He Leads Me

Like sheep they sink down to Sheol; Death will be their shepherd; and the upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form shall be for Sheol to consume, so that they have no lofty home.  Psalm 49:14  NASB Death will be their shepherd – Could there be any more chilling fate of the foolish?  Psalm 23…

Divine Pain

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.  2 Corinthians 7:10  NASB Sorrow – A few days ago we investigated a Greek word in Luke 18:23.  That word was perílypos .  It comes from the root lýpē.  We noticed that Greek…

God’s Rollercoaster

Because of Your indignation and Your wrath; for You have lifted me up and thrown me away.  Psalm 102:10  NASB Lifted me up – As we know, the Hebrew word nāśāʾ is “used almost six hundred times with basically three separate meanings: “to lift up”; “to bear, carry, support”; and “to take, take away.”[1]  “To bear”…

DEA

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”  Matthew 26:39  NASB Not as I will – DEA.  No, not the Drug Enforcement Agency.  For this community, DEA is Delayed Emotional Awareness. …

Unemployed

Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9  NASB Where – Man was created to be useful.  In fact, he was assigned an indispensable role on the earth—to steward it on God’s behalf.  “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it…

The Real Question (2)

“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:9  NIV His fierce anger – “A better god has been discovered who never takes offense, is never angry, never inflicts punishment.”[1]  If Tertullian is right, then the king of Nineveh is grossly mistaken.  Too bad he made…

ANVILS AND ALTARS

A long time ago, God decided to be a blacksmith.  I don’t think He originally intended to enter that trade.  While He has always been a master craftsman with metal, I am quite sure that He didn’t deliberately learn the art of heating and beating things into shape because He enjoyed the task.  God became…

One Among the Many

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  Genesis 15:5 NASB If– Avivah Zornberg frames our persistent question:  “How can an individual count?  The children of Abraham are to be like the sand on…

The Size of Knowing

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  Psalm 139:17  NASB Vast– David is the poet who looked up to the heavens and declared, “What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?”  Nevertheless, David insists that God created Man…

Thought Police

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  Psalm 139:2  NASB Thought– God knows it all, right?  He knows every thought you have, every fleeting desire, every inclination, every unvoiced declaration.  We all agree.  God knows us—perhaps better than we know ourselves.  After all, He is the omniscient external observer in…