Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Chambers-Made (1)

    But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.  Matthew 6:33  NASB Will be provided – For many years I started my day with a page from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. My copy in the original 19th century English is so worn that the covers are…

  • Toil and Trouble

    For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.  Judges 13:5  NASB From the womb – Is the story of Samson…

  • Nobody Knows

    These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.  John 16:33  NASB Tribulation – “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.  Nobody knows but Jesus.”  The lyrics of this Negro spiritual could have come from a verse like this one. …

  • Audience Involvement

    Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will alsouphold you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10  NASB Also – Let’s make sure we understand the context.  Isaiah 41:8 provides it.  “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I…

  • Double Wanderers

    And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God.  Psalm 78:8  NASB Not prepare/ not faithful – Erica Brown makes a damning point about the ex-slaves in the wilderness: “The circuitousness of the journey is attributed to the moral and faith…

  • And While We’re Thinking About It

    Now it came about when all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until [a]they had crossed, that their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any…

  • Mystical Explanations

    You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance,  Exodus 15:17a  NASB You will bring them – What do you do with a text that has grammatical oddities?  Well, you could chalk it up to transmission error.  Copyists make mistakes and mistakes are handed on as if they were part of the original. …

  • Six Feet Under

    “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”  Psalm 23:4  Woman’s Day Death – After that rant about Deuteronomy 31:8 you’re probably wondering why I would ever decide to pick another “out of…

  • What Context?

    “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  Deuteronomy 31:8  NIV Woman’s Day Leave you nor forsake you – Feeling discouraged today?  Some persistent problems?  Some new stress? The usual ups and downs of life?  I…

  • Significance

    Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness;”  Genesis 1:26a  NASB Our likeness – First, let’s look at the Hebrew: וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ Now the transliteration: Va•yo•mer Elohim na•a•se a•dam be•tzal•me•noo kid•moo•te•noo And lastly, the translation: And said God let us make man in representation (copy) ours and…