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Two men went up to the temple to pray—but only one went home justified. The first was robed in religious garb, adorned with spiritual pride, and convinced of his own righteousness. He prayed—but not to God. He prayed to himself. Listen to his words: “God, I thank You that I am not like other men.”

Our journey to see with eternal perspective has come to the cross-roads called suffering. And we do not lose heart. What a strange and wondrous declaration from the lips of a man acquainted with prisons, shipwrecks, beatings, betrayals, and sleepless nights. Paul’s life was mired in suffering—and yet he calls it “light.” He bore permanent scars, and yet he calls it “momentary.” Is this exaggeration? Is this blindness to pain? No—it is perspective.

I talked to two people from two different churches this week who were both studying Exodus 14 so I figured the Lord wanted to remind me of it as well. It’s a familiar passage, but so rich!

Are there people in your life who are hard to love? People who are different, distant, disagreeable? People who wound rather than warm, who repel rather than attract? Then look to Hosea—and beyond Hosea, look to Christ.

Reading through Micah, I passed this little gem of Messianic prophecy. It gave me pause. It was not by the whim of Caesar that Mary arrived in Bethlehem. It was not by chance that the census fell at the very moment of her delivery. The journey, the timing, the town—all were ordained by God.