the waiting country

Have you ever seen a sign that warns you a certain footpath is liable to flooding? It’s a great candidate as a sign to write over your life:...

Have you ever felt you spoke too soon? That you were too hasty and if you’d only listened to James’ exhortation to be “slow to speak” thing...

Everything is worse at night - or so it seems. But there are good reasons, both psychological and physiological, for believing it’s true. Th...

Does your life count? Does it really matter what you do and how you do it? It’s easy to think it doesn’t - we’re ordinary people, living ord...

“Where are the other nine?” Those words of our Lord Jesus search our hearts and press us about our own response to all that he has done for ...

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23) There’s no beating about the bush, no hedging your be...

As the greatest of songs buds and opens, like a flower in the life-giving rays of the sun, the Beloved says to the Lover, “Your name is as p...

Dislocated from its context, James 1:17 sounds so comforting: the God we know in Jesus is the giver of every good and perfect gift. We’d lik...

When Adam and Eve sinned, the weight of their shame was intolerable. It had been noted at the end of the previous chapter that they “were bo...

"Richard, you’re on mute!"  Whoops. It’s happened lots of times, to many of us. Recently I had the experience of not being able to...

I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precep...

All sorts of thoughts and questions swirly around the ultimate destiny of Christians - the nature of heavenly life, what life on a renewed e...

David’s prayer in Psalm 5:8 gets right to the heart of so much of our need and longing: “lead me, LORD, in your righteousness.” The reason ...

“Like cold water to a weary soul Is good news from a distant land…” (Proverbs 25:25) A weary soul. I guess we know what that’s like - insid...

Psalm 74 portrays the experiences of the people of Israel in the most graphic terms. Their enemies had roared against them, had smashed the ...

You’ve got plans that need to be made, steps forward that need to be taken. You glance in the direction of heaven and hope that, somehow, th...

It’s said that on a clear day you can see forever. But we live in a world that is frequently opaque and whose skies seem to be filled with t...

The perspective of Joseph on his sufferings at the hands of his brothers is quite stunning. When he reveals himself to them they are (to par...

We have enemies, within and without. The Bible couldn’t be plainer on this point. Whatever terms it might use - “the world, the flesh and th...

“Can these bones live?” Can this life be turned-around? Can hope be embedded in the heart? Can these bones live, the dry bones we see all a...