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…
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. …
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…
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. …
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…
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…
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…
Jabez called upon the God of Israel saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain.” 1 Chronicles 4:10 ESV Pain – The key Hebrew word encompassing the verbal…
“Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O Watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to You? And why do You not pardon my transgression . . .?” Job 7:20-21 ISR What have I done – The tower fell. Eighteen died. Did they…
“The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4 NASB Just – Why are God’s accomplishments blameless? Why are the results of His performance perfect examples of virtue and sacrifice? ki kol-d’ra-kav mishpat (“because all His paths justice”). …
