“Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.’” Jeremiah 31:2 NASB Found– The Hebrew verb māṣāʾ is used for finding just about anything. The Israelites found grace, but that wasn’t what they were looking for. They were looking for a way of escape. They were fleeing from their pain. Just like…
“Thus says the LORD, ‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.’” Jeremiah 31:2 NASB Grace– At the edge of the Sahara, the sand moves as if it were alive. It writhes, glittering scales of shifting silicon. The serpent of the desert is there, slithering its way across the dunes, powered by the…
“Thus says the LORD, ‘The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.’” Jeremiah 31:2 NASB Wilderness– Not everyone finds grace in the wilderness. God says that His people, the ones who have survived the sword, the ones He calls Israel, find something unexpected in the desolate wasteland. They find grace. Imagine the…
“Then they spoke against God; they said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?’” Psalm 78:19 NASB Wilderness– Can He? Can God prepare a table? Life as it comes to us says, “No! God isn’t able to provide in the midst of our empty places.” And we go on wandering. Looking for the answer…
“They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region” Psalm 107:4 NASB Desert Region– For most of us, the idea of wilderness recalls pictures of the Arizona desert or the Sahara or the Northern Territories. We think of wilderness as a place where men cannot live. But what we really mean is that men cannot…
Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Numbers 1:1 NASB In the wilderness– ye’dibber’ YHVH el moshe bemidbar. Where did this conversation occur? Bemidbar—in the wilderness. That setting…
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. Exodus 16:4 NASB Bread from heaven– Manna. Literally, “What is it?” This unknown, mysterious food that descends from…
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…
My mouth is filled with Your praise and with Your glory all day long. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength fails. Psalm 71:8-9 NASB Not forsake – Hebrew poetry puts words in order of importance, not English syntax. Our translations rearrange the words…
Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness” Jeremiah 31:2 NASB Wilderness – Not everyone finds grace in the wilderness. God says that His people, the ones who have survived the sword, the ones He calls Israel, find something unexpected in the wilderness. They find grace. Imagine the…
