The Plumbline

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT) It is indeed a heartwarming thing to know God is living among us, isn't it? We don't have to do this life alone - we have his presence with us, never allowing us to be 'alone' in our struggles or our victories. It is also kind of amazing that God actually takes great delight in us as his creation - as his children, made holy and in right standing with him through the blood of Jesus. What might even be more amazing is how he comes right into the midst of our chaos and calms all our fears. What are we to fear on this earth? Nothing! Why? Jesus goes with us wherever we go. We are never alone. We have his strength always at our disposal - we just don't lean into that strength as often as we should. We try to do 'life' all on our own terms, then wh...

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5) The activities of God in your life are frequently hard to see, much less understand. You might try to understand them the best you can, but in actuality the movement of God in and through you is often 'silent' or 'hidden'. In medical terms, we'd say his actions are 'occult' - hidden, but present nonetheless. When we don't see God at work, or 'feel' he is at work, we can still count on the truth that he is there, working as he always has been, doing what he knows is best for our lives. God does more within us than we realize. We just go about our daily routine, regular stuff being done by regular people, but he is at work in all the ways we don't see, but that help us actually get that 'regular stuff' done. He gives us wisdom in the moment w...