Airish Beasts
The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours.
Psalm 89:11
The earth we sort of understand; we can admire it, study it, and test it. But the heavens are further out of reach—and not just outer space. The psalmist also has in mind the greater heavens, the invisible realm where God rules angels and demons alike.
On earth we can sense an opponent, whether it be animal, vegetable, or mineral. But when spiritual forces threaten, we are easily defeated. The father of lies tempts us with beautiful or horrible untruths which can sweep our souls off their gospel footing or drive them into despair.
But God scatters our invisible enemies with the breath of his lips. He has wrestled the airish beasts on the cross when he took away their only weapon, our cosmic guilt. Let us remind ourselves (and them) of this: we are loved and forgiven and safe and sound in Christ. Praise the Lord!
Stillver and Gold
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
Psalm 89:9
The sea doesn’t scare us too much these days. We hop and skip over oceans while watching movies (perhaps the 2026 hit motion picture The Odyssey). But let someone untie the wind sack of Aeolus and we could find ourselves plummeting back to the dark ages (or further, like that one episode of The Twilight Zone).
There are still other waters we must navigate these days, and they’re not still. Satan and his powers in high places crash upon us with every lie and temptation known to man (thanks to them). The nations of earth are like raging waters, bringing chaos where there should be order. And how about our own hearts? Our feelings toss us to and fro, and we are troubled and afraid.
Let us then remember that our God rules over it all, every ocean and every emotion. In our scariest times, let us turn our hearts to his word where we will hear him say, “Be still, and know that I am God.” That is Treasure worth sailing the high seas for.
The Present
A very present help in trouble
Psalm 46:1
God is with us now. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He is always there, especially when we need him most. We may be filled with regret about the past or anxiety about the future, but the Lord calls us to trust him right now. For right now we are in his presence—the Father to the fatherless, the Friend of sinners, the Helper. He will always help us. What a gift! So let’s enjoy the present.
Mic Check
Oh, that my people would listen to my voice!
Psalm 81:13
“God, what do you want from me?” We’ve all been there. But of course we already know the answer, for “he has told you, O man, what is good” (Micah 6:8). Here he tells us even more simply what exactly he wants from us: to hear.
The Pharisees spun their wheels on them doing the right thing; they were the main characters in their world. But when God is all, we delight to hear what he’s got to say.
We can’t figure everything out and we can control very little. Let us then stick to what we were created for: following the wondrous voice of our Creator.
As one of the poets has said,
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.
Upness
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens.
-Psalm 78:69
Solomon’s temple stood atop Mount Zion—not the highest mountain in the world, not even the highest mountain around—but high enough to get the point across: God dwells up there. The temple itself took an upward form as well, being 30 feet wide and 45 feet high.
Solomon’s temple is long gone but God Most High remains the same. We may not live by any mountains at all, but let us improve all upward things we do see—hills, trees, the palatial clouds of summer—to this end: that we may meditate upon the wonders of he who came down to call us up.
Sunsets of Autumn
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
Psalm 65:8
Morning and Evening is a great devotional by Spurgeon, but the Lord has a better one that all the world observes. These are holy moments none can ignore. People everywhere grow still when those shrill trumpets sprout dazzling banners of red, pink, and orange at the coming and going of the greater orb. If you can’t dig sunrises and sunsets, you can’t be human.
The year also comes in and goes out with a bang: the cheerful colors of spring and the breathtaking finale of fall. So too are our Christian lives. Our conversions scented with the sweet fragrance of flowers and our last days crowned with the brilliance of late leaf both alike announce God’s glory to all.
Like autumn sunsets, the Lord Jesus has saved the best for last. By his death he has sweetened death. Let us then enjoy the spring, summer, and autumn of our days without fear. In this way the church ought to be a forest of mixed seasons—a sky where, here and there, sunrises and sunsets are always singing.
From Littlefaith to Lethal
And nothing will be impossible for you.
Matthew 17:20
Mountains don’t move easy. But faith handles them like Amphion’s golden lyre which could roll boulders with its tune. Thanos the Mad Titan had an assistant Squidward who could move things with his mind—a handy art for bringing destruction to the universe. At one point Thanos himself throws a moon at Tony Stark. But in the hands of faith, mountains are moved to save life and make it prosper. So let’s play that moving music of faith upon the golden gospel harp. We need only play a little jingle and whatever’s in our way, be gone with it in Jesus’s name!
I Send It Back
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
Matthew 15:27
The Canaanite woman is one of those “great faith” people in the Gospels. She cried out for Jesus to heal her demon-oppressed daughter but his response was soul-crushing: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Any ordinary faith may at this point turn away in confused obedience. Yet even in what appeared to be a cold-blooded rejection, this remarkable woman saw a way forward: It may not be right for dogs like me, but they still find a way to eat and so shall I.
Let us likewise take whatever trouble the hand of Providence throws our way and send it back to God in even more humble faith.
Arthurs of Our Own
Apparently, CS Lewis thought of his friend JRR Tolkien as the return of King Arthur. Philologist Elwin Ransom aka Mr. Fisher-King aka the Pendragon, the star of Lewis’s space trilogy (Ransom Trilogy for the smarty-panses) was based on the Middle-Earth man.
Was JRR really kidnapped by an evil physicist and a slick conman and taken to Mars? Probably not. But it is a fact that he acquired new tongues. In his thought, Tolkien seems to have pieced through the veil, bringing down some or other timeless power of heaven in his strange words.
He also brings back something dead and buried, ancient and forgotten—quite unwelcome to our modern sentiments but undeniably delightful to every human heart. It is the magic of earth. For of course Merlin, “the horrible old man” (as he might seem to us) returns out of the deep past to aid Ransom in his fated triumph.
Thus it may be that we taste in Tolkien’s writings the harmony of heavenly glory and magical earthiness. And what is this combination if not true humanity? Molded of earth yet heaven-born, the God-Man himself calls us onward and upward. So let’s bring the ruckus on our modern age with celestial truth and earthy wisdom in beautiful harmony. May star and soil arm us in our various Camelot quests in this technological age of wonders, horrors, and madness.
The Best Rest
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mark 11:28
The gospel is the deepest revelation of who God is (as the context of this verse makes clear). This revelation of God is bound up in his Son and the work he was sent to do, namely, taking our burdens upon himself, putting away our sins, and giving us eternal rest. All this reveals that the living God is a saving God. He delights to bestow mercy upon all who come to him. Let us do so today and always, ever seeking the best rest.