David was not calm when he wrote this. The surrounding verses describe cords of death and torrents of destruction. What separates David from the remnant in Malachi is not the intensity of his distress. It is the direction of it. David cried to God. The people in...
It is a strange thing to read that anyone could weary God. Isaiah says he does not faint or grow weary, and that his understanding is unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). Psalm 145:8-9 says he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, good to...
Put the whole passage back together. Two gates. Two roads. Two destinations. One gate wide, one narrow. One way easy, one hard. One ending in destruction, one in life. And standing over all of it, a command: enter. If you have felt the objection rising all week, you...
Here is the strange mercy of this passage: the easy road only looks easy. It gets harder the longer you stay on it. Sleep in every morning long enough and you end up poor. Eat whatever looks good long enough and your health fails. Keep only the promises that are...
Jesus says the way that leads to life is hard. The word he uses belongs to a family of words about pressure, suffering, and persecution. It is not merely that the Christian life takes discipline, though it does. It is that the road to life can lead you straight into...
