Raised above the heads of those who hated him, those who grieved for him and those who liked the show, how was he able to breathe? Breathing required pushing up on those pierced feet. Breathing required ramming splintered wood into his shredded back. Breathing required an unfathomable commitment to finish.
Throughout his life, Daniel continued to follow God, regardless who did or did not go with him. You too be blessed with a Daniel heart.
Even a cursory look at all levels of leadership in US churches, denominations, networks and ministries reveals that what should be foundational is often absent. Many leaders do not know how to follow God.
We’ve thought of blessings as sweet little things. And so we miss the wonder and the weightiness of the blessings of the Lord.
Even though I cannot live out any commitment perfectly, I can set my heart toward it and use my voice to affirm it. And that matters. A lot.
Job expressed deep anger with God. “It is God who has wronged me!” he cried. We can learn from Job: Sometimes, intimate conversations with God are passionate and fierce.
God identifies himself as Defender of the forsaken - especially women forsaken in any number of ways by their husbands, children forsaken in any number of ways by their parents, and foreigners forsaken in any number of ways by the citizens of a land. This same God counts it crucial that his people defend the cause of those who are easiest to abuse.
If you have been forsaken - by your parents, by your spouse, by people around you who count you "not one of us" - know this: When God finds you among the bereaved and discarded, he himself takes up your cause.
In English Bible translations, phrases beginning "God who" often tell us what he has done or is doing. They show us God's works. But more, these phrases can give us insight into the heart of the One who does the works. They can teach us God's ways.
Learning to dance with God means being vulnerable, flexible, brave, as he frees us from the paralysis of the religious and teaches us to move in sync with him.