At times we all feel anxious in our faith. Challenges make us question God, and distrust his promises of goodness and care. As we hack our way through a difficult world, it’s healthy to wrestle and share frustrations with the Lord.

Far worse for our faith is to give up and become complacent. The writer of Hebrews penned this warning to church members:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand…though you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you…you need milk not solid food!

This group stopped trying to understand the ways of the Lord. Why? Not for lack of good teaching or good people in their midst. Perhaps their gatherings grew comfortable, easy to slide in and slide out. Maybe in their city it was safer to keep quiet about their new faith in an unknown Messiah.

Or could it be that ongoing compromise with the values of the world kept them immature? This forms our overarching temptation today. Society wants you and I to mouth the phrase God is love, but disregard the reality that God is truth, and his truth requires adherence on our part.

Balancing both God’s love and God’s truth raises all sorts of uncomfortable issues. As a result a follower of Jesus clashes with the broader culture. True in the first century when this was written (remember the martyrs) and true today (people face persecution for their faith every day).

In the midst of our raucous world a milk diet fails to satisfy. Those who never expand their palate slip away. Complacency strangles the spirit—I’ve seen it over and over. Don’t let your faith journey stop with bland milk and stale crackers.

Living by the book requires sound teaching and rigorous application—you’ll need your strength. Eat something solid today.

Hebrews 5 & 6 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jason Leung

Pondering feels out of vogue. To ponder means to think about something carefully. The word derives from a Latin root referring to weight. Pondering involves contemplating on important issues.

But pondering is hard in our world of flashing images, constant entertainment, social media and ever-updated new feeds. I find little space to ponder, much to my detriment.

The psalmist wrote: Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

The writer leads us to ponder over a variety of great works. These include God’s righteousness that endures forever; his grace and compassion; the food on our table; the land we live on; the words of God we find trustworthy; and redemption for his people.

Where might a renewed commitment to pondering lead? To greater and greater respect for the Lord and the wisdom that follows. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

Wisdom—that’s in short supply. You and I stand to gain by carving out time in our day to consider the works of the Lord. Maybe try a few minutes by a window, or a stroll with a silenced phone (or without your phone at all). The effort to mull over the gracious work of God pays back many times over.

Ponder a bit with me today. Who knows, it might become a habit we enjoy?

Psalm 111 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Mikael Kristenson

A Bible sits on a shelf for years and years. Then, someone blows the dust off, starts to read, and finds their innards stirring. The book lays them bare.

I think hard and often on this insight the writer of Hebrews shared about the Scriptures: For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Mysteriously, after thousands of years, the words are not expired, not grown stale, not gone out of date. The opposite actually. Seething with energy, pulsing with hope, infused with insight and power, that Bible trembles on the rack.

Like yeast, its teachings permeate. Like a virus, the words infect. Like spring rains, the Holy Spirit uses the scriptures to soften the ground, sprout seeds and create flourishing lives.

Simply put, God’s revelation does things—open the book and let it do things to you.

Hebrews 4 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Syd Wachs

Years ago I traveled though Eastern Europe. Out of curiosity, I ducked into a few churches. The communist leaders in this block sealed off most houses of worship and neglected those left open. Doors swung in the wind and leaves littered the floor. However, at the front of every church an old woman or two knelt in prayer.

As a young missionary I despaired and asked the Lord, is this all that’s left of your followers? Only a few toothless women muttering desperate prayers in a beat-down church?

Forty years later, I understand the power of old women muttering prayers.

I suppose many whispered the words of David, who also prayed during a desperate time, when the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.

Old women pray because they understand nothing else works. Turning the hearts of family, friends, neighbors and nations requires God to move. Divine acts all. Over the years we work and plead and shake, but still we wait. Old knees understand and bend to the Lord more quickly.

As I finally join those old women in prayer, I enter into their hope as well. David closed his psalm with this promise, one I’ve clung to in many difficult periods in my life, and now see afresh:

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

In the years following my visit the monolithic, unassailable system of communism collapsed. Spiritual awakenings spread through country after country. New converts, and freshly-freed old ones, crowded those old women in the pews. They all enjoyed the goodness of the Lord.

Embrace the wisdom of the babushkas. Be strong. Take heart. Pray and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Katarzyna Biernaciak