Psalm 14
Well, David isn’t so sympathetic to the atheist position, here: “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!” (vs 1) This is a little counter-cultural in our day and age. We believe that people don’t have to believe in God to be good (just be good for goodness sake). We believe in the more refined notion of tolerance for different opinions on this and many other topics.
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 41
Most people believe that Job got to the end of his life without ever understanding why he went through all that he did. They don’t believe God gave His friend any explanation for his sufferings. I disagree. I think God’s explanation to Job is contained in this chapter, and it’s stunning, considering that a general knowledge of Satan didn’t enter Israelite thinking until close to the end of the Old Testament time period.
Job 27
This chapter almost seemed a little out of character for Job, didn’t it? Every speech his friends have made has included some awful description of what will befall the wicked—in order to convince Job that he is wicked. Job has been protesting his innocence from the beginning and even making some arguments that, in his experience, tragedy does not befall the wicked quite as often as his friends would imagine. And then, he seems to reverse his position in this chapter.
Job 20
Are you feeling like I am about the speeches of Job’s friends? Come on, enough already. When I opened my Bible to chapter 20 today and saw that Zophar was going to launch off yet again into the same, old thing, I felt a huge yawn coming on. It’s like being on the telephone with an automated answering service—no matter what number you press, you get the same recording: Thank you for holding. One of our representatives will be with you shortly. It gets frustrating when there’s no way to break through the monotonous drivel and reach someone who is actually alive and breathing.
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.
Job 10
Here is the passage from today’s chapter that I want to focus on in this blog: "Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness." (vs 18-22)
Nehemiah 8
Ah, the law. The one topic that is the time-honored whipping boy of Christianity. Is the law still in effect? Was it nailed to the cross? Done away with? Is there a difference between law and grace? And what does "law" mean? Are we talking about the Ten Commandments? The Mosaic Law? The Law of Love as defined by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40?
1 Kings 18
At the risk of sounding like a bad flashback from the 80s or 90s, I couldn’t pass this up as the title of today’s blog. This has got to be one of my all-time favorite chapters in the Bible. It seems like I’ve been hearing this story ever since I was a little girl, and it never ceases to amaze me. So, this was a great excuse to sit back and just marvel at God.
Photo © Unsplash/Peter Sjo
Ah,
the ineludible question
of every person
wise or foolish
(for the Lord does not refrain
from entering uninvited
the lives of idolaters
to introduce
Himself).
Asking the question
indicates neither
wisdom
nor
folly.
But how one responds
to the answer
reveals
a fool
or
a genius.
Once we know
the sun
the River
the frogs
et al
are frauds,
will we
relent
or
will we
refuse?
Who is the Lord that i should listen to him?
said pharaoh, the little transient ruler of egypt.
I'm so glad you asked
replied Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
2 SAMUEL 21
Once again, I’m confounded by David’s actions. I suppose, like the rest of us, he has times of victory and times of failure. I was confused by what he did in this chapter, so I read some commentaries on the matter. Seems like there are differing opinions as to whether God sanctioned David’s actions with the Gibeonites or not. Either way, one thing is clear: Scripture doesn’t record that David asked God beforehand about what he did.
Photo © Unsplash/Fadi Xd
as the years had come and gone
since selling Joseph like a pawn
Judah'd had a lot of time
to contemplate his clever crime
but watching how his father grieved
had been much worse than he'd conceived
it wore him down, right to the bone
he reaped much more than he had sown
until at last, a broken man,
he lived a different master plan:
a willingness to be the slave
to sacrifice, and thus to save
redemption needn't seem so strange
even dirty hearts can change
Photo © Unsplash/Carles Rabada
The heathen king of Egypt
was entertained
in the night
by dreams from a divine intruder.
Shocking!
Doesn't God know
you need pastors
and theologians
and a Committee on Missional Vision
to reach the heathen?
We may have God locked up
in the prison of our ideas
about the most proper way/s
to share the gospel,
but He won’t stay there very long.
For where may we go
to flee from His Spirit?
Not even our dreams.
JUDGES 12
Jephthah... what can you say about a guy like Jephthah? This was the man God used to win a decisive victory over the Ammonites and to lead Israel for six years. The Lord was definitely with him, but he was so... flawed. I mean, in the previous chapter, it seemed that Jephthah thought he would have an easier time securing the Lord’s favor if he "bribed" Him with a sacrifice—the first person who stepped out of the house on his return home. Unfortunately, that was Jephthah’s daughter. He paid dearly for that misconception of God.
Photo © Unsplash/Johannes Plenio
If Potiphar
had believed his wife
Joseph would have been put
in the ground
not in the prison
/which was Potiphar's prison/
/probably below his house/
which he was then put in charge of
/because Potiphar wasn't going to let/
/a false rape allegation/
/deprive him of his best help/
Potiphar knew Joseph was innocent
but was content to let him languish
/God knew Potiphar was spineless/
/but wasn't content to let him starve/
Sometimes
the concessions of weak men
may be all the justice
we can procure
but the God of our fathers
keeps sending dreams
JUDGES 4
This chapter bears an example of something I really love about God. Because of their idolatry, the people of Israel had been under the cruel oppression of Jabin (king of Canaan) and his commander, Sisera, for twenty years. They were worn out. They were beaten down. Verse three says they cried out to God for help.
