Growing up, I did not realize good would triumph in the end. In my young life, it seemed clear evil was the stronger, and evil would prevail. Good would tragically die.
Guilt
Not all the guilt we feel is ours. Often enough, we feel guilt because it gives us some sense of control over something that seems terrible to us. Then, if can only atone in some way....
Shame
Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Isaiah 1:17 (NRSV)
Grief
She would just lie here today, she thought. Who cares? Not the one who counted. He was lying brain-dead in the hospital across town.
Minor Prophets: The Book of Nahum
To Nahum, God likened the Assyrians to cruel lions, strangling and dragging their prey into their bloody city. Now the righteous lion, the lion of Judah, would put right all the wrong that Assyria had committed.
Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Around
Every person has been given the outward revelation of a Creator with eternal power and divine nature, and the inward revelation of God’s righteousness and justice, carried within their own hearts.
Minor Prophets: Zephaniah, Look Above
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
Minor Prophets: Habakkuk’s Commitment
God's majesty, God's glory made all else recede, so that Habakkuk was focused on God, not on his current circumstances, nor the dreadful times to come.
Minor Prophets: Habakkuk, It Will Surely Come
A life of thankfulness to God is seen partly in whether you are thankful towards the people God has placed in your life and mine who care for us.
Loneliness
We are going to see God rescuing a very lonely person who had reached the very end of herself, literally all lone, without friend or family, without resources, and finally, without hope.