Detours

“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
Cease to do evil, Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless,
Defend the orphan,
Plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16-17 NASB Remove – What worries you? Job security? Taxes? Politics? Terrorism? Your children? Perhaps those worries need to be removed by concentrating on what God…

Satan’s Own

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the…

Who Is God?

Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. Isaiah 41:23 NASB Going to come afterward – God challenges pretenders to His throne. “Tell us what is going to come afterward.” If…

The God of War (Rewind)

but deliver us from evil   Matthew 6:13  NASB Deliver – But do we really want to be delivered?  Delivered means facing reality as it is, no fantasies, no Band-Aids, no idol protection.  Maybe we aren’t so quick to be delivered because it’s so frightening.  Isn’t that exactly what happens when we turn back to the…

The Final Choice

A perverse heart shall depart from me;
 I will know no evil.  Psalm 101:4  NASB I will know – End of the Roman calendar year.  Most people are making some sort of resolution.  Usually these last but a short time and the ordinary routine returns.  Most resolutions are statements of positive self-improvement.  I have a few. …

Necessary Retreat?

Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.  Psalm 119:115  ESV Keep – The company you keep has a direct effect on your ability to delight the Lord.  Old places and old faces, as every Twelve-Stepper knows, will certainly drag you back down the addictive path.  Anyone who thinks…

The Cure (4)

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  Isaiah 1:16  ESV Cease – If removing evil was the same as not doing it anymore, then it would not be necessary to have two verbs connected to this idea.  But there are two verbs here. …

The Gospel for the Gentiles (1)

 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Romans 1:21  ESV Knew – Paul is acknowledged as the missionary to the Gentiles.  He was commissioned to take the good news to those outside…

Culture and Translation

I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.  Song of Songs 1:5  ESV But – Look at the translation of this verse in your Bible.  Is the conjunctive translated as “but” or as “and”?  In some editions, you will find that the vav…

The Blind God

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you can not look on wickedness with favor.  Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously?  Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?  Habakkuk 1:13  NASB Can not look – Can God look on evil?  Can…