Through a Glass, Darkly

 One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 13:12:

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

I like this verse because there is so much in Scripture that I do not fully understand.

The longer I study the Bible, the more I realize how much there is to learn.

At first, that realization can be discouraging. We want answers. We want certainty. We want every question neatly tied up with a bow.

But Paul reminds us that our knowledge in this life is partial.

We see.

But we do not see everything.

We understand.

But we do not understand completely.

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This verse does not discourage study. It encourages humility.

The believers in Berea were commended because they searched the Scriptures daily to see whether the things they were hearing were true. They did not accept everything blindly, nor did they reject everything automatically. They searched.

That has become a pattern I try to follow.

Sometimes a question starts with a simple detail:

What is an Anathothite?

Who were the twenty-four divisions of priests?

What does "only begotten" mean?

What oath is Hebrews talking about?

Before long, one question leads to another, and a trail begins to form through Scripture.

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I have found that many of those trails eventually lead back to Christ.

A genealogy points to Christ.

A Psalm points to Christ.

A priesthood points to Christ.

A promise points to Christ.

What first appeared to be an isolated detail becomes part of a much larger picture.

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Proverbs says:

"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter."

God has not hidden His truth so that it cannot be found. Rather, He has given us a lifetime of treasures to discover.

Some truths are clear on the surface.

Others require digging.

Some questions are answered quickly.

Others may not be answered until we stand in His presence.

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There are times when I study a passage and come away with more questions than answers.

That used to bother me.

Now I find comfort in Paul's words:

"Now I know in part."

That is not failure.

That is reality.

We are finite people studying the infinite God.

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One day the glass will no longer be dark.

One day faith will become sight.

One day every question will be answered.

Until then, I will keep searching the Scriptures like the Bereans, trusting that even when I do not understand everything, God knows perfectly.

And that is enough.

Hope Your Day Brings you and Yours Joy.

 This morning I sat outside before the day grew hot. The leaves whispered in the breeze. Birds sang from the trees. Squirrels hurried about their business. Later, as the afternoon heat settled in, the locusts filled the air with their steady song.

I've heard these sounds thousands of times, yet this morning a thought occurred to me: I had never considered that perhaps this is what the Bible means when it speaks of the trees rejoicing and clapping their hands.

The trees do not speak with words, yet they are never truly silent.

It Is the Glory of God to Conceal a Thing

 Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”

For a long time, I read that verse as if it meant God was simply hiding information. But over time, especially through reading Scripture slowly and asking questions, I began to see something different.

God is not hiding truth to prevent understanding. Rather, He often places truth in layers.

At first reading, Scripture can feel straightforward. But as questions arise, deeper connections begin to appear—connections that were there all along.

A small question about a name like “Jehu the Anathothite” leads to geography and identity in the Old Testament. That leads into genealogies in Chronicles. Genealogies lead into the promises made to David. David’s promises lead into the Psalms. The Psalms lead into Hebrews. And Hebrews leads to Christ.

What began as a small curiosity becomes a path that circles back to Jesus.

This is where Proverbs 25:2 comes alive. The “hiddenness” of God is not the absence of truth, but the depth of it. Scripture is not shallow water. It is deep enough that repeated reading reveals new connections over time.

Hebrews, in particular, shows this clearly. Words like “perfect,” “oath,” and “apostle” take on deeper meaning when read in context. What seems confusing at first becomes clearer when the writer’s argument is followed step by step.

Even the New Testament itself reflects this pattern. Jesus is called the “Apostle” in Hebrews—not because He is one of many sent ones, but because He is the unique One sent from the Father. The apostles are sent by Him, but He is sent in a way that stands above all others.

This kind of understanding does not usually come in a single reading. It comes through searching.

And that is exactly what Proverbs describes. It is the glory of God that His wisdom is deep enough to be discovered, not exhausted. And it is the honor of those who seek Him to keep searching until connections begin to form.

What starts as curiosity becomes understanding. What starts as a question becomes a path. And along that path, again and again, the trail leads back to Christ.

Strengthen What Remains

 One of my favorite memories is watching my wife Becky sew.

Most people would look at a box of fabric remnants and see scraps left over from larger projects. Becky saw something different. She saw possibilities. With patience and skill, she could take pieces that seemed too small to matter and turn them into something useful and beautiful.

That reminds me of a principle found throughout Scripture.

In Revelation 3:2, Jesus told the church at Sardis:

"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die."

Notice what He did not say. He did not tell them to focus on what was gone. He did not tell them to spend their time mourning what had been lost. Instead, He told them to strengthen what remained.

The Bible is filled with this remnant principle.

When Elijah fled from Jezebel, he believed he was the only faithful servant left. Yet God revealed that He had preserved seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal.

After the Babylonian captivity, a remnant returned to rebuild Jerusalem.

Even when kings like Manasseh led the nation away from the covenant, God preserved faithful people within the land.

God has always worked through remnants.

Sometimes we focus so much on what has been lost that we fail to see what remains. We look at opportunities that have passed, years that cannot be recovered, people who are no longer with us, or dreams that never materialized.

Yet God often asks a different question:

"What remains?"

That question shifts our attention from regret to responsibility.

There is a connection here with Psalm 127:2. The psalm warns about eating the "bread of sorrows"—living on anxiety, grief, and striving. We can spend so much time feeding on loss that we neglect the blessings that are still in our hands.

The apostle Paul wrote of "forgetting those things which are behind" and pressing forward. He was not denying the past. He was refusing to be imprisoned by it.

God's work frequently begins with what appears to be too little.

A shepherd's staff.
A widow's oil.
Five loaves and two fish.
A faithful remnant.

The value is not in the size of what remains but in the hands that use it.

My wife could look at a remnant and see a future project. God can look at what remains in our lives and see possibilities we cannot yet imagine.

So instead of asking, "What have I lost?" perhaps we should ask:

"What remains that God can still use?"

Revelation 3:2

...strengthen the things which remain...

Bread of Sorrows or Present Rest: Learning to Live Today

 Life often feels like it is pulled in two directions at once — backward into regret and forward into anxiety. Many people live somewhere between what they wish they had done differently and what they fear might happen next.

Scripture speaks directly into that tension, not with theory, but with a call to rest, release, and present trust in God.

Bread of Sorrows — When Life Becomes Inner Strain

Psalm 127:2 describes a life shaped by anxious striving:

“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows…”

The picture is of a person working hard, yet carrying an inner weight — a life of constant mental pressure, worry, and exhaustion.

This is more than physical labor. It is the soul feeding on “sorrows” — replaying problems, carrying burdens alone, and trying to control what cannot be controlled.

But the Psalm ends with a quiet contrast:

“He giveth his beloved sleep.”

Rest is not earned by perfect effort, but received from God.

Letting Go of the Past

Philippians 3:13 brings another dimension:

“forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…”

Here, Paul refuses to live backward. The past may contain failure, regret, or even success — but none of it is meant to become a permanent dwelling place.

Life with God moves forward.

Not denial of the past, but release from it.

A person cannot run forward while constantly turning around.

Releasing Tomorrow’s Anxiety

In Philippians 4:6, the same theme continues:

“Be careful for nothing…”

In older English, “careful” means anxious. The instruction is simple but deep: do not let tomorrow dominate your mind today.

Instead of anxiety, Paul points to prayer — turning concern into communication with God. And the result is not just relief, but peace.

Why Not Delay What You Already Know?

In Luke 12:57, Jesus asks:

“Why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?”

The issue is not lack of knowledge, but delay in response. People often already know what is right but postpone action, as if time itself will make obedience easier.

But spiritual delay has a cost: it keeps a person suspended between conviction and action, never fully at peace.

Jesus repeatedly calls people back to one urgent reality — today is the moment of response.

Living in the Present Before God

Across these passages, one thread becomes clear:

• Psalm 127 → stop feeding on sorrow
• Philippians 3 → stop living in the past
• Philippians 4 → stop fearing the future
• Luke 12 → stop delaying obedience

Together they form a single invitation:

Live fully present before God.

Not trapped in yesterday. Not anxious about tomorrow. Not frozen in delay.

Conclusion

The “bread of sorrows” is often not just circumstances — it is the inner life of regret, anxiety, and postponement.

But Scripture keeps returning to a different way of living:

• The Word gives rest
• The Word gives peace
• The Word gives direction today
• 
  
• Get in The Book Daily!

The question is not whether life will have burdens, but whether those burdens will be carried alone — or surrendered into trust.

And in that surrender, life moves from inner strain into present rest.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Doing the Wrong Thing Text: 2 Samuel 11:1–5

 There’s a quiet sentence in 2 Samuel 11 that opens the door to one of the darkest chapters in David’s life:

“At the time when kings go forth to battle… David tarried still at Jerusalem.”

At first glance, it sounds like a simple historical note. But it is much more than that.

The writer is showing us that before David committed a great sin, he first drifted out of place.

The wrong place

David should have been with his men. The season of battle had come, yet the king remained home in comfort while others fought for him.

The danger began long before Bathsheba entered the story.

Many spiritual failures start quietly:

• neglecting responsibility,
• becoming spiritually idle,
• drifting from where we ought to be.

Sometimes the safest place spiritually is simply the place of duty.

The wrong time

The verse says:

“at the time when kings go forth to battle…”

There was a proper season for action, responsibility, and leadership.

But David was detached from the moment he was called to step into.

Temptation often grows strongest when discipline weakens. A wandering schedule can become a wandering heart.

The chapter reminds us that timing matters spiritually.

Doing the wrong thing

David walks upon the roof. He sees Bathsheba. Then instead of turning away, he keeps moving toward temptation.

Sin rarely explodes all at once.

The chapter unfolds step by step:

• lingering,
• looking,
• inquiring,
• taking,
• hiding.

One compromise leads to another until adultery becomes deception and deception becomes murder.

That is the terrifying progression of unchecked sin.

A warning hidden in an ordinary sentence

One ordinary sentence introduces the whole collapse:

“David tarried still at Jerusalem.”

No thunder.
No warning trumpet.
Just a king out of place.

That’s what makes the passage so searching. David was not a weak man. He was a giant killer, a worshipper, a king after God’s own heart. Yet even David became vulnerable when he drifted from where he should have been.

Reflection

How many temptations could be avoided simply by being where we are supposed to be?

The wrong place.
The wrong time.
Doing the wrong thing.

Sometimes spiritual danger begins long before the visible fall.

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Prayer

Lord, help me stay faithful in the places and responsibilities I've taken to heart from studying your Word. Keep me from drifting into idleness, compromise, and temptation.
Teach me to turn away quickly from sin and walk in obedience before You. Amen.

From Persecutor to Preacher

 Few stories in Scripture display the grace of God more clearly than the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.

Before he was known as Paul the apostle, he was something very different.

He was a persecutor.

Not merely a skeptic.
Not merely unconvinced.
He actively opposed the church of Jesus Christ.

The first time we encounter Saul in Scripture, he is standing near the execution of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. While angry men hurled stones at Stephen, their garments were laid at Saul’s feet. Scripture says Saul was “consenting unto his death.”

The man who would later preach Christ once approved the killing of those who followed Him.

Yet God was not finished with Saul.

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Persecutor → Preacher

Saul hunted believers from city to city. He entered homes, dragged off men and women, and sought authority to imprison Christians wherever they could be found.

Then came the road to Damascus.

A light brighter than the sun interrupted his mission. The persecutor suddenly found himself confronted not by a movement, but by the risen Christ Himself.

“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

In one moment everything changed.

The man who came to silence the name of Jesus became the man who could not stop preaching it.

The persecutor became the preacher.

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Imprisoner → Imprisoned

Before his conversion, Saul imprisoned believers.

Afterward, he would spend much of his own ministry suffering imprisonment, beatings, and persecution for the very gospel he once opposed.

The irony is impossible to miss.

The chains he once helped place on others eventually rested on his own wrists.

Yet from prison cells came some of the most powerful words ever written:

• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 2 Timothy

Rome could bind the apostle, but it could not bind the word of God.

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Enemy of the Church → Builder of Churches

Saul once tried to destroy the church.

Paul spent the rest of his life building it.

He traveled tirelessly, preaching Christ across the Roman world, strengthening believers, appointing elders, and writing letters that still instruct the church today.

The former enemy became a servant.

The destroyer became a builder.

And perhaps that is one reason Paul never seemed to get over the grace of God. Near the end of his life he wrote:

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

Paul never forgot who he had been.

But he also never doubted what Christ had made him.

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The Grace That Rewrites a Life

The story of Paul is more than a biography. It is a testimony to what God can do with a surrendered life.

Only God could transform:

• a persecutor into a preacher
• an imprisoner into a prisoner for Christ
• an enemy of the church into a builder of churches

The gospel Paul preached was not theory to him. It was personal.

He knew firsthand that salvation is not earned by good works, religious zeal, or human effort. If anyone could have claimed religious credentials, it was Saul of Tarsus. Yet all of it failed to produce righteousness.

Grace did what religion could not.

And maybe that is why Paul’s writings still carry such weight today. They were not written by a man pretending to be good. They were written by a man who knew he had been rescued.

The same Word of God who changed Saul is still changing lives today.