’t get in the way of my benefiting from technology.
In a sense, this mirrors our relationship with God. Isaiah 55:8–9 reminds us that God is far beyond us: “’My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are…
God invites us to wait with Him
Waiting on God is never easy. And yet in the process of waiting on God we find an invitation to wait with God, drawing us closer to Him. Today on Discover the Word, the group, and author Adele Calhoun continue their series “Invitations from God,” by discussing how we can wait well. Would you say […]
Relief from the Scorching Sun
Living in Britain, I don’t usually worry about sunburn. After all, the sun is often blocked by a thick cover of clouds. But recently I spent some time in Spain, and I quickly realized that with my pale skin, I could only be out in the sunshine for ten minutes before I needed to scurry back under the umbrella.
As I considered the scorching nature of the Mediterranean sun, I began to understand more deeply the meaning of the image of the Lord God as His people’s shade at their right hand. Residents of the Middle East knew unrelenting heat, and…
7 Steps for Successful Christian Living
We know what success looks like and how to achieve it. Study hard to get into our dream university so that we can clinch our dream job later on, eat well and exercise so that we will have good health, love people around us so we can enjoy good relationships . . . and the list goes on.
