Whatever It Takes

Make me understand the way of Your precepts, and I will meditate on Your wonders.  Psalm 119:27  NASB Make me – Not many of us would willingly ask God to do what the psalmist asks.  He uses the Hebrew bîn which means“understand, consider, perceive, prudent, regard.”[1]  That seems pretty tame. The verb and its derivatives are…

Nature Abhors a Vacuum

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1  NIV Teach us – Heschel provides an amazing collection of thoughts about prayer.  Here’s the one we will deal with today: “Prayer cannot live in…

Getting Started

A [a]Maskil of Asaph.  Psalm 78 title Maskil – Another case where the Hebrew text isn’t included in the English psalm.  Here the introduction tells us that this song is from Asaph.  But this is a special kind of song.  It’s a מַסְכִיל (maskîl), a poem intended to promote insight.  The word comes from the verb…

Teach Your Children Well

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. . .   Matthew 28:20  ESV Teaching – No, we are not going to investigate the obvious connection between this commandment and Torah.  It’s so obvious we just won’t even mention it.  What we want to ask ourselves is this:  “What does it mean to teach?” …