Tag Archives: Bible

Confident Prayer: Mockingbirds and the Goodness of God

3 Replies

I’ve been the Pastor of a small Presbyterian church in rural Kentucky for over a year now. In my time here, I’ve developed a lot of wonderful relationships with beloved saints, preached through Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians and most of Ecclesiastes, taken part in numerous other ministries through the church and in the community, etc. In other words, by God’s grace, I’ve done a lot of what would be expected of a Pastor.

But, unbeknownst to many of my people, I’ve also been doing something else – I’ve become over time a casual ornithologist; that is to say, I’ve been considering the sparrows, or, to be more precise, the mockingbirds. Continue reading →

God’s Bow

1 Reply

The ark had sat on Ararat,

When God had stopped the rains.

With happy song the wild throng

Marched down onto the plains.

The days rushed on from dawn to dawn;

No rain clouds could he see.

So, Noah prayed with thanks arrayed

To be alive and free.

The dark days flown, the sun now shone,

But on the edge of sky

A hint of gray soon hid the day

And over all did lie.

Bright lightning lashed and thunder crashed;

The earth did hold her breath.

Would now the rain begin again,

And flesh know nought but death?

But as twas sent, so thus it went,

And left a savor sweet.

Though all did hide, not one had died,

The rainstorm now complete.

Above the song of birds ere long,

A solid promise hung;

For there God’s bow did brightly glow,

No longer shot nor strung.

The LORD of Hosts

Leave a reply

Perhaps the most well-known verse in Psalm 46 comes in the tenth verse – the oft-quoted imperative to “Be still and know”. There is a refrain, however, that is repeated twice in Psalm 46 that is often overlooked, our attention instead given to the more famous v.10. That refrain is “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” We find it in v.7 and repeated in v.11. In this refrain, we find two monikers given to God by the psalmist: “the God of Jacob” and “the LORD of hosts”. The “God of Jacob”, of course, points to the national relationship of Israel with their covenant God. Jacob, whose name would later be changed to “Israel” (Gen. 32:28), was the father of the twelve tribes. Our particular concern in this brief article, though, is “the LORD of hosts.” What is meant by this appellation? Why was it used instead of another of the names often used for God? Continue reading →