“Pay attention to the moon phase,” a girlfriend told me one evening with all of the hearkenings of someone who has endured the wildest river rapids and is calling down from upstream to warn me of the bumps to come. We were neck-deep in 2020, drowning in our own kind of hard that had nothing...
There’s a subtle language shift in Genesis 8 with the way that God speaks to Noah after the ark. Have you ever noticed it? It gives so much insight into God’s tenderness toward the sometimes difficult transition out of one thing that has become less of a thing and more of an identity and into...
In the Season Two finale, Jane gives an emotional depiction of not only the posture of Elijah’s 1 Kings 18 praying, but the jaw-dropping correlation between the servants going-back and James’ talk of prayer in the final verses of James 5. She answers the raw and honest question: “If God’s going to do His will...
We’re approaching the end of James’ letter with a quick look back at every use of “works” throughout the entire book, and his last use of the word in regard to the farmer. We do a deep-dive into what “establishing” really means, and we learn the art of looking forward to the next advent (and...
We round out James 4 by continuing to dig deeply into the technicalities of the Greek linguistics. We re-visit his story to find the one study-lens that shifts James’ “Do not speak evil of one another” from a stern tone to a humble one. We see that life really is just a vapor, and we...
“Pay attention to the moon phase,” a girlfriend told me one evening with all of the hearkenings of someone who has endured the wildest river rapids and is calling down from upstream to warn me of the bumps to come. We were neck-deep in 2020, drowning in our own kind of hard that had nothing...
There’s a subtle language shift in Genesis 8 with the way that God speaks to Noah after the ark. Have you ever noticed it? It gives so much insight into God’s tenderness toward the sometimes difficult transition out of one thing that has become less of a thing and more of an identity and into...
In the Season Two finale, Jane gives an emotional depiction of not only the posture of Elijah’s 1 Kings 18 praying, but the jaw-dropping correlation between the servants going-back and James’ talk of prayer in the final verses of James 5. She answers the raw and honest question: “If God’s going to do His will...
We’re approaching the end of James’ letter with a quick look back at every use of “works” throughout the entire book, and his last use of the word in regard to the farmer. We do a deep-dive into what “establishing” really means, and we learn the art of looking forward to the next advent (and...
We round out James 4 by continuing to dig deeply into the technicalities of the Greek linguistics. We re-visit his story to find the one study-lens that shifts James’ “Do not speak evil of one another” from a stern tone to a humble one. We see that life really is just a vapor, and we...
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If Ezra 4 tells us anything, it’s that it’s ALWAYS when you get to the most critical work of your God-spoken, Spirit-stirred calling that trouble comes calling. And Satan won’t quit until he tears it all back down to rubble.
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Keep your wings up. Satan can try to convince you it’s all useless, but remember Isaiah 55:10-11. God’s purpose will always be accomplished.
Wings up, buttercup.
I honestly believe that Ezra 3:11-13 is one of the most misunderstood Bible passages. People seem to get almost offended at the mention of grief in this passage like there couldn’t possibly be any HINT of sadness when something so spiritually profound is happening.
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But I’m here to tell you: it’s possible to feel the weight of both at the same time.
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You can grieve the loss of what once was or what could have been. And you can also be absolutely jaw-dropped at the glimpses of God’s glory and the hope of His Jeremiah 29:11 future for you.
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Lament and sorrow can hold hands with elation and hope because God holds it all, sees it all, and feels it all with you.
It’s all commingled equally. One is not louder than the other, one no more prominent. One does not negate the other, one not any less important.
There’s a place for BOTH grief and joy all at the same time.
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