Lord, I remember Your name in the night, and keep Your Law. Psalm 119:55 NASB In the night – Does this verse seem a little too pedestrian? Too trivial? Why should we care at all about what we remember in the night? What does it matter when we’re on our way to sleep? Ah, but then there’s…
And I shall keep Your Torah constantly, forever and ever. Psalm 119:44 Chabad I shall keep – What is the psalmist actually saying? Is he claiming that if God allows him to speak the whole truth (verse 43), he will then keep Torah forever? Or is he saying that, unlike Moses, he knows God gives…
אַשְׁרֵי נֹֽצְרֵ֥י עֵ֜דֹתָ֗יו בְּכָל־לֵ֥ב יִדְרְשֽׁוּהוּ Psalm 119:2 נֹֽצְרֵ֥י – Blessed are those who comply with His [b]testimonies, And seek Him with all their heart (NASB). This verse poses a serious question. It comes without a rhetorical answer. Here’s the question (but don’t answer too quickly): Do you want to be happy? Pause! Ask yourself again: Do you really want to be…
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21 NIV Keep yourselves in God’s love – The literal text places “yourselves in the love…
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8 NASB Careful – Step…
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8 NASB Mouth/ meditate/ careful…
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9 NASB Keeper? – How do you know if you’re human? No, I’m not asking if you’re homo sapien. That’s a matter of biology. I’m asking something more. I’m asking about ethics. Just…
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. Psalm 121:7 NASB You – I suppose there are two questions to be asked about this verse. The first is, “Who is the Lord going to protect from all evil?” Who’s “you”? The second is “When is God going to do this?” If we…
I was also blameless with Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Psalm 18:23 NASB My iniquity – It would be much easier to for David to say that he kept himself “from iniquity.” Then the wickedness would be alien, outside, an enemy at a distance. But David uses the Hebrew ‘awoni, the combination…
Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21 NASB Guard yourselves – You don’t worship idols, do you? You aren’t bowing down to Buddha or bringing food gifts to statues on the street, right? Now you are a part of a much more dangerous form of idolatry. You can have the fantasy world…
