The Plumbline

What do you do with the clear instructions God gives you? Do you immediately obey them, or do you hesitate a little, then come up with a slightly different plan? When God says, 'do this', are we quick to give him 'other conditions' that need to be met before we will take that step of obedience? If the task ahead is daunting, it stands to reason there may be a little hesitation. We get a little fearful of the steps forward, but in that hesitation, we find time to concoct a plan that 'adds to' God's original plan. Rarely is this the best thing to do, but we have a hard time taking God at his word. After Ehud’s death, the Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Hazor, a Canaanite king. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. Deborah....

"Change is the end result of all true learning." (Leo Buscaglia) As I listened to a gospel song the other day, I actually learned something. We use the word 'always' to describe God's faithfulness, but could it be that the better word we should use is 'never'? As in: “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5) - we are never left on our own, to work out our own misery or find our own way in life. "He will never give up on you. Never forget that." (I Corinthians 1:9) - we might feel like it is time to give up, but there is never a right time to give up or give in - God wants us to never forget that he isn't about to give up on us - no matter what. "If we give up on him, he does not give up—for there’s no way he can be false to himself." (2 Timothy 2:13) - God can never be anything but what he is and that is faithful, loving, tenderhearted, and longsuffering. "Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get...