The vivid account in Psalm 22, written so many centuries before Jesus’ death and corresponding so closely to the event, can be explained in only one way: David was enabled by God’s Spirit to predict what he couldn’t have known about in any other way.

Jesus was not the only person to be crucified by the Romans, but read Psalm 22 carefully and contemplate what it means that the Son of God was subjected to a death like this — and even the details were foreseen ten centuries before it took place.

When we disregard God, He is not diminished. It is still He “to whom we must give account,” and His promises have never failed to be fulfilled when the time was right. So let’s not suppose that a mere “never mind” on our part will make Him disappear.

A Christian is a loyal subject in God’s kingdom, joyfully accepting all that Jesus taught about God’s rule in our lives. Jesus Christ did not fail. He began His kingdom, as He said He would. We can accept the gospel — and the kingdom — right now.

Jesus desires to rule in the HEARTS of men and women, no matter where their earthly citizenship is. His kingdom exists wherever there are people who have truly given their hearts to Him, so that their “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).

The kingdom of the Messiah is now a reality, permanent and indestructible. When we become members of this kingdom, our “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20,21) — and we need not fear the rise and fall of any of the kingdoms of this world.

If we diligently seek God, we’ll want to narrow the gap between our professed beliefs and our practical beliefs. We’ll sacrifice to LIVE whatever truths we’ve discovered. It’s not enough to believe what is true; we must engage it and make it our own.

We greatly benefit when we think about God. But the greatest good of all is that our minds are lifted out of our little concerns and caught up in the wonder of Someone who existed long before we ever had the need to think of Him.

Our malady was well diagnosed by J. B. Phillips’s famous five words: “Your God is too small.” Until we realize that the self-indulgent “worship” that passes for reverence today is an insult to God, it’s not likely that we’ll seek Him as we should.

Suppose the “God” we worship is not God as He has revealed Himself to be, but God as we have wrongly conceived Him in our own minds. Are we not worshiping a “creature” of our own making, an idolatry all the more dangerous because it is so subtle?

If we neglect the declaration of Himself that God has made, we die. Ultimately, there is no alternative. Jesus could not have said it more clearly: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

Like rich, fertile soil, our hearts must be receptive to the word which God intends to plant there. Although marvelous good things can come from God’s word in our hearts, this word can’t even take root in our hearts if they are hardened or unhearing.

We need to accept whatever roles are ours to play, regardless of where these rank on any worldly scale of values. We should be glad for our part and grateful for the work God gives us. After all, God has set us in the body “just as He pleased.”

“Be still, and know that I am God.” We won’t revere God properly until we’ve gotten still, and stillness in God’s school may not be something we’re willing to accept. We may have to be forced to be still by the “preschool” of pain and suffering.

The spirit of worship is selfless wonder at God’s majesty — the smallness of ourselves in His presence. And for sinful beings, it involves repentance. Our hearts may be proud or they may be worshipful, but they can’t be both. Pride kills worship.

Our adversary specializes in confusion. He loves to prey upon minds that are torn and upset by multiple worries, and he often tempts us when we’re so beset by cares that we act on impulse, failing to consider the consequences of our actions.

God cannot be defeated, and this truth is attested by everything ever been known about Him. When, in the face of temporary opposition, we choose to believe the ultimate victory will be His, we adopt a faith the devil can do little to vanquish.

Those who will enjoy heaven are those who know how to be patient, and patience comes down to what the old-timers used to call “grit.” But mark it well: grit is not something some people are born with and others are not. It’s a matter of choice.