Author: trob

He replied, “The LORD, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family” [Genesis 24:40, New International Version]. Genesis 24 has 67 verses. That’s too many, of…

And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham. And He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering on one of…

And the LORD appeared to him in the Terebinths [oaks] of Mamre when he was sitting by the tent flap in the heat of the day. And he raised his eyes and saw, and, look, three men were standing before him [Genesis 18:1-2a, The Hebrew Bible, translated by Robert Alter]. The OT lesson appointed for…

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him [Matthew 9:9] Some years ago, a physician in a mid-sized Southern town, then in his late thirties, silently assessed his situation. The Rubicon lay before…

And God said, “Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth [Genesis 1:26]. I vividly remember the first time I…

No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves,…

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6]. As some of you know, Jane and I honeymooned on Hilton Head Island, way back in late August 1971. We’ve been back for at least one week each year since that…

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed [Acts 17:32-33a]. How do you preach the Gospel in a university town? That’s what…

But filled with the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout…

[Author’s note: This meditation is adapted from an earlier piece published in Questions of Faith: Encountering Christ at the Point of Doubt and Confusion,” pp. 45-48, Mazarin Press, Raleigh, N.C., © 2018, Thomas A. Robinson. All rights reserved]. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the…