Listening to the Word

Ezekiel 12-14; Revelations 5   “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: Hear the word of the Lord!...Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!...You have not gone to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.” Ezekiel 13:2-5 When we try to teach people to hear the voice of the Lord before they know God, we are in dangerous territory. Many Church attending Christians have not yet surrendered their will and everything they have and are to Jesus. They walk with God on their own terms. They are not yet following the Shepherd, and don’t yet know his voice. Teaching them to hear the voice of the Lord before they have entered through the narrow gate leads to disillusionment or worse, disaster through deception. Ezekiel’s rebuke to the false prophets was itself a prophesy.  “Lord Jesus

  Ezekiel 8-11; Revelations 4   “…I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered and I will give you back the land of Israel again…I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh…They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:17, 19, 20 God’s restoration of Israel was a fulfillment of a promise, backed up with a plan. Only God can transform hard hearts and make them soft again. Although Jeremiah and Ezekiel were used to declare this promise of restoration to Israel, it was Daniel’s repentance and Nehemiah’s repentance and obedience which put God’s plan of restoration into action. God’s promises are not invitations to do nothing. They are promises which stimulate our faith, prayers, and obedience, so we can cooperate with God to see his purposes accomplished. There are promises God has made to the Church in these last days. A

Ezekiel 4-7; Revelations 3   “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees…” Ezekiel 5:5, 6 God chose Jerusalem as the city on which he would place his name. The strategic location of Jerusalem at the center of the nations was intentional so that the surrounding peoples and those who traveled through Israel would witness God’s covenant relationship with Israel and be drawn to know him as well. God’s mission was for every nation on earth to be given an opportunity to know him and covenant with him. In the same way today, God places those who know him through the new covenant in Christ at the center of society, in business, education, and countless other fields of influence so we, too, can witness to those around us the transforming power of God in our lives. Our positions of influence and the favor of God on our lives are not for ou

Ezekiel 1-3; Revelations 2 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin…But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” Ezekiel 3:20, 21 Does God still put “stumbling blocks” in front of righteous people whose attention he is trying to get? Or has our definition of grace become so one-sided that we believe God no longer disciplines those he loves? Righteous people who have found their righteousness in Christ are still tempted to do evil. God warns us and makes a way of escape when we are tempted, but the choice to sin is still ours. With the ease of access to sin and perversion today through the internet and entertainment, the call of God is to flee unrighteousness. God’s love moves him to get our attention and humble us in our rebellion. Will we listen to

Jeremiah 52; Revelations 1; Psalms 143, 144 “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…” Revelation 1:9, 10 The apostle John in his greeting and doxology introduction to his Revelation has already declared that the fruits of our salvation are freedom from the penalty of sin and citizenship in Christ’s kingdom where we are priests who serve our God and Father (Revelation 1:5, 6). He goes on to say that we are companions with him in the suffering, kingdom, and patient endurance that are ours in Christ. Is that true in our experience? When we pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done”, are we okay with the fellowship of sufferings and patient endurance that prayer requires? The advance of Christ’s kingdom in our lives and in this world is costly. For

  Jeremiah 50-51; 3 John   “To my dear friend Gaius…It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth…I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us…gossiping maliciously about us…Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone – and even by the truth itself…” 3 John 1, 3, 9-12 The apostle John has personal words for three members of a local Church to which he has sent a team. Gaius is commended for faithfulness to the truth; Diotrephes is rebuked for pride and damaging relationships; Demetrius is commended for his character. The standard that John applies to these evaluations of people is the truth of God’s Word in Christ. How do we match up to the character and teachings of Jesus? Jesus is our sufficiency. Once we clearly see God in Christ, and receive him as our salvation from trying to succeed through our own strength, we, too, will stop abusing position

Jeremiah 37-39; Psalms 79; 2 John “While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cushite…’ ’…I am about to fulfill my words against this city…But I will rescue you on that day…I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord!’” Jeremiah 39:15-18 Ebed-Melech was a eunuch from an Egyptian background who worked in the palace. His advocacy for Jeremiah while Jeremiah had been thrown into the cistern of the king’s son saved Jeremiah’s life. Ebed-Melech, not a priest or Jewish leader, was God’s instrument of salvation for Jeremiah. Perhaps Jeremiah had befriended him during one of his visits to the king. Now it was Ebed-Melech who would be saved during the destruction of Jerusalem. Not one Jewish leader is mentioned as receiving the same salvation. Who is God using and saving today in our circle of relationships, who doesn’t appear to qual

Jeremiah 33-34; Psalms 74; 1 John 5 “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:2-4 It is interesting that we evidence our love for the children of God, by loving their Father. We love the Father by obeying him. When our faith is expressed through worship, listening to preaching, and tithing, but not in obedience to Christ’s commands and in particular his call to love one another, we have a problem. Love for God, obedience to his commands, love for God’s children, and love for our neighbors – all are connected. We can’t neglect any of these.   Which evidences of our faith are we lacking? Our capacity to overcome the world is expressed through our love and obedience. “Lord Jesus, this day, fill me with your love, the love that has ov

Jeremiah 31-32; 1 John 4 “…God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:16-19 Are we living with the confidence of God’s covenant love in our lives? Knowing the reality of this love sets us apart from those who selfishly live for themselves, or fearfully try to appease spirits or idols. Knowing and experiencing God’s love overcomes whatever obstacles confront us in life, because this love tells us whose we are and who we are. We are ambassadors of the God of love, and in this world we love like him. It is this covenant love which will strengthen us on the day we stand before God and give an account for our lives. We will have confidence on t

  Jeremiah 28-30; 1 John 3   “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’” Jeremiah 29:4-7 Followers of Jesus live like those in exile - strangers in this world. This world is not our home. We live in “Babylon”.   How then shall we live? God’s direction to his people in Babylon was to build, plant, pray, and prosper, knowing that this city was not their home. Daniel took these words to heart and was raised up to a place of influence in Babylon. God has directed our lives to the places of our exile within the times and seasons in which we live. Praying to the Lord for our cities and nations, seeking peace and prosperity for them as we live on mission with Jesus, pointing everyone to the only true h

Jeremiah 21, 24, 27; Psalms 118; 1 John 2 “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us…But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth…Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son.” 1 John 2:18-22 In the last days, John warns the Church that there will be church attenders who do not confess Jesus as Savior and Lord, and who, by their actions and words are actually anti-Christ. They are against Christ. This describes all other world religions and cults who deny Jesus as Christ. However, we must not be naïve, thinking that all who attend our churches share our love for Jesus Christ. The faithful followers of Jesus Christ have an anointing from the Holy Spirit to understand the Word and hear their Shepherd speaking. They know the truth

  Jeremiah 48-49; Ps 67; 1 John 1 “…we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.” What are we proclaiming in the world today? John was proclaiming that eternal life was found in a relationship with a person named Jesus, whom he knew personally. John was proclaiming the reality of what he had seen and heard with Jesus and the Heavenly Father. Why are we proclaiming the Gospel? John proclaimed the Gospel so people could experience fellowship with the Body of Christ, the Church, as well as fellowship with the Father and the Son. The Gospel was the doorway to a new world of relationships beyond anything experienced previously. Is this what we are experiencing and proclaiming? This mission filled John with great joy. Would we like our job to be complete?

Jeremiah 45-47; Psalms 105; John 21 “‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’ ‘No,’ they answered. He said, ‘Throw your nets on the right side of the boat and you will find some. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. John 21:3-6 If our lives and ministries are not fruitful and we “haven’t any fish”, it is not ‘okay’. Jesus is asking us whether our methods and investment of time are fruitful. Jesus had taught his disciples to ‘catch’ men with the Gospel. However, their discouragement at his death would not be overcome until they received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Without the inspiration and guidance of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we, too, become discou

  Jeremiah 26, 35, 36; John 20 “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord…’Go to the Recabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink’…’Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord…Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me.’” Jeremiah 35:1, 2, 13, 19 God used the Recabite family and their obedience to the commands of their forefather Jonadab as an illustration of the obedience. He was looking far from his people. One greater than Jonadab - the Lord Almighty - was speaking. Who will obey? The reward of obedience for the family of Jonadab was a promise that they would never fail to have a man serve the Lord. The lineage of faith in God in this family would never die out!  This blessing of a godly heritage is eternal riches; fame and beauty are temporal. Will we establish and continue a lineage of fai

Jeremiah 23, 25; John 19 “…’Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it’…all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too…’The Lord will roar from on high…The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations…a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.’” Jeremiah 25:15, 26, 30, 31, 32 The apostle John saw the same cup of God’s wrath being consumed by the nations, and the same judgment of the spirit of Babylon. This global storm, or tumult, which rises and spreads to the ends of the earth, has happened a number of times since this prophesy was given by Jeremiah and John. The servants of the Lord can take encouragement in knowing this cup of wrath comes from the hand of the   Lord, the same Lord who asked his Son to drink that cup in our place. God’s judgment of sin is consistent in every generation. Our only

  2 Kings 24; Jeremiah 22; Psalms 112; John 18   “…Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands…Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, his will have no fear;…” Psalm 112:1, 6-8 We can either live life controlled by our circumstances and changing environment, or we can influence our circumstances and environment through inner strength and righteousness. Are we living from the outside-in, or from the inside-out? Those whose lives become an inner sanctuary of worship, meditation, and communion with God are not afraid of bad news or the events which shake those around them. Their spirit is strong, loving, humble, and full of faith. This inner security is evident in their thoughts, words, and actions. The enemy has no hold on them. The righteousness of Christ in them will endure forever, for longer than the legacy of a co

Jeremiah 18-20; Psalms 93; John 17 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:25, 26 To know God’s presence in our lives is to be filled with his love. We can’t say we know the Father and not know his love. Other religions require sacrifices to appease gods or rituals to demonstrate faith, but none proclaim that the followers can know these gods. We can know God personally and be filled with his presence. Jesus promised that he himself would indwell his disciples and fill them with the Father’s love. When the early Church was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to radically love each other and the community around them, the world took notice that these disciples acted like Jesus. Do we know the Father and his love, or do we just know about the Father and his love

  Jeremiah 16-17; Psalms 96; John 16 “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns. The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity…Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.’” Psalm 96:10, 12, 13 “The Lord reigns.” These three words change everything for those who hear them and believe them to be true. Those three words are to be our proclamation among the nations. There is a King and it isn’t us. His name is the Lord God. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Every living thing owes its existence to the Lord. Ultimate justice will happen as the Lord judges all nations and peoples with his truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way we can know the Lord God. Jesus is also our righteousness, through him, the only way we can stand before a Holy God. Who needs to hea

Jeremiah 13-15; John 15 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:9-12 Have you ever wanted more joy? The greatest capacity for pure joy comes from God; he is very interested in filling our lives with this joy. However, joy is a by-product of remaining in Christ’s love through obeying his commands; his commands include loving each other as he has loved us. So joy is elusive as a goal in itself; however, as we invite Jesus to fill us with his love and we choose to love one another sacrificially as he loved us, we experience his joy that fills us. It’s a paradox that we are filled with joy as we give and share, rather than take and hold, but that is the beauty of Christ’s kingdom. “Lord Jesu

  Jeremiah 10-12; John 14 “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” John 14:30, 31 While Jesus loved and obeyed his Father in heaven, he also faced regular temptations from the prince of this world. As Jesus prepared himself and his disciples for the cross, he knew that any “holds” the enemy found would be exploited. Any areas of independence, self-pity, fear, pride, lust, or anger would be used against Jesus in the spiritual battle that lay ahead of him. However, Jesus was clear, “…he has no hold on me…”. Does he have any hold on us? Are there repetitive sins in our lives which the prince of this world exploits even as we seek to do the Father’s will? Will we invite the Holy Spirit to show us any holds the enemy has in our lives as well as the root of that hold? Areas of wounding, addictions, and relationship pain are some

Jeremiah 7-9; John 13   “’A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34, 35 What’s “new” about loving one another? Jesus tells us it’s a command not a suggestion. He also qualifies this love by saying, “as I have loved you”. Jesus’ sacrificial love had just been illustrated as he washed the feet of his disciples. He wept over Lazarus’ death and then raised him from the dead. Jesus was about to die for the sin of the world, because of love. What is new about this kind of love and this kind of command is the call to love one another; it became the ‘new apologetic’ for the Church. We are known first by our love for one another, not just defensible theology. The world is moved by how we live and not by what we know. We might know this new command, but are we living it? Today gives a new opportunity to be filled with Christ’s love and Spirit and to share

  Jeremiah 5-6; John 12   “To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah 6:10 The word Jeremiah uses for ears that are closed is “uncircumcised”. Many complain they cannot hear God’s Spirit speaking. Is it that our ears are “uncircumcised”? Will we ask God to cut the ears of our heart so we can receive life from him? Will we ask God to awaken our ears to listen, like one being taught (Isaiah 50:5)? Listening to the world includes both instruction and rebuke. God’s Spirit and Word warn us, encourage us, strengthen us, and cut us. We find pleasure in God’s Word at the level or our spirit not our flesh. When pleasure is limited to our flesh, our spirit is weak. God’s invitation to us is to be mighty in spirit as we listen and obey his Word. Those who have awakened (circumcised) ears will have awakened instructed tongues. Jesus listened to his Father a

Jeremiah 3-4; John 11 “’Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town, and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. In those days…men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord…” Jeremiah 3:14-17 God’s promise through Jeremiah was for the restoration of Jerusalem without the need for an ark because the living presence of the Lord will fill the city with his glory. The return of a remnant of Jews from the nations has happened in our lifetime including most recently from “the land of the north”. God promises shepherds after his own heart to lead his people with knowledge and under

  Jeremiah 1-2; John 10 “…The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away…The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again.” John 10:11, 12, 17 Good shepherds are still being called by the Father. They are willing to resist the wolves which attack the sheep. They are also willing to lay their lives down for the will of the Father and his love for the sheep. How did we respond to recent attacks to the flock of which we are a part? Were we more concerned with our reputation and wants, or were we willing to lay down our lives to see others delivered, restored and healed? Jesus is our example of good shepherd behavior in time of spiritual warfare. Just as he was filled with the Father’s sacrificial love, we, too, can live and lead with that same love. “Lord Jesus, renew your love in me this day, fill me with your Spirit and coura

Zephaniah 1-3; John 9 “Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, ‘What? Are we blind too?’ Jesus said ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.’” John 9:38-41 A blind man was healed, put his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, and was thrown out of the temple. The Pharisees, who have their physical sight, were blind to the presence of the Messiah in their midst, and yet insisted their spiritual vision was clear. The humility required to see, includes acknowledging that we are blind. This humility is not just for salvation faith, but required for daily cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Are we daily inviting the Lord to open our spiritual eyes and ears so that we don’t miss God’s activity around us”? Without humility, we become u

  Habakkuk 1-3; John 8 “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’” John 8:31, 32, 34-36 How do we break free from the oppressive power of sin in our lives? Jesus calls us to know the truth and the truth will set us free. More than words on a page, Jesus himself is the way, the truth, and the life. It is the Son who is the truth, who sets us free from the power of sin. How? We invite Jesus God’s Son into our lives as our Savior and Lord and then obey his Word to us through the power of his Spirit within us. With this new authority as children of God, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, we can resist sin, temptation, and all the schemes of the enemy. We can freely repent fo

2 Kings 23; 2 Chronicles 35; John 7 “’No one who wants to be a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing those things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, ‘The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.’” John 7:4-6 Jesus’ primary focus was to daily know and obey his Father’s will. His Father’s timing was as important as his call. His brothers wrongly assumed that Jesus was promoting himself, and to do that, capitalizing on large public gatherings was logical. We can use similar logic to grow our Churches or ministries if we feel they belong to us. However, disciples who are under God’s authority know they can’t travel, take speaking invitation, write books, or start ministries without the Father’s direction. Our lives are not our own, we were bought at a price. We live for God’s glory not our own. Our own brothers and sisters might not understand this perspective, but we live for an audie

2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34; John 6 “’Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me…The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.’” John 6:56, 57, 63 We feed on Jesus by listening to his life-giving Word to us and obeying his Word with faith. Some have confused Christ’s call to “eat the flesh” (John 6:53) with the bread and wine of communion. However, if eating actual bread saved us it would just be another works-based righteousness like that of all other religions. In Christ, we experience the reality of his presence within us through his life-giving Spirit. We listen to the Word, just as sheep who know their shepherd’s voice. The bread and wine are symbols of Christ’s body and blood, and as we eat them we remember Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection victory over sin and death

Nahum 1-3; John 5 “’By myself I can do nothing;…I seek not to please myself but him who sent me…I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?’” John 5:30, 41-44 Whom we seek to please will determine our character and our future. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day for seeking each other’s approval but not God’s approval. However, when we think we are receiving God’s approval by living up to the standards of other religious people, this gets confusing. Seeking God’s praise and honor begins with fully surrendering our sin and our will to him, being filled with his Spirit, and experiencing the miracle of new birth. Those who have been born again have a new Father. He i

  2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33; John 4   “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly…the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea;…Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.” 2 Chronicles 33:10-13 When we ignore God’s voice and Word to us, God in his mercy sometimes increases the volume. When Manasseh, in his rebellion, ignored the words of the prophets, God brought the army of Assyria to lead him away in chains. How does God get our attention? Sickness, financial difficulties, car crashes, or relationship struggles might not always be God’s megaphone voice speaking to us. Will we seek the Lord in our distress? Will we humble ourselves? What’s amazing about this story is not the pai

Isaiah 65-66; Psalms 62; John 3   “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.” Psalm 62:5-7 Where do we find rest at the core of our being when everything around us is shaking?   David’s life included chapters where even those closest to him disappointed and even betrayed him. He lived for years as a fugitive in caves, which forced him to discover God as his fortress. When others sought to kill him, he found God as his salvation. When his name and reputation were attacked, David found God upholding his honor. When there was nothing left to trust, David found the presence of God as his refuge and mighty rock. How is God redeeming the shaking in our lives? What are we discovering about God through life circumstances we would not have chosen? As others have said before, our soul is restless until we find our rest in God a