DOES FAITH EVER STRUGGLE?

June 24, 2024

JOB’S FAITHFUL ENDURANCE IN GOD’S STORY [This is chapter 6 from my Yet Will I Trust Him (College Press, 1999), pp. 153-181.]                           What is man that you make so much of him,                                       that you give him so much attention,                           that you examine him every morning                                       and test him every moment?                           Will you never […]


¿LA FE LUCHA ALGUNA VEZ?

June 24, 2024

LA RESISTENCIA FIEL DE JOB EN LA HISTORIA DE DIOS                         ¿Qué es el hombre para que le des tanta importancia?                                    que le prestes tanta atención,                          que lo examines cada mañana                                      y ponerlo a prueba en cada momento?                         ¿Nunca apartarás la mirada de mí?                                  ¿O dejarme en paz aunque sea por […]


Psalm 13 — Derek: Meditating on the Way

June 21, 2024

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the meaning and significance of Psalm 13, which functions as a model lament. It begins with questions and disillusionment (13:1-2), petitions God in the middle (13:3-4), and expresses trust in God in the final verses (13:5-6).


Lament and Remembrance

November 14, 2023

We live in a chilling moment. Children are dying. War has no end in sight. Political discourse is laced with malice and vitriol. Yet, it seems to me, our time is no different than many other times in world history. There is nothing unique about the previous paragraph. This is one reason the Hebrew Bible […]


Ruth: Lesson Three

November 1, 2023

Returning to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19-22) So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,             “Call me no longer Naomi,                         call me Mara,                         for the Almighty […]


Ruth: Lesson Two

October 25, 2023

Widowed (Ruth 1:6-18) Naomi Begins to Return to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:6-7) Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been […]


Lamenting While Waiting in Hope

March 29, 2023

Texts: Romans 5:1-5; 8:18-27; Hebrews 5:8-10 Days 71-74 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Divine grace empowers hopeful waiting even as we groan for wholeness, for shalom. We live in-between-the-times. The creation is a very good place to inhabit. Yet, it is presently filled with chaos, both natural and moral. In many ways, God’s […]


We Don’t Give Up Because We Know . . . (2 Corinthians 4:18-5:10)

May 11, 2022

A Keynote Address for Harbor, Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, on May 6, 2022 Influenced by both their Greco-Roman culture and egged on by the intruders Paul called the “super-apostles,” the Corinthians apparently thought the ministry of a celebrity pastor like Paul should be characterized by thrilling and brilliant rhetoric about his visionary experiences, triumphant […]


Free Video Course: Anchors for the Soul

December 21, 2021

Anchors for the Soul is now available for free streaming! Several years ago HIM Publications, led by Chad Harrington, published a 10 lesson video series by John Mark Hicks on both DVD and through streaming service. It is entitled “Anchors for the Soul.” These lessons are 9-13 minutes long and enter the sacred space of […]


“I Thirst” (John 19:38)

March 26, 2016

Brief words often speak volumes. They say so much, and no other words are needed. “I thirst” is exactly that. While, at first, we may think this is primarily about physical thirst—and we should not discount that dimension, the words are more about the situation in which Jesus finds himself. “I thirst” is the cry […]