Twice in his book, Daniel is addressed with an appositive phrase. The first was when King Darius released him from the lion’s den. The second when Gabriel came to strengthen and comfort him after a vision, and a time of deep conflict and mourning.

I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. (Dan. 10:5, 6 ESV)

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O Sacred Head Now Wounded

Bernard of Clairvaux

1 O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory,
what bliss till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.

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The Elixir.
George Herbert, The Temple, 1633

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in any thing,
To do it as for thee:

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Grammar matters. Twice in his book Daniel is addressed with an appositive phrase: once by King Darius and a second time by the angel Gabriel. They are important clues to who Daniel was at bottom.

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In 1752, a young Robert Robinson attended an evangelical meeting to heckle the believers and make fun of the proceedings. Instead, he listened in awe to the words of the great preacher George Whitefield, and in 1755, at the age of twenty, Robinson responded to the call he felt three years earlier and became a Christian. Another three years later, when preparing a sermon for his church in Norfolk, England, he penned the words that have become one of the church’s most-loved hymns: “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.” (www.hymnary.org)

Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount — I’m fixed upon it —
Mount of Thy redeeming love!

Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer,
Hither, by Thy help, I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee:
prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant1 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1:38 ESV)

If one popular song were chosen to characterize the American ideal of rugged individualism, it might be Frank Sinatra’s “My way.”

I’ve lived a life that’s full
I’ve traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

We teach our children from a very young age to dream big: “You can be anything you want.” We advertise the Army to our young men and women, “Be all you can be!”

Against that backdrop, I recall Dr. Brannan as a Naval chaplain telling us, “The Bible’s model for success is seen most clearly in one young girl’s prayer, ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’” It is this utter abandonment of one’s own will and total submission to the will of God that marks success in God’s eyes. And Chaplain Brannan urged us all the time to pray those same words and allow God to shape our souls to become good and faithful servants.

Now that is countercultural!

David wrote Psalm 63 in “the wilderness of Judah,” probably not on the run from Saul, but on the run from Absalom, his own son whom he loved. Imagine it. The kingdom was not only leaderless in that moment but a hot mess right down to David’s own household. So, in full geopolitical crisis mode, David wrote,

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life (Ps. 23:6 ESV)

David spent the first half of his life pursued by enemies. Saul hunted him relentlessly. The Philistines would have their pound of flesh too. Later, David’s son, Absalom, pursued him. Read more

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free;
For, O my God, it found out me.

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me!

–Charles Wesley (1738)

…for you are with me (Psalm 23:4)

Psalm 23 is the most loved psalm of the Old Testament. It has two scenes. The first Read more