Category Archives: God’s Plan

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July 23, 2026

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Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, God's Grace & Love, God's Plan, God's Word: The Bible, Trusting God, Wisdom & Guidance

HIS PEDAGOGY

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. [James 1:2-4 (NLT)]

“May the Holy Spirit give us grace to not begrudge the pedagogy of God,” wrote John Piper in the day’s devotion. A somewhat archaic word and not one I regularly use, I thought of a pedagogue as an old, boring, stodgy, and authoritarian teacher who never changed his lesson plan or lectures. Unsure what Piper meant, it seemed wise to consult the dictionary. “Pedagogy” comes from two Greek words: pais, meaning child, and agogos, meaning leader. A paidagogos was a slave who led the boys to and from school, taught them manners, and tutored them after school.

Pedagogy eventually came to mean the method and practice of teaching—how knowledge and skills are taught and learned—and a pedagogue is a teacher or educator. While God is neither boring nor stodgy, He is older than time and an authoritarian (but loving) teacher with some unique, innovative, and often challenging teaching methods or pedagogy.

I don’t know about boys in ancient Greece, but I imagine they were like boys today: often less than enthusiastic about spending time in a classroom, learning their lessons, and being taught restraint, civility, and good behavior. Like schoolboys, we often are less than enthusiastic about learning the lessons God is teaching us, especially since His lessons rarely are as easy as learning the alphabet or simple arithmetic. Granted, He does provide us with a syllabus in Scripture so we have a general outline of His policies, expectations, and rules. Nevertheless, we don’t get an individual syllabus explaining our specific assignments, exam dates, projects, and deadlines. Some of God’s lessons seem bizarre or unreasonable while others are heartbreaking or near impossible; much of the time, we can’t see their purpose at the time. Like the teacher who gives pop quizzes, doesn’t allow make-up exams, and won’t accept late papers, it’s easy to begrudge the way God teaches us.

I’m reminded of a scene from the movie Peggy Sue Got Married in which the middle-aged Peggy Sue goes back in time to high school. When asked to solve a problem in algebra class, she responds, “I happen to know that, in the future, I will not have the slightest use for algebra, and I speak from experience.” Like Peggy Sue, once out of school, I had no need to know about coefficients, variables, constants, or exponents. Nevertheless, I didn’t know that when I took algebra more than sixty years ago; had I taken another career path, I might have needed that information!

We are finite beings and can only see what is right before us. God, however, is infinite and can see far into our future both here and in the hereafter. When He teaches us lessons about patience, humility, loss, conflict resolution, pain, worry, pride, fear, trust, obedience, persistence, and faith, we rarely know for what purpose we’re in His schoolroom or when we’re going to need the skill we’re being taught. God’s pedagogy only makes sense when we look back in time. It is then that we realize the benefit we’ve gained from His extraordinary and often bizarre teaching methods. Indeed, as John Piper said, “May the Holy Spirit give us grace to not begrudge the pedagogy of God.”

I never had a trial I wanted to have, but I never had trial I wasn’t glad I had. [Jack Hyles]

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. [Helen Keller]

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver. You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. [Psalm 119:71-73 (NLT)]

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July 2, 2026

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Attitudes & Behavior, God's Grace & Love, God's Plan, Love & Works, Salvation: A New You, Today: Make it Count

GOD’S MASTERPIECE

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. [Psalm 139:13-14 (NLT)]

“It’s a masterpiece!” I would exclaim when admiring my grands’ latest creations before hanging them on the refrigerator. Truth be told, they only were masterpieces in my grandma eyes. To anyone else, they were just a child’s efforts with crayons, markers, and stickers. A real masterpiece is a work done with exceptional skill—a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement. Even then, the word “masterpiece” usually is limited to an artist’s best work. While my grands needed to hone their skills before creating a true artistic masterpiece, every one of us is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece and an example of God’s best work.

Unlike masterpieces like Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon, or da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, we are not to be hung on a museum wall or placed on a stand. We are not a beautifully painted piece of canvas or a masterfully crafted statue whose purpose is to be viewed and admired but not touched. Nor are we a masterpiece like Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Dickens’ Great Expectations, or Shakespeare’s Hamlet with words and ideas that, while wonderful, never change. As great as they are, masterpieces like Renoir’s paintings, Rodin’s The Thinker, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Emily Dickenson’s poems are static—the same today as they were when they were completed. As God’s masterpieces, however, we are never finished. Regardless of our age, we are works in progress. Our creator continually fine-tunes us, refines our stories, fixes the messy spots, and chisels away at our rough edges so that we look and act more like Jesus every day.

Unlike the masterpieces on display in the Louvre or the Library of Congress, it’s not enough to be God’s masterpiece and sit passively on the sidelines of life. God created us with a purpose—to do the things He planned for us long ago. Yes, we are saved by faith and not works, but we have been saved by God’s grace so that we can do His work. God doesn’t make mistakes nor does he make junk and each one of us is as much a masterpiece as are Michelangelo’s frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. While those beautiful frescoes were made for viewing, however, we are made for doing!

Good works are indispensable to salvation—not as its ground or means, however, but as its consequence and evidence. We are not saved because of works, but we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, good works which God prepared beforehand…and for which he has fashioned us. [John Stott]

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. [Ephesians 2: 10 (NLT)]

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June 29, 2026

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Bible Stories, Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, God's Plan, Trusting God

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. [Romans 8:28 (CSB)]

Several of the men from church met for breakfast and John, a retired farmer from Iowa, offered to say the blessing over their meals. After taking off his cap, he stood and said, “Lord, I sure do hate buttermilk.” The old farmer continued: “And, Lord, I don’t care much for lard!”  After a slight pause, John added, “Truth be told, white flour doesn’t taste like much either and, Lord Almighty, baking powder sure is bitter!” Shocked at his words, the men sat in disbelief until John added, “But, Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I truly do love those fresh buttermilk biscuits! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the biscuits, gravy, eggs, and bacon with which we are blessed this fine morning. Amen.”

John’s table blessing was a bit of fiction to illustrate Paul’s words in Roman 8:28 that “all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” When the Apostle said “all things,” however, he wasn’t writing about flour, baking powder, lard, and biscuits. He meant everything in life rather than a few, some, most, or many. Along with good things like buttermilk biscuits, love, health, and joy, Paul’s words cover all that accompanies life in our fallen world—things like sickness, betrayal, heartbreak, suffering, poverty, war, death, injustice, and abuse. Paul was not denying our pain or misery nor was he saying that all things are good. He was reassuring us that our sovereign God takes all things (both good and bad) and will put them together in some way for our good, according to His purpose.

Unlike a basket of fresh baked biscuits, God’s “good” doesn’t necessarily look like our idea of good and much occurs in our lives that we neither like nor appreciate. We can’t see a purpose in our difficult circumstances nor can we see how anything good can come out of such unpleasant, sometimes tragic, events. Consider Calvary—Jesus’ followers saw nothing good about sinful men torturing and killing the sinless Son of God and yet consider the salvation that came from it.

Even when life seems chaotic and inexplicable, we must remember that ours is a sovereign God who loved us enough to sacrifice His only son for us. An extraordinary multi-tasker, while God is busy orchestrating events in our life, He is doing the same thing for every one of His precious children. While we only see what’s right in front of us at the moment, He sees the whole picture—our yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows! God is in control and He knows what He is doing or, as one paster is fond of saying, “He’s at large and in charge!”

It only takes twelve-minutes for raw biscuits to cook and become palatable but God sets the timer on our difficult circumstances and it usually takes more than a few minutes in a hot oven to come to fruition. The disciples had to wait three days for the risen Christ, Joseph waited in jail for thirteen years before being made Vizier in Pharaoh’s court, and Israel spent seventy years in Babylon before returning home. Sometimes, the good that comes from bad takes a lifetime to materialize—and, sometimes, we may not understand until we are on the other side.

Just as John had to trust the biscuit baker, we must patiently trust God for the end result. Like baking powder, challenges and difficulties can leave a bad taste in our mouths. But, after God is done mixing them all together, they can turn into something quite wonderful (and much better) than fresh buttermilk biscuits!

There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot, from that situation, create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross. He is doing it today. [Handley C. G. Moule]

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen [Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)]

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April 20, 2026

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Attitudes & Behavior, God's Plan, Holidays & Holy Days, Today: Make it Count, Wisdom & Guidance

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” [Genesis 1:28 (NLT)]

All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. [Cecil Frances Alexander]

AFRICAN PENGUIN

A giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus is the narrator in Shelby Van Pelt’s delightful novel Remarkably Bright Creatures. While the animal’s ability to verbalize is pure fiction, Marcellus’ curmudgeonly personality and ability to plan are quite possible. Said to have the intelligence of a Labrador retriever or a 3-year-old child, octopuses are the most intelligent of the invertebrates. They can use tools, recognize people, hold grudges, escape aquariums, untie knots, and solve mazes.

Scientists have identified distinctive behavioral traits in animals as diverse as elk, fish, ferrets, spotted hyenas, spiders, sea anemones, rodents, lizards, and birds. Naturally, the same characteristic presents differently in different species. An introverted octopus, for example, will stay in its den while feeding and try to hide by changing color, but an introverted human might stand alone at a party or skip the party entirely. As for a shy African penguin named Tubbs who once wintered at our local zoo—the introverted bird took his food into the back corner of his den to eat it, usually stood with his back to the other penguins and zoo visitors, and, like many timid fellows, wasn’t successful with the females.

Several years ago, we became acquainted with Tubbs and his penguin friends Missy, Squirt, and Sal when we had the opportunity to meet their keepers and go behind their exhibit to feed them. Initially, the penguins all looked alike but, when we looked more closely, we realized their black chest spots were as unique as are human fingerprints. Like zebras, jaguars, monarch butterflies, and the rest of God’s creatures, no two are exactly alike. God never repeats himself.

As we fed those fascinating birds, their distinctive personalities began to emerge. Along with the socially awkward Tubbs, we met the outgoing Missy who, unfortunately for Tubbs, clearly had a crush on her human keeper. The “hen-pecked” Sal followed his domineering mate Squirt wherever she went. Although the other penguins preferred eating their fish “headfirst,” Squirt insisted on getting her dinner presented sideways. While it was penguin instinct that made Tubbs gorge himself in preparation for molting, it was his timid personality that caused the curious penguin to peek around a corner at us rather than stand at the gate with the others.

Scientists have found intelligence, personalities, and emotions in everything from limpets and crabs to coyotes and water striders. Nevertheless, until meeting those penguins, I’d thought of personalities only in domesticated animals and attributed them to training and environment. I hadn’t considered the possibility of undomesticated animals having distinctive personalities and the ability to feel and express emotions, but scientists have found that even honey bees can exhibit optimism and pessimism!

The fictional Marcellus was a gentle reminder of the lessons I learned from my time with the penguins. While animals may not be able to speak in a way that we can understand or exhibit emotions in a way we recognize, there is nothing dumb or unfeeling about any of God’s creatures. Their complexity and diversity point to our unlimited Creator and His intelligent, imaginative, and loving design. God created every living thing and none of His creation happened by accident.

God commanded us to keep and care for His creation, not to exploit or abuse it. As title holder to the earth, He will hold us responsible for the way we care for it and for the creatures with whom we share it. Wednesday is Earth Day, a day dedicated to honoring the environmental movement, raising awareness about pollution, and promoting global sustainability. Saving the environment depends on each and every one of us. For the sake of penguins, octopuses, and the rest of God’s creatures who are unable to speak for themselves, let us be better stewards of God’s beautiful earth.

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee and that they love the sweetness of life. [Attributed to St. Basil the Great]

You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents. [Psalm 8:6-8 (NLT)]

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March 16, 2026

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Attitudes & Behavior, Family, Friends & Fellowship, God's Grace & Love, God's Plan, Holidays & Holy Days, Sharing Our Faith, Thanks & Praise

THE LUCK OF THE IRISH

How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. [Psalm 1:1-3 (CSB]

lucky IrishWhen we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, I suspect the revered bishop who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century wouldn’t recognize this day in his honor. Originally a religious feast, it’s now a day for parades, sales, “Kiss Me I’m Irish” t-shirts, corned beef and cabbage, music, dancing, and lots of green (including hair, cookies, the Chicago River, milk shakes, and kegs of beer). St. Patrick, however, would recognize the common symbol of the day: the shamrock. Of course, to Patrick, the shamrock, with its three leaflets bound by a common stem, was a metaphor for the Holy Trinity. The shamrock’s three leaflets also came to symbolize faith, hope, and love.

“The luck of the Irish” may trace back to the thousands of superstitions in Irish folklore. (Getting married in May is bad luck but seeing a white horse in the morning is good!) The “lucky” four-leaf clover has its origins in ancient Celtic folklore. Irish and Celtic myths and legends also tell of fairies (Aes Sídhe) and pesky goblins (Púca) who were known to hand out both good and bad luck to humans. Nevertheless, it’s hard to see how a people who were invaded by Vikings, suppressed at the hand of England, suffered mass starvation during the Irish Potato Famine, failed at every revolution, and were treated like third class citizens upon their arrival in the U.S. could be called “lucky.”

According to Edwin T. O’Donnell of Holy Cross College, “the luck of the Irish” originally was a derogatory phrase here in the United States. During the silver and gold rush days of the 19th century, some of the most successful miners were Irish or Irish/American. Saying a miner’s success was “just the luck of the Irish” meant that it was mere happenstance and had nothing to do with the hours of drudgery the miner endured, the danger he faced, the sacrifices he made, the loneliness he suffered, or his skill with a pick and shovel.

Anne, a woman in my Bible study, mentioned her daughter’s recent school assignment. The girl and her parents were to paste pictures of the things that made them lucky on a large green construction paper shamrock. A woman of faith, Anne didn’t want to be one of those parents who make a mountain out of every molehill encountered in public school. Nevertheless, she credits God (not luck) with her family’s blessings, so she and her daughter pondered how to proceed with the assignment in a way that honors God. They pasted photos of their family on their “Lucky Family” shamrock and then wrote these words: “No luck involved! We are blessed by the grace of God to be a happy family!”

Attributing their happy family to luck would be as insulting to God as saying the success of a miner who’d struggled in difficult circumstances to stake his claim was just “the luck of the Irish.” Nevertheless, that construction paper shamrock with its three leaves also symbolizes what enables Anne’s family to live with joy, peace, forgiveness, and confidence: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who govern and fill their lives. Moreover, the happiness of her family has to do with their faith, hope, and love (both for God and for one another). There was no “lucky” fourth leaflet on their shamrock because luck has nothing to do with it; God, however, does!

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. [James 1:16-17 (CSB)]

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March 2, 2026

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Bible Stories, God's Plan, Holidays & Holy Days, Miracles

PURIM

These days would be remembered and kept from generation to generation and celebrated by every family throughout the provinces and cities of the empire. This Festival of Purim would never cease to be celebrated among the Jews, nor would the memory of what happened ever die out among their descendants. [Esther 9:28 (NLT)]

Sunset tonight begins the 14th day of Adar in the Hebrew year 5783 and the Jewish celebration of  Purim (or the Festival of Lots). Lasting until sunset tomorrow night, Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation in the ancient Persian Empire. Purim means “lots” in Persian and this holy day gets its name from the way the diabolical Haman determined the date to “destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions.”

I first learned about this holiday in college when my Jewish roommate received boxes of delicious hamantaschen cookies she graciously shared with me. Hidden inside the sweet flaky triangular-shaped pastries was a sweet filling of either poppy seeds, prunes, or apricots. My roomie said the cookies represented Haman’s three-cornered hat but other sources say they represent his ears or the villain’s pockets filled with money. But, I’m getting ahead of myself without telling you the whole megillah.

“The whole megillah” is an idiom taken from Yiddish that means a long convoluted story, but the Megillah (with a capital M) is a scroll of the book of Esther (which truly is a complicated story filled with plot twists). It will be read during a synagogue service tonight and again tomorrow. The Megillah is read twice to emphasize that everything is orchestrated by God! Rather than the solemnity you’d expect in a place of worship on a holy day, it’s read very dramatically. Each of the 54 times the evil Haman’s name is mentioned, the congregation raucously stomp their feet, boo, hiss, and swing greggers (ratchet noisemakers).

The mitzvoth (religious duties) of Purim are outlined in Esther 9, the first of which is the reading of the Megillah. The second duty is that of feasting and joy. Families and friends feast on hamantaschen and kreplach. Children (and sometimes adults) dress in costume as Esther, Mordecai, or silly characters. Emphasizing the importance of friendship and community, the third mitzvah is to send portions of food to one another (which explains the hamantaschen sent to my roommate). The final mitzvah is that of giving gifts to the poor. To ensure that all Jews can experience the joy of Purim, every Jew is supposed to give money or food to at least two needy people.

Whether or not you’re familiar with the story of Esther, I urge you to read it. Unique about this short book is that God’s name is never mentioned. Nevertheless, His divine attention, direction, and power are evident on every page. His fingerprints are all over every coincidence in the story—from Mordecai overhearing a plot against the king and saving the king’s life to the king’s sleepless night that caused him to learn of Mordecai’s part in his rescue; from Queen Vashti’s banishment to Esther being drafted into the king’s harem; from Esther finding favor with the harem eunuch to being chosen queen; and from the massacre’s date being determined by the throwing of lots to Haman appearing to molest Esther just as Xerxes entered the room.

The miracles in this story were disguised as natural events and, like the sweet filling in the hamantaschen cookies and the savory ground beef or chicken inside the kreplach, God’s intervention was hidden. While God’s name isn’t found in the book of Esther, His activity is! He overruled history, overturned the plans of the wicked, and saved His people. Not every miracle involves something as dramatic as the parting of the sea. Sometimes, God’s miracles can be found in an unlikely friendship, overheard words, a bout of insomnia, the page of a king’s history book, or a roll of the dice!

Although Christians don’t observe Purim, perhaps we should. Let us never forget that Haman’s decree of death to the Jews extended to all Jews in the Persian empire, which would have included those Jews who had begun returning to Judah. Had Haman succeeded in his genocide, the Davidic line would have ended and disrupted God’s plan to send His son to be born a Jew in Bethlehem. The message we find in Esther is a simple one: God’s plans cannot be thwarted.

“For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.” [Jeremiah 23:5-6 (NLT)]

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has spoken—who can change his plans? When his hand is raised, who can stop him? [Isaiah 14:27 (NLT)]

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