Taste and See

Light of the pilgrim heart, Star of the coming day! Arise with morning beams, And chase our griefs away” (E. Denny). 

“Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord!” (Deut 33:29). 

“The nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12). 

Those who would attack God's people might like to know beforehand that God is for us (Rom 8:31). 

“…and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own” —J.R.L.

“The tongue destroys a greater horde,” The Turk asserts, “than does the sword” (P.B. Strong). 

“You are in for trouble,…if you think what you do in the dark can't be seen” (Isa 29:15, CEV). 

A man hated and slated to die—but now riding in kingly honor. This reminds me of Someone! 

Let me confess: It takes great restraint not to put exclamation points after every sentence! See!

“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands” (Prov 14:1). 

You can't find better stories anywhere. And wait till you see the story behind the story. It's electric!

It's been said that coincidence is God's pseudonym when He wishes to remain anonymous. 

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to confront it with God's help and overcome it.

When history seems to hang by a thread, remember: “He hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7). 

Conceit is a strange disease in that, when a person has it, it makes everyone else sick!

“How unsearchable are His judgments…and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! ” (Rom 11:33, AMP). 

Cinderella has nothing on Esther. This young woman will change the whole course of history! 

Parties and drinking and divorce and beauty contests and murder plots and…God turned it to good?

“Love is patient and kind;…it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way” (1 Cor 13:4-5, ESV).

Two drinking parties going on at the same time in the same town. They'll soon connect. What could go wrong? 

“Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.” —William Cowper 

Nehemiah empathized with the people's needs, emended their mistakes, and encouraged their success. 

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,…You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!” (Ps 80:1). 

The priesthood we enjoy today, as with Christ's High Priesthood, is not according to law but by grace. 

God's good and acceptable and perfect will, believe it or not, awaits your willingness (Rom 12:1-2). 

How good to know that God promises to keep His people, and then promises to keep His promises! 

The willingness to be, and to have, just what God wants for us would set our hearts at rest. 

One big difference bet ween saints and sinners is where they go to satisfy their inner hunger. 

“God doesn't give us joy instead of sorrow, or in spite of sorrow, but joy in the midst of sorrow.” —W. Wiersbe 

How could they be expected to do the will of God if they didn't know the Word of God? How can we? 

Lies are often confused with history. The real story is often written by unheralded heroes.

Good leaders should not only talk but toil; not only toil but train; not only train but transfer. 

The life of faith can no more be sustained by flattery than it can be destroyed by criticism. 

Tobiah and company couldn't betray Nehemiah; they had to pay a friend he trusted to do that. 

“I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust'” (Ps 91:2). 

Is there a God-honoring objective? A plan to take you there? A commitment to follow through? 

In the life of faith, it's impossible to enrich others without ourselves becoming soul-enriched. 

True brothers never take advantage of you. They grieve your difficulties and celebrate your success. 

I'd rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God.

The antagonists talked down to the workers. The workers talked up to God—then kept on working. 

Heaven! “Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there” (Rev 21:25, BSB).

Where can we find Wisdom? “At the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words” (Prov 1:21). 

The following studies are illustrations, not interpretations, of the access points into God's presence. 

You can tell a lot about a person when work's to be done. Does he want a lighter load or a stronger back?

God is building in us as well as through us. And His masterpiece will have His saints' names upon it!

With good art, good morals, and good walls, it all comes down to putting lines in the right place.

The transforming vision wasn't what he saw with his eyes but what “God had put in [his] heart” (Neh 2:12).

Those who risk their all on the Lord may find they lose everything only to gain everything.

Kneeling before God certainly helps us gain the right perspective when standing before kings.

Why is prayer so strategic? We're talking to the Person who knows everything and can do anything!

Prayer lifts us up to God. But it does more than that. It brings God into our circumstances, too.