Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • What Does It Take?

    In spite of all this they still sinned and did not believe in His wonderful works. Psalm 78:32  NASB Did not believe – This is quite an amazing statement by Asaph.  In spite of all this!  Those words are very hard to believe.  What more could God have done?  He demonstrates His power over all the Egyptian…

  • Sedition

    So they ate and were well filled, and He satisfied their longing. Yet before they had abandoned their longing, while their food was in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them and killed some of their strongest ones, and subdued the choice men of Israel.  Psalm 78:29-31  NASB Killed – Verses like these make liberal theologians…

  • More Than Enough?

    Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.  Psalm 78:25  NASB Bread of angels – If God provided you special nutrients directly from heaven’s kitchen, would you be satisfied?  Asaph calls it לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים, translated here as “bread of angels.”  But the translation is a later poetic interpolation.  The words are literally…

  • Creedal Mistakes

    Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath; and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also mounted against Israel, because they did not believe in God and did not trust in His salvation.   Psalm 78:21-22  NASB Did not believe in God – I believe in God.  But that’s a mistake.  Why?  Because when I say, “I believe…

  • God’s Texting

    Then they spoke against God; they said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?  Psalm 78:19  NASB Hebrew Acronyms – BTW, FYI, CYA.  We use them all the time.  Acronyms.  But did you know that the instructions about praying the Amidah in Hebrew also employ an acronym, a Hebrew acronym.  Here’s what it looks…

  • A Table in the Wilderness

    Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, and streams were overflowing; Can He also provide bread? Will He prepare meat for His people?  Psalm 78:20  NASB Provide – Here today, gone tomorrow.  Life often seems to follow that sort of pattern, doesn’t it?  Even the best of things pass.  I have a small heart-shaped…

  • An Italian Crucifixion

    Yesterday you saw this painting on the walls of the convent at Saint Guilia in Brescia. Now look at the detail in the background.  Low and behold, this crucifixion happened in Italy.  See the castle, the horseback rider, the hills, the men with tools for the fields, the houses.  This is how people were educated…

  • Source Code

    Then they spoke against God; they said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?  Psalm 78:19  NASB A table in the wilderness –  שֻׁלְחָן, בַּמִּדְבָּר šūlḥān bamidbār.  Eighteen years ago I started writing Today’s Word.  It didn’t begin with that title.  In fact, it began with a personal email to a friend who lived…

  • San Guilia, Brescia

    Female monastery of Benedictine rule, built by the last Lombard king Desiderio and his wife Ansa in 753 AD, San Salvatore – Santa Giulia played a leading role (religious, political and economic) even after the defeat inflicted by Charlemagne against the Lombards . An amazing place, but don’t think you will see it like the…

  • Life in the Tongue

    And in their heart they put God to the test by asking for food [g]that suited their taste.  Psalm 78:18 That suited their taste – The Bible has a lot to say about the tongue, most of it not very pleasant.  The tongue is a source of disagreement, the power of life and death, the instrument of “binding…