Insight for Today

Read Psalm 46:8–11

As I write this, the thermometer registers in the nineties. The air is still and heavy. The dog is panting at my feet, the sun is high, and the birds are silent and still. Within a matter of hours night will fall, the dark sky will be ablaze with moon and stars, and sleep will force itself on me. As I slumber, life will continue uninterrupted. Appreciated or not, the canvas of nature will go on being painted by the finger of God.

Read Psalm 127:3–5

The package arrived safely, the reminder “Fragile: Handle with Care” affixed to the front. Oh, it had a few scuff marks and a bent corner or two, but by and large, nothing was damaged. Inside was a photo of my family, just a picture of six people with the same last name, four of whom were delivered by God into our home between 1961 and 1970. Those four deliveries should have had the same reminder: “Fragile: Handle with Care.”

Read Romans 8:23

At long last I am finally discovering that that stuff about Rome not being built in a day is true. And speaking of Rome, Paul’s words to the century-one Christians who lived there are truer than ever.

We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. (Romans 8:23)

Read Mark 4:18–19

What do the thorns represent in Scripture? Prickly issues that steal our joy, confidence, and progress in our faith. Jesus’ own words describe the menace of thorns to our spiritual vitality.

The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. (Mark 4:18-19)

Thorns are lethal to our spiritual growth.