Psalm 12:2, 6, “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” /// “The words of YHWH are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” See the contrast implicit in the two verses above. Human words are alloyed with deceptive meaning, […]
Matthew 25:20, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.” What did the faithful servant do with the talents (an ancient measure for money, probably gold) that his Master had given him? How did he turn the five he received into five more? Was it shrewd investment? Was
Proverbs 28:1, “…the righteous are as bold as a lion.” What is true, lion-like boldness? Certainly the culture around us has many answers….boldness is being loud and confident, boldness is not letting anyone take advantage of you, boldness is not bowing down, boldness is standing your ground, etc. etc…But can we just import that
Hebrews 10:34, “…you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” If we honestly consider what the Spirit is saying to us in these words, it truly is revolutionary. How do disciples of the slain and risen Lord respond when—because they
Ps 4:8, “In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, O YHWH, make me dwell in safety.” Sleep can be the process of rest and waking that we go through every night, but Scripture also speaks of death as sleep (Jn 11:11; 1 Thess.4:13-18). The one who lives in covenant
Ephesians 1:10, “…to sum up all things in Him, things in heaven and on earth.” The word I’ve translated “sum up” here is used only one other place by Paul, and that’s in Romans 13:9 where he says that every commandment in the Law is “summed up” in the command to love neighbor. What
Isaiah 57:15, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up… ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” The Hebrew translated “contrite” is דכא,
Psalm 1:1-2, Blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of YHWH…” The blessed person—that is, the deeply happy person—is the one who delights in YHWH’s law. Now, to delight in a thing is a sort of blessedness in and of itself, and to be blessed implies that that which we delight in
Today’s picture is a bit different than normal because it’s a collaboration that I did with a friend. Sean Eha is an excellent weaver of words and he writes poetry over at https://rebornbyfire.blogspot.com/ A few weeks ago Sean and I were talking about working on a poetry/art collab and we decided to base our
Job 36:15, “He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.” He delivers the afflicted by their affliction….another way to say this is that the Lord uses adversity and suffering as a means of deliverance and sanctification and healing for those who experience adversity and suffering. Affliction is made to
Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to YHWH, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Notice that it does not say, “let the wicked make amends for what he’s done,” or, “let the unrighteous
Is 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty…” Rain that falls on the fields is never wasted…it
Isaiah 52:15, “Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.” Isaiah anticipates a day when the kings of the nations will come to understand something that had previously been unknown to them and that—upon understanding it—they
Philippians 2:15-16, “…you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold fast to the word of life.” (NIV) The “word of life,” refers most immediately to the Gospel, which is to say, the message that the one crucified in love under the sin and punishment of His enemies is,
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Though “He Is Risen” functions as a stand alone animation about the resurrection of Christ–and of all things in and with Christ–it is also the third in a loose trilogy of animations that cover the events of Holy Week. Check out Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, and Holy Saturday to see the first two
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Isaiah 50:10-11, “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of YHWH and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches you have kindled!” Are we in darkness?
Zephaniah 3:15, 17, “YHWH has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemies, The King of Israel, YHWH is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil…YHWH your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet
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Isaiah 6:6, “…one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.” Isaiah sees the Lord “high and lifted up” on the throne of His glory (6:1), and at this sight he—rightly—assumes that his life is forfeit…he is a sinful man
Matthew 16:25, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” I’ve written a lot on this verse and on passages like it, but it is a truth that I easily forget and so need to be continually reminded of. Living to preserve,
Job 28:12, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” The first 11 verses of chapter 28 employ the imagery of a mine with deep shafts and searching tunnels as an example of humanity’s ability to find the “thing that is hidden” and bring it “out to the light.”
