The violence that hit Texas a week ago leaves us with images of a fallen man, lost in every imaginable way. In this display of rage and terror, his inner war was exposed. The questions and the whys occupy our hearts as we wrestle with our uncivilized world. I’d assert that, though saved, I must face a reality: there’s a war inside of me, too. . .

Psalm 137 is striking in skill, content, and beauty. The community lament remembers the Babylonian captivity: “By the waters, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying “Sing us one of those songs of Zion!” The community is asking, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”. . . 

Kelly grew up with a Buddhist worldview in China and didn’t know any Christians until she came to America as a foreign exchange student. To give her a taste of an American-weekend experience, some friends invited her to a garage sale. Browsing through all the bargains, she noticed a display of handcrafted crosses. Kelly admired them and picked one out, though it had no spiritual significance to her. After exchanging smiles and a few words, the woman selling them gave her a tract, “The Four Spiritual Laws.” Kelly was tired of living a life of academic performance and was seeking truth. As she read the booklet she thought, “Jesus died for me, who is he, anyway?... It’s my life to live, so why would I give it to Jesus?”. . . 

Metaphor is a powerful tool in Old Testament poetry. One-third of the Bible can be classified as poetry. Sometimes the rational mind wants to gravitate toward the hard facts, but the Lord chose to reveal who He is and who we are in prose that contains metaphor. . .