God Knows Where the Grass is Greenest

January 26, 2026January 25, 2026Todd R 1 Comment

The Old Testament book of Numbers has a story about Balak, the king of Moab. Scared of Israel after seeing their military success, he was desperate to find a way to avoid defeat himself. Balak sought out Balaam, known as a prophet who spoke oracles, to curse Israel for him. After repeatedly paying Balaam and making many sacrifices, Balaam refused to curse Israel because God told him to bless Israel, not curse them. Balak would not give up, and before a third try, “Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.’” (Numbers 23:27)

Where did Balak get the idea that changing location would get God on his side? That changing location would change God’s mind or bring God’s blessing to Balak (in the form of a curse on Israel)? Doesn’t it seem naïve? God’s character doesn’t change with location, or any other circumstances.

However, how often do we think a change in circumstances will bring God’s blessing? How often do we pray that God change our situation because we think the grass is greener somewhere else? Maybe if I lived in a different place, God would bless me. Maybe if I got a better job, would it be a blessing? Maybe if I went to a different church? Maybe if I was in a different relationship? Maybe if God would put us where we want to be, that He will bless us then? Are we saying “come with us God to another place, and perhaps it will please You to bless us there” in another way?

Warren Wiersbe wrote that “We are prone to think that a change in circumstances is always the answer to a problem. But the problem is usually within us and not around us. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart.”[1]

^{Photo by Ochir-Erdene Oyunmedeg on Unsplash}

God calls each of us for specific reasons, and the circumstances may be part of the reason. Referencing whether it is better to be married or single, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:24, “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” In other words, God wants to bless you in, or even through, your present circumstances. He may change them, but He may not.

In God’s plan, the grass is usually greenest right where we already are. If we can faithfully be the blessing needed in our circumstances, God will be faithful in His time and place. He will bless His people, only sometimes with better circumstances, but always with spiritual fruit.

God always says: “Come now, I will be with you where you are. It pleases me to bless you in all situations and circumstances.”

The grass is greenest where He is.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Wise (1 Corinthians) (1982).

God Equips Those He Calls

January 20, 2026January 17, 2026Todd R Leave a comment

When Jeremiah was called to serve as a prophet in the Old Testament, God told him he was literally made for it in Jeremiah 1:5 –

“‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’”

However, Jeremiah’s response was not an enthusiastic one. Jeremiah 1:6-8 records this exchange:

“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.’ But the LORD said to me,
            ‘Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
            for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
            and whatever I command you, you shall speak.’”

Even though God had just said “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” Jeremiah objects that he was too young and did not have the natural ability required for the job. Maybe he doubted anyone would listen to him, so God must have the wrong guy. God doesn’t disagree that Jeremiah was young (he already knew that), but knows that God’s ability is what matters, not Jeremiah’s. God knew that someday you and I would be reading Jeremiah’s words regardless of his own youth or ability. God never picks the wrong person for the job.

But if “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”[1] why does the Scripture tell us that one of its own authors doubted and questioned God Himself?

The answer of course, is “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We should learn not only from Jeremiah’s prophecies to the people of his time, but also from His experience with God. In hindsight, we think that because Jeremiah is a book of the Bible, of course he was able to do the work God gave him, but in the moment of his call, Jeremiah had no idea. So, when we think our ability is not enough for the job at hand, we should remember Jeremiah’s youth and remember that “God does not call the equipped; He equips the called,” as the saying goes. Jeremiah learned this from his own experience, and we may learn from it as well because the Bible records it.

Also, God shows us Jeremiah’s flaws to comfort us when we feel inadequate, not only in ability but also in faith. Even if we know that “God does not call the equipped; He equips the called,” we don’t always act on that knowledge. Jeremiah doubts not only his call, but there are other examples, including when he questions why he should buy a field the Babylonians were about to seize.[2] Doubt is not something that only some Christians feel – we are not alone in our weakness. Even the Bible’s own authors had doubt because they could not see as God sees.

God is patient when we are honest with Him about our doubts, but He is also honest with us when He says we were literally made to serve Him. No Christian is inadequate for the work God gives them, for in His power He accomplishes what He wants. He has no doubts and is faithful in providing everything we need.

Sometimes God sends us before we think we are ready, so we can learn to put our confidence in the right place like Paul, who wrote: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

[1] 2 Timothy 3:16
[2] The story is in Jeremiah 32, which I covered in an earlier post, here.

When Bad Things Happen to the Greatest Disciples

January 12, 2026January 11, 2026Todd R 2 Comments

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” is a difficult question to answer, and the life and death of John the Baptist is an interesting case, raising another question: did Jesus fail John the Baptist?

John was identified as “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight’”[1] prophesied by Isaiah. John publicly announced the coming of Jesus, and soon baptized Him, then watched the Spirit descend on Him like a dove and heard the voice of the Father declare Jesus as the Son.[2] Was testifying publicly about Jesus and His miracles John’s mission in life? If so, why did John find himself in prison, unable to preach in the open? As Matthew’s Gospel records, Herod Antipas, the Roman ruler of Galilee and Perea, had John arrested for criticizing Herod’s immoral relationship with his brother’s wife.[3] While under arrest, John began to have some doubts about Jesus and sent messengers to Him, saying “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”[4] To John, his circumstances didn’t make sense and he reached out to Jesus for an explanation.

Matthew, in preparing his gospel message, intentionally placed this question from John to Jesus after a long section about followers of Jesus meeting opposition and persecution in the world. If you have time, read Matthew chapters 10 and 11 now, or keep reading here and I’ll quote key verses and ideas as we go, starting with these:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.” – Matthew 10:24
“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” – Matthew 11:11

John’s experience gives us several lessons. First, living like Jesus does not mean Christians will avoid uncomfortable circumstances, including criticism and/or persecution. Circumstances are not always a sign we’ve done something right or wrong. When Jesus said “a disciple is not above his teacher” the context tells us that He meant that His perfect life and obedience led to the cross, and if we are like Him we can’t expect to be treated better than He was. Still, we may be tempted to think that if we live the right life, if we preach the truth of the gospel perfectly, if we do everything we “should”, then we will not be like “sheep in the midst of wolves,”[5] but loved and admired by the world. By moving right to the story of John in the next chapter, and saying “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist,” Matthew is saying that not even the greatest disciple of Jesus who ever lived was exempt from the warnings of chapter 10, including “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you sin their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” – Matthew 10:17-18

Even the very best lives and preaching meet opposition, perhaps the most devoted bring even more opposition from those who have no interest in the kingdom of God.

Second, by placing these stories side-by-side, Matthew shows that John the Baptist is an example for us when we have doubts[6]. In prison, John had doubts, but did not give up on Jesus. If Jesus was who he said He was, then not only the warnings of chapter 10 apply to John and us, but also the assurances and instructions:

“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.” – Matthew 10:19
“What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” – Matthew 10:27
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” – Matthew 10:31

John sent disciples to Jesus not to ask for rescue or to complain, but to confirm whether He really was the Messiah. When we have doubts, we can also seek and find comfort.

Third, there is always more God is doing than we are aware of. Instead of commenting directly on John’s prison situation to John’s messengers, “Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”[7] In other words, Jesus was doing everything the Messiah should be doing, and even with John sidelined from public ministry, the kingdom of God was advancing spectacularly. John had the information needed to believe and should not be “offended” by his unexpected circumstances. God remained in control of the situation.

Lastly, the circumstances of our lives may be what inspire others to better follow Christ, although it may be invisible to us. Therefore, our patience and faithfulness in those times, or even the way we express and deal with doubt, can be a powerful witness. As “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,” John saw his audience as those coming out to see Him and be baptized. From this perspective, being in prison made John feel useless or like a failure to his calling. What had he and/or Jesus done wrong? But God, through Matthew’s Gospel, saw John’s audience as all future generations, who could be encouraged that even the “great” John the Baptist faced criticism, persecution, and doubt. John may have thought his purpose was to keep preaching publicly, but instead his example benefits believers in ways that his freedom couldn’t.

Faith Over Circumstance
Don’t let circumstances determine your faith and willingness to serve Christ. In Matthew 10, Jesus said political and religious leaders, and even our own families, will resist Christ in us. Often, they will appear to succeed. Also, some will tell us that when things aren’t going our way, we need to “have more faith”, “pray harder”, “go to church more”, and convince God to improve our situation. They argue we need to fix something we’re doing and our circumstances will improve. But this is not the message of John’s story, and Matthew made sure of that by the way he wrote it. There is no record of Jesus or Matthew telling John the Baptist why he was suffering and in prison, or that he could do anything about it. Jesus only asked him to trust. However, when John was ultimately beheaded[8], he met Jesus face-to face again, but fully glorified, and I believe John understood. There is always more to our circumstances than we can see or comprehend, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”[9]

If even John the Baptist was not exempt from the warnings of Matthew 10, neither are we. But also, if John could trust his Lord and Savior to love and provide for him, we can too.

“And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it…And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”” – Matthew 10:38-39, 42

[1] Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Matthew 4:3.
[2] Matthew 3:16-17
[3] Matthew 14:3
[4] Matthew 11:3
[5] Matthew 10:16
[6] Also, I recently posted an example from the life of Jeremiah the prophet.
[7] Matthew 11:4-6
[8] Matthew 14:10
[9] Romans 8:28

When All You Have is God

January 8, 2026January 7, 2026Todd R 1 Comment

Near the end of Book 3 in the Psalms (43-89), several Psalms read like cries for help by writers at the end of their rope. In Psalm 86:14, for example, David writes: “O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.” While the exact circumstance is unclear, David knows there is a wide conspiracy against him, and his only hope is to turn to God. The Psalm opens with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.”

Likewise, when we feel desperate and don’t know where to turn, these Psalms remind us that God will never turn us away. On Psalm 86 John Calvin comments that “the more severely any one is oppressed, and the more destitute he is of the resources of human aid, the more inclined is God graciously to help him. That despair therefore may not overwhelm our minds under our greatest afflictions, let us support ourselves from the consideration that the Holy Spirit has dictated this prayer for the poor and the afflicted.” In other words, because these Psalms are in the Bible, we can be sure that, no matter the mess our own choices or the actions of others have put us in, God in His steadfast love will listen.

Throughout the Psalm, David writes reminders of the character and works of God as a contrast to both his circumstances and his feelings of futility. Like him we must always remember that our character is never so bad that God loving us is inconsistent with His character, and that our circumstances are never so bad that loving us is beyond His power to achieve.

When all you have is God, He is enough.

Even for the most desperate, there is always a way out, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” In Psalm 86, David does not just pray for a miraculous deliverance, but in verse 11, David looks for the way of escape: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” A united heart is one that feels no anxiety because it knows it is seeking God’s will and willing to act on it based on reverence for Him. God may urge us to merely wait for His deliverance, or prod us to actions we may not expect, but in all cases, He knows the way, because He is the Way. Only He can unite our hearts.

Bring your desperate anxiety to Him and let Him show you the way forward. When all you have is God, He is enough. When you feel your faith is weak because you can’t see or feel God in your life or the world around you, begin with “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy,” and He will listen.

“Let Not the Flood Sweep Over Me”

November 19, 2025November 15, 2025Todd R Leave a comment

A recent post was about Jeremiah’s comparison of false religion to a broken cistern, with God alternatively being “the fountain of living waters.”[1] Jeremiah lived when most of God’s people – including most of the priests and prophets – had turned from Him to follow other gods. As Jeremiah remained faithful, correctly predicting that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon, he was persecuted, including this instance in Jeremiah 38:6, where King Zedekiah’s officials “took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.”

Since God is “the fountain of living waters,” the only path to eternal blessing, it’s incredibly ironic that Jeremiah, one of the few remaining faithful prophets and therefore a rare source of God’s “living waters,” should be cast into a cistern with no water. Perhaps it was broken. King Zedekiah thought he could silence the “living waters” Jeremiah represented by casting them into a cistern, trading truth for falsehood.

Later, Jeremiah seems to recall the cistern experience in Lamentations 3:52-57, where he said:

“I have been hunted like a bird
            by those who were my enemies without cause;
they flung me alive into the pit
            and cast stones on me;
water closed over my head;
            I said, ‘I am lost.’
‘I called on your name, O LORD,
            from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
            your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
            you said, ‘Do not fear!’”

Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we read that Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard of Jeremiah’s situation and pleaded his case: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”[2] This unlikely source – a foreigner – was Jeremiah’s deliverance from God to rescue Jeremiah from the well. Ebed-melech gathered 30 men, “Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.”

Jeremiah was not the only Old Testament figure to suffer for his faithfulness. Many years earlier, King David also referred to “sinking in the mire” in the Messianic Psalm 69, verses 14-15:

“Deliver me
            from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
            and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
            or the deep swallow me up,
            or the pit close its mouth over me.”

David knew this feeling of sinking came not because of his sin, but when he was faithfully serving his Lord. David’s “sinking in the mire” happened under these circumstances from verse 9 of the same Psalm:

“For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”

In Jeremiah’s case, as well as David’s and that of Jesus, whom Psalm 69 foreshadowed[3], we know we that cannot judge our faithfulness based on whether it improves our circumstances. When we do, we might stop being faithful because it seems we are “sinking in the mire.” Being reproached by the world and feeling down aren’t the circumstances we prefer, but “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[4] Through these and all other circumstances, God develops in us deeper trust in Him.

Therefore, with David may we pray:

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” – Psalm 69:13

And in His time, He will deliver us, perhaps in ways we don’t expect.

Coda

In 1995, Christian rock group Jars of Clay released their self-titled album, and the track “Flood” has similar themes to this post. The song was also a mainstream hit, charting as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[5] amazing for a song that is essentially a prayer like David’s in Psalm 69.

You can check out the song’s lyrics here: https://genius.com/Jars-of-clay-flood-lyrics

Or, if you have 3 ½ minutes, watch the music video here: