Life's Inanities and Ironies

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach Memorial Day weekend, I want to speak to you not about the holiday as it is often observed today—with backyard barbecues, retail sales, and the beginning of summer—but as it was kept in the United States some sixty years ago. In the mid-1960s, Memorial Day (still widely called Decoration Day by many) fell solemnly on May 30 every year. Families, churches, and entire communities paused. They visited cemeteries, decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers, flags, and wreaths, attended memorial services, and offered prayers for permanent peace. Businesses in many towns closed. Parades honored the dead with dignity rather than mere spectacle. It was a day of remembrance, gratitude, and sober reflection on sacrifice. Why should conservative Christians today recover and observe this traditional spirit? Because Scripture calls us to remember, to honor sacrifice, and to give thanks to God for the freedoms secured by tho...

The miracle of the never-failing barrel of meal and cruse of oil in 1 Kings 17:8-16 that we looked at yesterday is not an isolated Old Testament wonder. It beautifully foreshadows and is directly echoed in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. For conservative Christians who hold the whole counsel of Scripture as inspired and harmonious, these parallels reveal the unchanging character of God as Provider — from the drought of Zarephath to the abundance of Christ. ** 1. Jesus Himself References the Widow (Luke 4:25-26) **   In His first recorded sermon in Nazareth, Jesus deliberately cites the widow of Zarephath: “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months… but unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.”   By highlighting this Gentile widow’s faith and God’s sovereign choice to provide for her, Jesus underscores that God’s mirac...

In the days of King Ahab, when drought and famine gripped the land as judgment for Israel’s idolatry, the Lord sent His prophet Elijah to a most unlikely place: Zarephath of Sidon, territory of the enemy. There, at the gate of the city, he found a destitute widow gathering sticks to prepare what she believed would be her last meal. In her house was only “a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse” (1 Kings 17:12). She and her son were preparing to eat it and die. Yet the God who sees every empty barrel and every desperate heart had already commanded Elijah to go to her. The prophet asked first for a drink of water, then for “a morsel of bread.” The widow explained her hopeless situation. Elijah’s response was bold and full of promise: “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cr...

As Bible-believing Christians who hold fast to the inerrant, infallible, and literal Word of God, we turn today to one of the most overlooked yet powerful books in Scripture—the Book of Obadiah. This shortest book in the Old Testament, with only 21 verses, packs a profound message about God’s sovereignty over the nations, His hatred of pride, and His unbreakable covenant with His people Israel. In an age when compromise and cultural pressure tempt even the faithful to soften the hard truths of Scripture, Obadiah stands as a clarion call to humility, repentance, and unwavering trust in the Lord’s promises. Authorship and Historical Setting The book is attributed to the prophet Obadiah, whose name means “servant of the Lord.” While little is known about the man himself, his message is crystal clear and divinely inspired. Conservative scholars date the prophecy sometime after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., though some place it earlier. What matters most to us as fundamentalists is tha...