Ezekiel 2
At a time when God was “giving up” His people into captivity, He wasn’t actually “giving up” on them at all. That’s one of the things I’ve discovered on this trip through the Bible: at a time when Israel seemed to be at its lowest possible point, God was communicating with them more thaan ever. Far from abandoning them, He was pursuing them all the more.
Jeremiah 42
As a mostly impatient person, I couldn’t get over the sequence of events in this chapter. After the disturbing events of last chapter, all the people left in Israel came to Jeremiah to ask for counsel from the Lord. They were so eager to hear His word, they made an oath to obey: “Then they said to Jeremiah, ‘May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it will go well with us, for we will obey the Lord our God.’” (vs 5-6)
Jeremiah 39
So once again, we read about the fate that befell poor old Zedekiah. If only he had listened to God—perhaps he would have lived out the rest of his years with his sons in relative Babylonian comfort. Alas, the last thing he ever saw (before his eyes were gouged out) was his sons being killed by those Babylonians: “There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.” (vs 6-7)
Jeremiah 26
I found it interesting that this chapter chronicled three men who had, in effect, prophesied the same message in Israel: Jeremiah (vs 2-6), Micah (vs 18), and Uriah (vs 20). We know that Micah’s prophesy came long before Jeremiah’s, but we aren’t told whether Uriah was before or after Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 19
This chapter of Jeremiah has quite a tone of finality about it. It seems God has reached the end of His rope, and there is nothing ahead for Israel except doom and gloom. Thus, God tells Jeremiah to go back to the potter and buy a clay pot that he can then smash in a dramatic, prophetic display.
Jeremiah 11
There is a church in town that operates under the slogan, God is still speaking. I like that. A lot. I think it’s so easy for church organizations (denominations) to become set in their ways, stagnant, and no longer open to the progressive understanding of truth. It’s easier for us to believe that we “know all the truth” than it is to believe that God is still speaking.
Isaiah 23
And now, to the laundry list of nations that will fall at the command of God, Isaiah adds Canaan—specifically the port cities of Tyre and Sidon: “Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth? The Lord Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones.” (vs 8-9)
Proverbs 21
For a long time now, I have believed that the only thing God requires for salvation is a willingness to listen. Why? Because, as Paul said in Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” The good work is God’s, and He will complete it in us in His time—as long as we are willing. He won’t force Himself on us, so we have the ultimate say-so over whether we will allow God to do His good work in our lives.
Psalm 111
Recently, I read this maxim on Facebook: Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad. Knowledge and wisdom are definitely not the same thing. We live in a world where there is a lot of knowledge, but not much wisdom. In fact, in today’s culture, many people jettison wisdom (which begins with reverent awe for God) because of their so-called knowledge (ignoring God in the name of “reason”).
Psalm 91
I read a blog online some time back that, frankly, made me a little sick. The author wrote about how he and his wife—in an effort to spice things up in their marriage—pursued a trail of endless drugs and multiple sexual partners… only to be left empty, loveless, and divorced. So sad! The author concluded by saying that while his wife often said that “More is more,” it didn’t turn out to be true when it came to sex.
Psalm 77
We all have them—those times when doubts creep in. They can last anywhere from a second—Man, believing that there’s an all-knowing, all-powerful guy up in the sky who created everything and sees me right now sounds like a Star Trek movie!—to a full-blown season of doubt and depression. Sometimes you just can’t stop the questions.
Psalm 62
Ex-trem’ ist, n. One who advocates or resorts to measures beyond the norm.
We usually don’t think of extremism as a good thing. If you’ve done much paying attention to politics—especially American politics—you’ve probably heard the phrases far-left loons and right-wing nutjobs before. Those terms describe people who are thought of as extremists, as being out on the fringe of political thought.
Psalm 61
I loved the way this psalm began: “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth, I call to you.” (vs 1-2)
Here, I got a picture of David standing somewhere beyond the horizon, farther than the eye can see, with his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting out to God. In my mind’s image, there was nothing else on the earth—just David calling out to the Lord.
Psalm 24
This psalm includes some of my very favorite Scripture: “Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” (vs 7-8)
In reading commentaries on this chapter, I learned a couple of very interesting things that I thought I would share with you. First, this divine title, “King of glory,” is not used anywhere else in Scripture. This song of entrance is the only time where God is addressed in this way.
Psalm 1
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers. (vs 1)
If there is one thing to know about God, it is that He goes on forever. He’s always on the move, onto bigger heights and deeper depths. He is always seeking to tell us more, to show us more, and to give us more. His love for us never sleeps, and His care for the entire universe is never idle. God is a mover. (As further evidence of this, scientists have discovered that the universe itself is constantly expanding. And not only is it expanding, but it is expanding at an ever-increasing speed.)
Job 32
So, Job’s three friends finally gave up trying to convince him that he was wrong. Their minds were unchanged, but they saw the futility of arguing any longer. This, however, didn’t sit well with Elihu, a young person who was apparently observing the debate. The narrator of the story tells us that it was Elihu’s age that kept him silent until now: "Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused." (vs 4-5)
Job 15
Have you known any Eliphazes in your life? I’ve known a few. Actually, I’ve known more than a few. And why is it that they mostly seem to flock to the church? (Sigh.) Here is Eliphaz, once again, trying to put Job in his place: "Do you think you’re the first person to have to deal with these things? Have you been around as long as the hills? Were you listening in when God planned all this? Do you think you’re the only one who knows anything? What do you know that we don’t know? What insights do you have that we’ve missed? Gray beards and white hair back us up—old folks who’ve been around a lot longer than you." (vs 7-10)
Job 12
From time to time, I visit a Christian forum online where people are discussing topics about God. Occasionally, I contribute. Most of the time, however, I simply read the ideas of others with interest. Recently, a self-proclaimed atheist has joined the group and has been asking a number of good questions about the Bible. She says this is her "last attempt" to try to understand the Bible and that she has come to the forum to find out why Christians believe what they do.
Nehemiah 10
So, the people had returned from exile. They had rebuilt the temple and the Jerusalem wall. They had heard the law proclaimed from the temple steps and been appalled that they had fallen so far from God’s ideal. They resolved to do better. And so they entered into a covenant, a signed contract with God. They promised to obey everything God had asked them to do:
Ezra 1
The book of Ezra begins with the decree, made by Cyrus king of Persia in 538 B.C., that gave the Jewish exiles the right to finally return home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of the Lord. (Here’s an interesting side note to that story. Many scholars believe that Daniel was instrumental in stirring the heart of the king by sharing with him the prophecies in Jeremiah 25 and 29 regarding the return of the exiles from Babylon. Incidentally, these prophecies mention King Cyrus of Persia by name—even though they were written 150 years before his birth.)
