Monday, October 27, 2025

 

(A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah.)

 

You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;

I thirst for you,

my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land

where there is no water.  (Psalm 63:1)

 

 

This verse comes alive when we picture David's circumstances.

 

David was in the desert, standing under the blistering heat of the sun.  No shade.  No water.  No relief.

 

At that particular moment in time, David’s thoughts settled, not on his physical suffering, but on his earnest “thirst” for the Lord.

 

When we are ill or suffering our concerns naturally become focused on ourselves, and our ailments.  When our back is “killing us,” or a fever hits, it’s hard to think of anything else.  In those moments we desperately desire relief.

 

In the suffering of the desert, David continued to recognize his primary need was for the Lord.  His primary desire was for God’s presence.  His true hope lay in God’s grace toward him.

 

When extreme difficulty arises in our lives, when we find ourselves in the "desert,” we ought not minimize the sufferings we endure.  Rather, we acknowledge them, and bring them to God.

 

Even as we do so, we affirm that our true thirst, our true need, and our true hope, is for the very presence of our Lord Jesus.

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Blessings,

 

Pastor Karl

Friday, October 24, 2025

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Trust in the Lord forever.

for in the Lord God

you have an everlasting rock.  (Isaiah 26:4)

 

 

When I entered the seventh grade, my home town of Springfield, Massachusetts had several Junior High Schools.  I attended an older school called Van Sickle.  The “cool” Jr. High School was “Duggan.”  Duggan was a brand new school with all the modern amenities (for the late 1960s).

 

Within a few years Duggan Junior High School was on the front page of the city newspaper because it had deteriorated dramatically.

 

You see, Duggan was built on an old dump.

 

While there was no problem with the quality of the building itself, the foundation kept settling because the ground itself kept settling.  The base upon which Duggan had been built could not bear the weight.

Trust in the Lord forever…for in the Lord God…you have an everlasting rock.

 

It’s an old truism.  Don’t build on sand (or old dumps); build on rock.

 

It’s an old truism because it has proven itself, over-and-over-again to be true.

 

The only stable foundation on which to build our lives is our Lord Jesus.

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Blessings,

Pastor Karl

Thursday, October 23, 2025

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…  (1 Peter 1:3)

 

 

The Apostle Peter spoke of our “new birth into a living hope."

 

A survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps later wrote about his experience.  After his liberation, he thought long and hard about why some, like himself, managed to survive while many others perished.

 

Most perished because of the whims of the Nazis.  They killed whomever they chose.

 

Amazingly, many managed to endure the back-breaking work and intolerable conditions.  What this survivor found puzzling was how oftentimes it was the weaker ones who survived, rather than the strong.

 

Why would that be?

 

He concluded those who survived were the ones who had hope!  Some hoped in God.  Others hoped to be reunited with family.  Still others hoped to live to see the downfall of Hitler.

 

Hope for the future gave men and women the strength to live in an unbearable present.

 

We have been given this precious gift of hope, hope for the future.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ proclaims how evil does not have the last word.

 

Whatever we face today, we can face it with hope for tomorrow.

 

For, our Lord Jesus Christ is risen, and He is coming again!

Blessings,

Pastor Karl

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

 

The fear of others lays a snare,

but one who trusts in the Lord is secure.  (Proverbs 29:25)

 

 

This proverb contrasts our fear of "human power” with our "trust in the Lord."

 

Human power is real, but it is limited; our Lord’s power is transcendent, it is not limited.

 

We certainly ought to be aware of the destructive capacity of human power, and be wary of it.

 

At the same time, we rest secure that our lives are in our Lord’s care, now and forever.

Blessings, 

Pastor Karl

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

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Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way the persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:11-12)

 

 

Jesus told His disciples to rejoice and be glad when people abused them…"because of me."

 

Those last three words are the key!

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is necessarily offensive as it confronts each and every one of us with our own sinfulness and our own rebellion against God.  The Gospel declares, “You are NOT as you should be!”  “You need forgiveness, redemption, and transformation."

 

When we encounter opposition as a result of proclaiming the Gospel we ought to be joyful.  When people mistreat us because of Christ Jesus we know we are hitting the “right nerve" in them.

 

What we must avoid is antagonizing others needlessly.

 

We should take no comfort when people dislike us because we have been dismissive, unkind, uncaring, or mean.

 

There is a difference between the necessary offense of the Gospel, and unnecessary offenses that result from our own poor behavior.

 

Let us allow the Holy Spirit to empower us to live in such a way that any persecutions we endure are truly a result of false accusations leveled precisely because of our fidelity to Christ.

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Blessings,

 

Pastor Karl