Well, we finally got into this church. It’s closed most of the time. But this day it was open–and packed with people. We didn’t realize it was the day of first communion for many children, a very big deal in the Catholic faith, and the place was wall-to-wall people. I got a few shots after…
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 Scripture – “But that’s how you read it, not how I read it.” Ever heard that complaint? Engage in virtually any controversial theological argument and somewhere along the way you’re bound to encounter the “this is what it…
“Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44 NASB Spoke – Yeshua followed the teaching technique of the rabbis. He never…
You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place. Psalm 88:18 NASB You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign. This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction. Therefore, even if “they”…
Yokohama to Singapore to Abu Dhabi – 30 days done. Here’s a few things I saw.
They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encircled me altogether. Psalm 88:17 NASB They – Suddenly, a change. Through seventeen verses the psalmist has decried God’s absence. His lament holds Godresponsible for the sorry state of his life, for the nearly impossible burden he must carry, for the approach of death. But now,…
Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. Psalm 88:16 NASB Destroyed – Not just any trauma. No, this is trauma of a special kind: bi·ʿûṯ. “events that cause fear and destruction or death, with some focus on the wrath of the punisher.”[1] What is the result? ṣāmat The word ṣāmat occurs…
I was miserable and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I grow weary. Psalm 88:15 NASB From my youth – Some things stick. Some experiences you had early on just remain, buried away in the subconscious of your worldview, coloring how you look at life. Modern psychological theory, removed from the divine,…
Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? Psalm 88:14 NASB Reject – The Hebrew zānaḥ has two root meanings. The first is as it is translated here: to reject, spurn, cast off. But the second adds a bit to our emotional understanding of this word. zānaḥ II means, “to stink,…
But I, Lord, have cried out to You for help, and in the morning my prayer comes before You. Psalm 88:13 Help – English spells it out: “have cried out for help.” But all of that is really a single Hebrew verb— šāwaʿ. “The intensity of the action conveyed by šāwaʿ is aptly illustrated by the fact that…
