God, why are you hiding? You created me in this beautiful world and gave me five senses to explore it with, but I can't find you with any of the five senses you gave me. Trying to communicate with you is like using a sixth sense that I don't know how to use. One day I just popped into this world and I can't see how it began and I can't see beyond death, but I still believe someone beyond comprehension had to create this amazing world and me. You must want me to find you; please show me how. I want your love more than I want anyone or anything else.
Why does God hide – day-in and day-out – from those of us who yearn to hear His voice? When we do good, there’s no heavenly applause. When we do evil, no divine rebuke. And when great horrors visit us, He rarely intervenes. In good times and bad, there’s just silence . . . the awful silence of God. Now comes Why God Hides, this magnum opus of Fr. John Portavella, written after many decades of listening to God’s silence – in his own life and in that of thousands of his parishioners. Those years of listening, reading, thinking, and praying have made ever more clear to him – and with the help of this book, will make clear to you– that, in fact . . . God is not silent nor is He hidden, if only you know how to listen and learn where to look. Time and again in the events of salvation history and in the trials and joys of our daily lives, Fr. Portavella here unveils the Face of God and lets us hear His voice, speaking in every instance words of sweet love. Why God Hides is a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime book that scatters the darkness of our minds, giving us myriad glimpses of our supposedly hidden God, bringing with each of those glimpses the consolation and joys we have yearned for so long.
The Book of Job has been a rich source of truth and comfort for its readers throughout the ages, but the crowning glory of this book is the prophetic testimony it bears to the sufferings that Jesus Christ would endure as the savior of his people. The Shadow of Christ in the Book of Job examines the historical character of Job as a typological figure, whose experience of suffering leading to glory was meant to portray the work of Christ, and provide assurance and comfort to all who bear affliction in faith.
"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll be at rest."--Corrie ten Boom Dutch watchmaker Corrie ten Boom, with her courageous, God-fearing family, sheltered Jews from the Nazis during World War II. This led to her arrest and suffering in prison and concentration camps--told in her bestselling book The Hiding Place (and feature-length film of the same name. Her dramatic life story and her more than 40 other books have prepared millions of readers to face their own futures with courage--relying on God's love to forgive, overcome, heal, and restore. Now, for admirers of Corrie ten Boom as well as a new generation of readers, this 40-day devotional based on Corrie's writings will strengthen your faith, re-root your soul in Christ, and increase your experience of God's peace. Receive the courage and comfort of the Holy Spirit, and remind yourself of what Corrie ten Boom knew and lived: God is your hiding place.
In this comprehensive and thought-provoking study, Terence Fretheim focuses on the theme of divine suffering, an aspect of our understanding of God which both the church and scholarship have neglected. Maintaining that "metaphors matter," Fretheim carefully examines the ruling and anthropomorphic metaphors of the Old Testament and discusses them in the context of current biblical-theological scholarship. His aim is to broaden our understanding of the God of the Old Testament by showing that "suffering belongs to the person and purpose of God".
Women desire to live well. However, living well in this modern world is a challenge. The pace of life, along with the new front porch of social media, has changed the landscape of our lives. Women have been told for far too long that being on the go and accumulating more things will make their lives full. As a result, we grasp for the wrong things in life and come up empty. God created us to walk with him; to know him and to be loved by him. He is our living well and when we drink from the water he continually provides, it will change us. Our marriages, our parenting, and our homemaking will be transformed. Mommy-blogger Courtney Joseph is a cheerful realist. She tackles the challenge of holding onto vintage values in a modern world, starting with the keys to protecting our walk with God. No subject is off-limits as she moves on to marriage, parenting, and household management. Rooted in the Bible, her practical approach includes tons of tips that are perfect for busy moms, including: Simple Solutions for Studying God’s Word How to Handle Marriage, Parenting, and Homemaking in a Digital Age 10 Steps to Completing Your Husband Dealing With Disappointed Expectations in Motherhood Creating Routines that Bring Rest Pursuing the Discipline and Diligence of the Proverbs 31 Woman There is nothing more important than fostering your faith, building your marriage, training your children, and creating a haven for your family. Women Living Well is a clear and personal guide to making the most of these precious responsibilities.
Take comfort in knowing that God hears you. The story of Hannah in 1 Samuel tells of one woman’s personal heartache and trust in the One who could fulfill her desires. She poured her heart out to God, and He heard her. The Our Daily Bread devotions selected for this collection reassure you that God is with you, God is for you, and God hears you. The personal stories and Scripture passages lift you up and remind you that God is bigger than the trials you face.
What you believe about God sets the foundation of the person you will become. In God Has a Name, pastor and New York Times bestselling author John Mark Comer invites you to rethink many of the prevalent myths and misconceptions about God and weigh them against what God actually tells us about himself. After all, what you believe about God will ultimately shape the type of person you become. We all live at the mercy of our ideas, and nowhere is this more true than our ideas about God. The problem is many of our ideas about God are wrong. Not all wrong, but wrong enough to form our souls in detrimental and disheartening ways. God Has a Name is a simple yet profound guide to understanding God in a new light--focusing on what God says about himself in the Bible. This one shift has the potential to radically alter how you relate to God, not as a doctrine, but as a relational being who responds to you in an elastic, back-and-forth way. John Mark Comer takes you line by line through Exodus 34:6-8--Yahweh's self-revelation on Mount Sinai, one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. Along the way, Comer addresses some of the most profound questions he came across as he studied these noted lines in Exodus, including: Why do we feel this gap between us and God? Could it be that a lot of what we think about God is wrong? Not all wrong, but wrong enough to mess up how we relate to him? What if our "God" is really a projection of our own identity, ideas, and desires? What if the real God is different, but far better than we could ever imagine? No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, God Has a Name invites you to step into a fresh and biblically rooted vision of who God is that has the potential to alter your life with God and shape who you become.
If you asked a millennial or younger person in your church, "What do I need to believe to be a Christian?" what would they say? At a time when "truth" is up for grabs, a journalist-turned-pastor wants to help believers understand what they believe. How? By using the simple lyrics "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." In this winsome book, bestselling author John S. Dickerson clearly and faithfully explains essential Christian beliefs, using simple stories that have resonated with his congregation of thousands. He guides readers into these basic beliefs, and most importantly, he illustrates why these beliefs matter. The result is an easy-to-read primer, designed for a time when Christianity is questioned and challenged. It is a great study for young adults, new believers, and long-time believers who want to reclaim the essentials. For anyone who wants their small group, church, or loved ones to embrace the authority of Scripture and the nonnegotiable doctrines of Christianity. "What does it mean to be a genuine Jesus follower in an age when most people, including many self-described Christians, believe that God is well-pleased with a life lived in alignment with a 'designer faith' of their own making? In Jesus Loves Me, John Dickerson answers that question with a deep dive into the simple but profound gospel that Jesus taught as the only kind of faith the Heavenly Father would be well-pleased with. As Dickerson points out, we can't be true Jesus followers if we don't know who He is or what He said and never bother to actually live like He told us to live. Whether you are a brand-new Jesus follower or a longtime veteran, this book will help you nail down the basics of what it means to genuinely know and follow Jesus."--Larry Osborne, author and pastor, North Coast Church "Most Christians would tell you they believe the Bible to be God's Word. And yet many of those same Christians could not even articulate what the core beliefs are to the Christian faith. In Jesus Loves Me, John Dickerson does a great job of helping believers understand the basic teachings of Scripture. This is a great resource for any Christian who needs to build a stronger foundation to their faith."--Steve Poe, lead pastor of Northview Church, Carmel, Indiana
