Sometimes I cannot see any solution to a problem. Sometimes I cannot see the way out of a maze. Sometimes I cannot see how a need can be met.

Sometimes I can’t even imagine the answers.

But that’s OK.

That is, if I put my trust in Jesus and build my hope on Him.

He’s the one with the wonderful vision and the incredible imagination:

“Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee” (Matthew 17:27).

Who else could have thought that one up . . . and then made it happen?!

So it makes sense to trust Him, to build my hope on Him.

Posted: November 24

At least twice in Matthew 16 I see Jesus’ disciples not “getting it.”

First, there was the matter of His warning about the doctrines of the hypocrites. When they drew the wrong conclusion, He chided them:

“Do ye not yet understand, neither remember?” (9).

I also definitely need God to sharpen both my understanding and my memory.

Then, there was the matter of an offensive value system:

“Thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (23).

I stand guilty of the same charge. Daily I need a redirected, refined focus upward.

By the way, offence savourest is the same word translated do mind in Romans 8:5, understood in 1 Corinthians 13:11, and affection in Colossians 3:2.

So check out those verses to better understand what was offensive to Jesus.

And still is?!

Posted: November 23