Too bad it never crossed my mind to ask Him!

“Is Mark Roth here tonight?”

The moderator of our evening church service this past Sunday scanned the audience.

He couldn’t see me. I didn’t help him. I sat still, blending in as well as any bald guy could. I was very tired after chairing a long Board meeting that ended shortly before the service began.

He still didn’t see me. I still didn’t help him.

But my wife raised her hand and pointed at me. 😯

The moderator (a former student of mine, I might append) called me up front with instructions to talk about nonresistance.

Impromptu. Spur of the moment. No advance warning. No notes. No thinking time.

I walked up front slowly, giving myself some extra moments to think. Continue reading

Its preparations are from Him.

Sometimes (like these days) I look at God’s assignment and realize my heart is insufficient to it.

And that’s a very good thing. In fact, if my sense of insufficiency is only sometimes, that’s too bad.

This morning I read the first half of Proverbs 16 and found some very applicable gems:

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord” (1).

“Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established” (3).

“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished” (5).

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps” (9).

[The Scriptures say in Proverbs 16:9 -- A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps]
Proverbs 16:9