"why has all this happened to us? ". This was Gideon's question when the angel told him that the Lord was with him. He wanted to know why he needed to thresh his wheat in the winepress because of the invading Midianites. He asked where all the wonders he heard about had gone: why had ... Read more

"Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice". So it is not how much you have, but how you came by it. All too often this world's assessors look at the end and ignore the means whereby it was reached. You can reach the top by treading on other people - but the ... Read more

"the Way of Holiness". In his great prophetic vision, Isaiah sees the city of Zion where the redeemed of the Lord will dwell. The main thoroughfare running towards it and through it is the Way of Holiness. All who have repented of their sin and seek to follow the Lord should know what it is ... Read more

"they heard that he was alive". Some of their associates told them, but they could not believe what they heard. Later two others who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus repeated the news but the disciples did not believe. When Thomas was told that Jesus had appeared, he thought the disciples were all hallucinated! ... Read more

"Praise the Lord, O my soul". This phrase found at the end of several psalms comes like the crash of symbols on the final beat of a great anthem. The Psalmist has been picking his way through a harvest-field of blessings. Now he calls on everyone to praise the Lord - the angels, mighty ones ... Read more

"What things". Jesus asked this of the two He joined on the Emmaus Road when they asked Him if He knew what had been happening in Jerusalem over the last few days. He knew the answer, of course, but He let them tell him the details. Jesus still asks His disciples 'What things?' What things ... Read more

"that you may heal him of his leprosy". Naaman and his entourage arrived at the King of Israel with the request for healing on the strength of a servant girl's word taken captive from Israel some years earlier. The king was completely at a loss what to do. He had the prophet Elisha in his ... Read more

"He is going ahead of you". If the empty tomb bewildered the visiting disciples, the message of the angel resurrected them. Mark the steps in the revelation that He gave: Don't be affrighted - Jesus who was crucified is risen. He is no longer to be found in a tomb. You may see the place ... Read more

"the lion and the adder: the young lion and the dragon". This personification of our enemy can represent three kinds of trouble. The lion coming at us with a bound: we can see him coming. And we can see many of our troubles coming. The adder or cobra comes on us silently and unexpectedly until ... Read more

"Put this fellow in the prison". Micaiah the prophet was not the last man to be interned at the whim of a ruling despot. He did not prophesy favourably according to the king's desire and lost his freedom as a result. But putting Micaiah in prison did not silence the voice of truth, or King ... Read more