But all things must be done properly and in an orderly way. 1 Corinthians 14:40 NASB Orderly Way – Order. Routine. Standardization. That’s what we need, right? None of the chaotic fervor of spiritual excitement. Oh, no! Even Paul asked for proper taxis (arrangement). When we read his instructions to the Corinthian assembly, we’re likely to…
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:3 NASB Let there be – I suppose this is a bit better than Paul McCartney’s version (“Let It Be”), but it still sends us in the wrong direction. The English suggests that God was involved in some kind of command bringing light into…
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; with [a]hard labor you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Genesis 3:17 NASB Listened…
Certainly the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret plan to His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7 NASB Unless – But Amos must have been mistaken, don’t you think? Maybe what he said was true when the Lord actually appointed prophets for Israel, but today, well, today we live in a world of spiritual silence. Oh,…
Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. Lamentations 3:28 NASB Since – Like good Hebrew exegesis, we start at the end to discover the beginning. No sense beginning at the beginning since Hebrew has a way of turning the tale upside-down at the end. So let’s start where it ends in…
Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. Lamentations 3:28 NASB Since – Consider these words from Buechner: “What deadens us most to God’s presence within us, I think, is the inner dialogue that we are continuously engaged in with ourselves, the endless chatter of human thought.”[1] Aren’t they so true? Most…
I have something to give to everyone in the community. You can CLICK HERE to get it. I hope you find it a blessing. Skip
I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse; Psalm 39:2 NASB Grew worse – Let’s make sure we read this in a Hebraic context. In the Western world, sorrow is usually an internal, personal experience. It would probably be located in the “sad” dimension of the “feelings wheel,” right along with stupid, inferior,…
I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence.” Psalm 39:1 NASB Will guard– It always begins at the beginning. The first occurrence of šāmar is at the creation of Man. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him…
I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; Psalm 39:2-3a NASB Refrained– A short while ago we examined these verses. We concluded that David’s experience of deliberate silence caused emotional and physical separation from others and from himself. Based on the…
