Stopping to Think

Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength by J.I. Packer My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was not what I anticipated; I was anticipating a more extended meditation upon the topic of weakness, whereas this book is actually a meditation upon Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, with particular application to weakness. Which is probably what I needed. Packer is always lucid, incisive, and to the point, and this book is no different. View all my reviews  

  Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength by J.I. Packer My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was not what I anticipated; I was anticipating a more extended meditation upon the topic of weakness, whereas this book is actually a meditation upon Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, with particular application to weakness. Which is probably what I needed. Packer is always lucid, incisive, and to the point, and this book is no different. View all my reviews

  "Modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts about God." J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pg 83

  The use of images in worship "begin to corrupt the devotion they trigger." J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pg 51

  "Idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images." Charles Hodge, quoted in J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pg 44

"Is the work of the Holy Spirit Important? Important! Why, were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel, no faith, no church, no Christianity in the world at all."  J.I. Packer, Knowing God , pg 69 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Jesus, John 3:8

When Times Get Tough Have you ever heard the old saying, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going"? There are a lot of tough times recorded in the Bible. Some of the most interesting occur in the historical books, which begin with 1 Samuel. In the book of 1 Samuel, we read the story of Israel's transition from being a theocracy which acknowledged God as king, to being a monarchy with a human king sitting on a physical throne. Standing in the way of that transition, though, were the Philistines. As one comes 1 Samuel 14 , we find King Saul of Israel and his army waiting for battle. The Philistines outnumber the Israelites by an order of magnitude. And not only is the tiny army of Israel outnumbered, they are (to speak anachronistically) outgunned. The whole army of Israel has two swords: the one carried by King Saul, and the one carried by his son Jonathan. The rest of the men have axes, mattocks, plowshares, and sickles.  Which brings us to verse 6 of chapter 14, J...