Praying with Tears

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“The noun torah comes from a verb, yarah, that means to throw something, a javelin, say, so that it hits its mark. The word that hits its mark is torah… As we prepare to pray, to answer the words God addresses to us, we learn that all of God’s words have this...

Edging into Mystery

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I finished my book on the last Saturday of December and sent it off to my editor. He and I talked this past Saturday, and let’s just say I am over the moon: he loved it. It needs work, but he could see past its flaws to the book I was trying to write, and...

See Some Good

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There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’ You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound.” —Psalm 4:6-7 The…contrast [in Psalm 4] is between those who are...

The Most Beautiful Gift

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I don’t like the man who doesn’t sleep, says God. Sleep is the friend of man. Sleep is the friend of God. Sleep is perhaps the most beautiful thing I have created, and I myself rested on the seventh day. He whose heart is pure, sleeps. And he who sleeps...

Edging into Mystery

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Earlier this month, I declared 2012 my year of prayer. This year, I said, I want to pray more often, more deeply, more intentionally. As I’ve pondered what this might look like, Eugene Peterson pointed me in a surprising direction. In a different book than the...