Gwendolyn Harmon's Blog: Learning Ladyhood, page 13

Everyday Omnipresence

About a year ago I wrote a blog post about God’s omnipresence and how comforting it is to know that God is always with me, wherever I go. But a few weeks ago, God touched my heart with another aspect of God’s omnipresence from that very same passage.

Last time, I focused on the fact that God is present everywhere, all at once. But God isn’t just present in every place: He’s also present in every moment of time. The omnipresence of God is inseparably entwined with His eternality.

You and I experi...

How Love I Thy Law: Making the Bible a Part of Everyday Life

As I was thinking and praying about a post for this week, this verse came to mind:

 

“O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97)

 

If you’re at all like me, you probably find it all too easy to limit your interaction with the Bible to specific scheduled times. For me, it’s first thing in the morning, but even when I have read in the evenings, the temptation remained the same. James puts it this way:

 

“For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a m...

Understanding the Lovingkindness of the Lord

A few days ago, I was savoring the early morning quiet of a nearly deserted airport terminal, flipping through the pages of my Bible. I had intended to soak in Psalm 139, which was such a comfort and joy to me on my travels last year. Instead, my eye fell on the first verse of Psalm 107:

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.”

This, too, was familiar territory, and I decided to stop and read the whole psalm, feeling the truth of God’s goodness and mercy res...

Joy and Strength

I’ve been reading through the Bible for many years now, usually cover-to-cover. It never ceases to amaze me how there is always something new to discover, and how often I find precious truths I have forgotten about.

The other day, I ran across Nehemiah 8:10. The famous bit of this verse says,

 

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

 

It’s such an encouraging thought, but the funny thing is, we usually take that one bit of encouragement and run off without considering the real depth of that truth,...

Unconditional Surrender

A visiting missionary preached at my church a couple weeks ago. Among many encouraging and convicting things he shared was the story of how God brought him and his wife into the ministry they have today.

The story is theirs to tell, and I couldn’t possibly do it full justice in this post, but I did want to draw our attention to one specific statement he made. This faithful Christian said that when God first began to call him into missions, he struggled. He said that he had surrendered to God, bu...

Perfect Peace

 A friend of mine recently suggested I write a blog post about peace. I jotted it down in my little book of blog post ideas, but the next two weeks flew by and I still struggled to find a good way to start the post.

Then, on the heels of those two busy weeks, I reached the point in the summer when I realize with a sickening twinge of panic that summer break is over halfway spent, and I have not made a bit of progress on my writing projects. I had not accomplished even one of the things I looked ...

Rahab’s Redemption

When I was young, there was an effort being made in Christian circles to save Rahab’s reputation. In case you haven’t read the book of Joshua recently, here’s how the Bible chooses to introduce us to Rahab:

“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” (2:1)

I have often heard people explain away Rahab’s occupation by saying something like, “Things were ...

Second Mile Forgiveness

If you have been a Christian for very long, you are probably familiar with the account of Joseph in the book of Genesis. His father’s obvious favorite, he was mocked and despised by his brothers, who eventually sold him as a slave.

That was just the beginning of the trials in Joseph’s life, but no doubt it hurt. His brother’s heartless hatred didn’t define his later relationship with them, however, and although he did exercise some caution at first, the forgiveness he offered was sincere and had...

“Lovest Thou Me?”

Reading through the gospels, Peter often stands out. He was usually quick to speak, quick to act, often quick to say or do not quite the right thing. Peter was a man of extremes, as illustrated by his statement when Jesus knelt to wash his feet in the upper room:

 

“Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” (John 13:8-9)

 

In Luke 22, Jesu...

Justice, Mercy, and Omniscience

Deuteronomy 4:23-31

If you’ve been reading along on my blog for very long, you might recall that I have been journaling through the Bible this year, instead of my usual through the Bible in a year reading plan. I am currently working my way through the book of Deuteronomy, (this journaling thing will probably take a couple years) and was struck by a familiar phrase in Deuteronomy 4:29.

But before we get there, you need to understand the context:

The book of Deuteronomy is essentially the record o...