Pathway Weeklies

Do you pray in advance of taking a journey? Think of Psalm 121 as an early prayer for traveling mercies! My family, when I was a child, always prayed together before taking a journey. We asked God to provide His watch care over us as we traveled. It is a pattern that I have continued throughout my entire adult life. We are not alone in this regard. Pilgrims going to Jerusalem may have sung this pr...

Pastor and author, Tim Keller, once said, “Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you” (Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering, 58). Sometimes, we reach a breaking point when we suffer and begin to wonder if God really cares for us, and then we pour out our hot emotion. Job similarly vents his frustration over the pain and suffering he is experiencing, his ...

“Father, teach us all how to wait” (Murray, Waiting on God). Life’s most significant moments are quite often bracketed by periods of waiting before something happens, but many of us find waiting on the Lord to be our greatest challenge. Can I get a witness? One of the hardest things to do is to wait for God’s response to our question “Why?” whenever we suffer. So, what do we do “in the meantime”? ...

“A born-again person ought to possess unspeakable peace in the spirit”(Watchman Nee). However, many sincere Christians are nagged by overwhelming burdens in life, despite the call to cast all our cares upon the Lord (1 Peter 5:7). The psalmist knew how to find and hold onto the peace of the Lord. Such tranquility may be ours as well, so let’s examine closely this focal psalm today. The psalm’s gen...

The psalmist writes that we are to praise God. “Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness.” (Psalm 150:2). Sometimes we simply feel like shouting out our praise to God, and we should do so! The psalmist knew this was a normal response to the God who was worthy of praise. God used his creative might to rescue people from their current distress (HCBC). Luke sho...

When God says to build, He means for us to begin and complete the task! Funny how easily we rationalize things when it comes to fulfilling God’s will. The period of Israel’s exile was complete and about 50,000 people had returned to Judah. They had begun work on laying the foundation for the temple, but had lapsed in their commitment and soon settled back into a daily routine where their focus was...

“Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with, that has the possession of Him to all eternity!” (John Bunyan). Solace and security do indeed come from one’s faith placed in Jesus. The Apostle John has reached the climax of his revelation, and he now returns to the description of the Holy City, but this time from the p...

Solomon writes, “A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2). Jerusalem, the City of God, considered its ways to be right, despite the warnings from the Lord, and it suffered ultimate ruin. An eyewitness experienced firsthand the horror that fell upon the city when it was overthrown. Like this Old Testament event, the advent of the internet in our co...

What is your favorite song? The one that comes to mind whenever you ponder the gift of God’s love and grace? You may say, “Amazing Grace” or the contemporary song, “This is Amazing Grace.” Others may offer “Reckless Love” or “Graves into Gardens!” Like the first rays of sunlight on the horizon, Psalm 111 provides us with the first dawning of the Lord’s eternal desire to warm His people with eterna...

The late Billy Graham, who enjoyed remarkable effectiveness throughout his nearly eight decades of ministry, once said, “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.’” Psalm 143, from beginning to end, contains a continuous appeal to God. The psalmist’s lament signals...