وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Scripture refers to this fact about God directly in a number of places. For example, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and He called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). A more indirect affirmation that God is truth is Hebrews 6:18, which says that “it is impossible for God to lie.”

[Mary Naeem]

The Hebrew term for “truth” is emet, which means “truth,” “firm,” “stable,” and “faithful.” The Greek word for “truth” is aletheia, which denotes being “truthful” or “upright” or “having nothing to hide.” From these terms—and from other attributes of God that support His truthfulness such as His immutability (God cannot change), infinity, and simplicity (God cannot be partly anything)—we understand that God Himself is absolute truth. That truth will never change and can always be relied upon.

[Mary Naeem]

Lastly, one often overlooked aspect of truth in the Scriptures that applies to God is the synonymous relationships between righteousness and truth, and between unrighteousness and falsehood. For example, Paul refers to people who “do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness” (Romans 2:8), and he highlights the equality of unrighteousness and lies and righteousness and truth in Romans 3:5, 7. From this we learn that God’s moral attribute of truth is also tied to His attribute of holiness.
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[Mary Naeem]

What does it mean that God works in mysterious ways?



God works in ways that are often deemed “mysterious”—that is to say, God’s methods often leave people totally bewildered. Why would God tell Joshua and the children of Israel to march around the city of Jericho for a week (Joshua 6:1–4)? What good could possibly come from Paul and Silas being arrested and beaten without cause (Acts 16:22–24)? Why would God allow Joni Eareckson, a talented, vivacious girl of seventeen, to break her neck in a diving accident and spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair?


The processes God uses, the interplay of human freedom and God’s sovereignty, and God’s ultimate summations are far beyond what the limited human mind can understand. The Bible and the testimonies of Christians down through the ages are brimming with true stories of how God turned situation after situation, problem after problem, life after life, completely upside down—and He often does it in the most unexpected, astonishing, and inexplicable ways.

The life of Joseph is a good example of the mysterious way God sometimes works (Genesis 37:1—50:26). In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” In this statement Joseph summarizes the events of his life, beginning with the evil his brothers did to him and ending with his recognition that it was all part of God’s beneficent plan to rescue His covenant people (Genesis 15:13–14).

There was a famine in Canaan where Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrew people, had settled (Genesis 43:1), so Joseph brought all of them out of Canaan and into Egypt (Genesis 46:26–27). Joseph was able to provide food for them all because he had become governor of Egypt and was in charge of buying and selling food (Genesis 42:6). Why was Joseph in Egypt? Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery some twenty years earlier and were now dependent upon him for their sustenance (Genesis 37:28). This irony is only a small part of what happened in Joseph’s life; God’s paradoxical movement is obvious through all of Joseph’s history. If Joseph had not been governor over Egypt and moved his kinsmen there, there would be no story of Moses, no exodus from Egypt four hundred years later (Exodus 6:1–8).

If Joseph would have had a choice whether or not his brothers sold him into slavery, it’s reasonable to assume Joseph would have said “no.” If Joseph had been given the choice whether or not to be imprisoned on false charges (Genesis 39:1–20), again, he probably would have said “no.” Who would willingly choose such mistreatment? But it was in Egypt that Joseph was able to save his family, and it was in prison that the door opened to the palace.

God “declares the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10–11), and we can be sure every event in the life of a believer serves God’s ultimate plan (Isaiah 14:24; Romans 8:28). To our minds, the way God weaves remarkable events in and through our lives may seem illogical and beyond our understanding. However, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Christians know that God’s thoughts are above our own thoughts and God’s ways are higher than ours, “as the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

[Mary Naeem]

God works in ways that are often deemed “mysterious”—that is to say, God’s methods often leave people totally bewildered. Why would God tell Joshua and the children of Israel to march around the city of Jericho for a week (Joshua 6:1–4)? What good could possibly come from Paul and Silas being arrested and beaten without cause (Acts 16:22–24)? Why would God allow Joni Eareckson, a talented, vivacious girl of seventeen, to break her neck in a diving accident and spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair?


The processes God uses, the interplay of human freedom and God’s sovereignty, and God’s ultimate summations are far beyond what the limited human mind can understand. The Bible and the testimonies of Christians down through the ages are brimming with true stories of how God turned situation after situation, problem after problem, life after life, completely upside down—and He often does it in the most unexpected, astonishing, and inexplicable ways.

[Mary Naeem]

The life of Joseph is a good example of the mysterious way God sometimes works (Genesis 37:1—50:26). In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” In this statement Joseph summarizes the events of his life, beginning with the evil his brothers did to him and ending with his recognition that it was all part of God’s beneficent plan to rescue His covenant people (Genesis 15:13–14).

[Mary Naeem]

There was a famine in Canaan where Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrew people, had settled (Genesis 43:1), so Joseph brought all of them out of Canaan and into Egypt (Genesis 46:26–27). Joseph was able to provide food for them all because he had become governor of Egypt and was in charge of buying and selling food (Genesis 42:6). Why was Joseph in Egypt? Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery some twenty years earlier and were now dependent upon him for their sustenance (Genesis 37:28). This irony is only a small part of what happened in Joseph’s life; God’s paradoxical movement is obvious through all of Joseph’s history. If Joseph had not been governor over Egypt and moved his kinsmen there, there would be no story of Moses, no exodus from Egypt four hundred years later (Exodus 6:1–8).

[Mary Naeem]

If Joseph would have had a choice whether or not his brothers sold him into slavery, it’s reasonable to assume Joseph would have said “no.” If Joseph had been given the choice whether or not to be imprisoned on false charges (Genesis 39:1–20), again, he probably would have said “no.” Who would willingly choose such mistreatment? But it was in Egypt that Joseph was able to save his family, and it was in prison that the door opened to the palace.

[Mary Naeem]

God “declares the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10–11), and we can be sure every event in the life of a believer serves God’s ultimate plan (Isaiah 14:24; Romans 8:28). To our minds, the way God weaves remarkable events in and through our lives may seem illogical and beyond our understanding. However, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Christians know that God’s thoughts are above our own thoughts and God’s ways are higher than ours, “as the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

[Mary Naeem]

What does the Bible mean when it says that God remembered something?




Several times in the Bible, the phrase God remembered is used. After the rains of the great flood had stopped, “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 8:1). When the Hebrew slaves cried out to the Lord in Egypt, “God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant” (Exodus 2:24). And Psalm 98:3 says, “He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel.” (See also Numbers 10:9; Acts 10:31; and Revelation 16:19.) When we see the word remembered, we usually associate it with calling to mind something that was forgotten. So, is the Bible saying that God forgets and then has to remember?

We know that God does not “remember” things in the sense that He has forgotten. Unlike our own limited brains, the mind of God is infinite and all-knowing (Isaiah 40:13–14; Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20). His knowledge is perfect (Job 37:16). God even sees the hidden things that others cannot: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). In addition, God is perfect and is not subject to man’s sin and shortcomings (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 92:15; Matthew 5:48).

God sees us at all times (Psalm 33:13–15; see also Psalm 139:1–3). God cares deeply for all of His creation, with a special and fathomless love for all humans (Isaiah 41:13; Zephaniah 3:17; Matthew 29:10–30; Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:19). When God’s people felt like the Lord had forgotten them, they received this comfort through the prophet Isaiah:
“Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.’
‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me’” (Isaiah 49:14–16). It is not possible for God to forget anything, much less the people He loves.

When the Bible says that God “remembered” something, it is not implying forgetfulness. God always remembers—it is part of His nature. The statement that “God remembered” places an emphasis on His faithfulness and everlasting care.

In each passage that says, “God remembered,” we see that the phrase is followed by some sort of action or work on behalf of God’s people. When God “remembered” Noah and his family floating in the ark, He caused wind to blow, which began to dry up the water that covered the earth (Genesis 8:1). In Exodus 2:24, God “remembers” His people who were enslaved to the Egyptians, and, in the very next chapter, He sets in motion His plan to free the Israelites. Psalm 98:3 speaks of God’s continual action toward His people. We conclude that God never forgets but instead works in perpetuity on behalf of those He loves.

Expressions such as “God remembered” and “God’s arm is strong” are examples of anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is a figure of speech in which certain traits of finite humanity are ascribed to the infinite God. Such figures are found often in the Bible, and they help us understand God’s work from a human perspective. When God “remembers” sin, He punishes it (Psalm 25:7); when God “remembers” His people, He blesses them (Nehemiah 13:22). Passages in which God “remembers” are always followed by proofs that God never forgets.