Inevitable Consequences

“Who is the wise man who would understand this, what the mouth of the LORD spoke to him, that he might tell it?  Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the wilderness with none passing through?  And the LORD said, “Because they forsook My teachings that I set before them and did not heed…

The Sin of Noah

I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse.   My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned;  Psalm 39:2-3a  NASB Refrained– A short while ago we examined these verses. We concluded that David’s experience of deliberate silence caused emotional and physical separation from others and from himself.  Based on the…

Victory Lap

Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who will tread down our adversaries. Psalm 60:12 NASB Tread down – Only alignment with the purposes of the Lord assures the final victory. We all know this, but far too often it doesn’t actually affect our commonplace decisions. We forget the eternal and focus…

Life Happens

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.  Psalm 57:1 ESV (57:2 in Hebrew text) Destruction – Now, if I were rabbinic, I might say, “Don’t read this word…

Difficult But Not Impossible

It is for your destruction, O Israel, that you are against Me, against your help. Hosea 13:9  NASB Help – Hosea is a prophet of puns.  His message is filled with word plays, allusions and odd constructions.  In some cases, no scholar today can definitively determine the meaning of Hosea’s words.  This verse is one…

Altar Call

“Without such utterness for God, nothing can be achieved, for without it we make even God powerless against his enemy”.  Watchman Nee, Love Not The World, p. 109. It’s all about Leviticus 27:28-29. Oswald Chambers calls it “abandonment to God”.  It’s the hallmark of  Moses and David, in spite of their failures.  Peter and Paul…