You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Psalm 139:5 NASB Behind and before– Do you want to be free? Free to determine your own way? Free from the expectations of others? Free to explore who you really are? Free to choose God? Then get ready to be constrained! Human freedom is not the clear path…
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34 NASB Do not worry– Why does the biblical worldview seem so impossible to put into practical application? How can Yeshua say that we should not worry about tomorrow, that we should constantly forgive, that we are not…
Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, Titus 1:1 NASB Bond-servant/apostle – No doubt by now you know that the translation “bond-servant” is softened to make it more palatable to our ears. The word is doulos, the…
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 NASB Free – Why does the biblical worldview seem so impossible to put into practical application? How can Yeshua say that we should not worry about tomorrow, that we should constantly forgive, that we are not to calculate the requests and demands…
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 NASB My yoke – Western readers of the gospels tend to interpret the teachings of Yeshua as if he were a Sunday school instructor or a pulpit preacher….
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2 NASB Law – Paul is a complex writer. He uses Greek vocabulary to its maximum. In fact, sometimes he just makes up words. So to imagine that Paul always means…
You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3 ESV Before – “But it is only in the modern societies of the West that nonreligious man has developed fully. Modern nonreligious man assumes a new existential situation; he regards himself solely as the subject and agent of history, and he refuses all appeal to…
Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days. Proverbs 19:20 NASB Be wise – I have recently been reading the early speeches of Abraham Heschel. Fifty years ago his prophetic insight into our culture sounded the warning. Fifty years later it seems as though we didn’t listen…
You have made Your people experience hardship; You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger. Psalm 60:3 NASB Experience Hardship – When the Tanakh uses the verb ra’a in the Hiphil tense, the idea is to be caused to see, to make one feel or know. God makes His people feel. He…
Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me; fighting all day long he oppresses me. Psalm 56:1 NASB He oppresses me – Are you oppressed? Before you say, “Not at all,” consider the Hebrew word lahats. It is a picture of being squeezed into a space too small to fit. Balaam’s…
