We are living through strange times - this particular coronavirus just the latest in a series of trials that have come upon this planet. We have seen an escalation of wars, the pitting of nations against each other, conflict within communities, opposing ideologies battling for control.

I have been thinking recently about the effect Covid-19 might have on the internet and social media platforms - how as more and more people are confined in their homes the demand for connectivity with the outside world will increase.

The account of Balaam in Numbers 22-24 is a strange one - a prophet of God, hired by Balak, King of Moab, to curse God's people but who finds of course that those whom God has blessed cannot be cursed - by anyone!

We'll use the time and make the most of our days - we'll do the work and renew our minds. We'll pray and study and learn and pray - we'll know the truth and be made free. Day by day, beholding Him, as in a mirror, we will be transformed from glory to glory!! Hallelujah what a Saviour !

In Matthew 24 Jesus explains to His disciples what they can expect to see happening in the world before He comes back. As we read through this chapter it is both comforting and alarming at the same time, yet Jesus calls us who follow Him to trust His promise, to trust His Word and to know that when He comes back to earth a second time it will be in power and with great glory v 30.

As you might know, I read through the Bible every year and have done so for the past 20 years. Sometimes on New Year's day I talk to the Lord particularly about speaking to me through the now familiar passages so that I really do see something new, something more - so that I really do hear from Him, through His living word.

I don't know about your year but this one has been hard for many of those in Desiring Truth. A year of sickness, attack, opposition, tragedy - a year of hopes seemingly dashed, a year of times when the darkness threatened to become so all-encompassing that the light seemed hard to find.

The lines from the Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem came into my mind this morning as I was sitting with the Lord and reading through His Word. How do I love Thee, let me count the ways.......?

I was invited to speak yesterday at an event in Bibury and on being given the schedule a few days before, saw that my 'turn' would come between two readings of Scripture - Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 17:20-26. Two wonderful prayers in God's Word - actually two wonderful promises to the bride of Christ.

My heart was heavy this morning thinking through all that I have been hearing in these past few weeks; things happening inside the professing church, things that cause the name of the Lord Jesus to be maligned, things done and said by people who call themselves Christians yet trample the Lord's name underfoot.

The opposition hotting up towards me and coming from many different angles - the enemy wanting me to doubt my ministry, my calling and even my God. The struggle to keep going when inevitably the thoughts come - is this really what the Lord wants you to be doing? Is this really what He has for you?

A few days ago I was reading 2 Chronicles 27 and came upon this: 'So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God'

I've just returned from a European City Tour by rail - Vienna, Budapest, Prague and Berlin - four beautiful cities with the effects and memories of recent history everywhere you look. it was a chastening experience

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.....what an amazing statement David makes here and how often I could say the same thing!

It is beautiful outside today - the sun is shining, the air is warm and it seems as if everywhere I look the blossom is exploding in riotous colour - magnolia, cherry, camellia - the trees are bursting with new life and I can almost hear them singing 'hallelujah' to the Lord who brought light out of darkness, life out of death.

You know the account of Achan in Joshua 7 - of Israel's failed attempt to conquer the city of Ai because he had taken things from their first victory in the Promised Land. God had specifically instructed that no-one was to touch the treasures that they found - that they were 'under the ban' which means 'devoted to God'.

This was my prayer this morning; O Lord deliver me, protect me, be my stronghold, my refuge as I seek to live Your way - as I seek to speak Your truth into a world that is overrun by the schemes of the enemy of my soul.