Chuck Larsen

David is bringing his prayers and praise to God. He begins by asking God to recognize them in the most positive way possible. So he compares them to the altar of incense that burns just outside the Holy of Holies, and the altar of Sacrifice that’s the first object as a worshipper approaches God to worship Him. David says that his worship is his offering. He writes, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” The altar of sacrifice is there to illustrate that man does not approach God empty handed, but he brings an offering. View full article »

J. Edwin Orr has been widely known as a challenging evangelist and a noted scholar of historical revival movements. He has written many textbooks and was a professor of world missions. He also lectured and held workshops throughout the world while visiting 150 countries. He also wrote a few hymns. One of them is based on the last two verses of Psalm 139. These verses say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” View full article »

Psalm 137:1 opens with the author in despair. It says, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” The exiles in Babylon had been driven from their homes and lands and taken to a foreign country. They fell deep into the pit of despair. Yet, Jeremiah’s word to them was to get up, go on, build homes, establish businesses, get on with your life. But the grief had crippled them. View full article »

Psalm 136 has 26 verses. And every verse has two parts. The first part of the first three verses has an exhortation to thank God. The last part of the first three verses says, “for His steadfast love endures forever.” The first part of the rest (except the last) list many of His glorious attributes: creative powers as seen in the skies, stars, sun, moon, mountains. Some of them talk about the great things He did like delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt. But the last half of every one of the verses says, “For His steadfast love endures forever.” The final verse concludes, “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” View full article »

Theologians always make up big words to describe God. I don’t know why they do that. You’d think it would be enough to simply say, “God can do anything,” or “God knows everything,” or “God is everywhere at the same time.” Instead they talk about God’s omnipotence, his omniscience, and his omnipresence. I want you to know that these words don’t show up in the Bible. It’s more straight forward that that. For example Psalm 135, verse 6 says, “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” View full article »

Hey, you baby boomers, do you remember the Long Ranger’s Creed. It used to be as familiar to boys in America as The Boy Scout Oath. Written by Fran Striker, it was the kind of creed that felt good. The creed said, “I believe that to have a friend, a man must be one.” View full article »

One of the characteristics of God that is so moving to us mortals is that He is a forgiving God. That’s good too, because without God’s forgiveness, we would all be lost. The Psalmist in Psalm 130 expresses this truth in verse 3. He writes, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” The point is that no one could stand! We’d all be lost. We all need forgiveness. The Psalmist doesn’t hesitate to proceed to ask God for forgiveness and mercy. He asks with confidence because he knows that forgiveness is one of God’s characteristics. Verse 4 says, “But with you there is forgiveness…” Later he states that it’s based on God’s “steadfast love.” That means he never fails us. He will always forgive us. View full article »

Some modern statistics on Stress in our society: 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects due to stress. 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or disorders. Stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide. An estimated one million workers are absent on an average workday because of stress related complaints. View full article »