Exodus 17:7, ‘…they tested YHWH by saying, ‘is YHWH among us (ἐν ἡμῖν) or not?’’ This is the final verse in the account of Moses striking the rock so that water might be given to the people in the wilderness. Just as a little background: The people are grumbling and demanding water, so Moses cries […]
John 16:21-22, ‘When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer removers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your
Lam. 3:21-23, ‘this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of YHWH never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’ The steadfast love of YHWH *never ceases*. At least one implication of that statement is that in the midst of
Lamentations 3:21-23 Read More »
Matt. 4:4, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” Satan asks Jesus to turn stones into bread in order to prove that He is indeed the Son of God. Except, recall that the Father has just proclaimed Jesus to be
Ps 90:12, ‘…teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.’ Much of our culture is designed to prevent us from numbering our days, to prevent us from looking steadily at the absolute reality of our own mortality and the unshakable certainty of our own death. But this is
Ps 83:16-18, ‘Fill their faces with shame, THAT they may seek your name, O YHWH. Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace, THAT they may know that you alone, whose name is YHWH, are the Most High over all the earth.’ Two points — First, there is a
1 Corinthians 10:2-4, ‘…all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.’ When one turns to Christ such that the veil is removed
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Psalm 80:10, “ I am YHWH your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. YHWH alone—as the God who raised His people out of slavery—will be the God of His people. A necessary implication of this is that He alone will be
Habakkuk 2:14, ‘…the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of YHWH as the waters cover the sea’. Habakkuk does not say that the earth ‘may’ be, or ‘could’ be filled with the knowledge of the glory of YHWH, he—and so the Spirit of God through him—says that it *shall be.* Whatever
Ps 37:23-24, ‘The steps of a man are established by YHWH, when he delights in His way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for YHWH upholds his hand.’ Here we see an interesting dynamic of the Christian life: The saint is one who both will most certainly fall and who will never
Lam. 2:15-16, ‘All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: ‘Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?’ All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth…’ Jerusalem
Lamentations 2:15-16 Read More »
Exodus 3:2, ‘And the angel of YHWH appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.’ The Hebrew word used for ‘bush’ here (סְנֶה) derives from a root that means ‘to prick’, and so it is thought to indicate some sort of thorn bush. It would seem, then, that
John 6:68, ‘Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ When the torrents of confusion and uncertainty and doubt hammer against the disciples’ faith, what is it that binds them to Christ? It is not an elaborate system of apologetic arguments, it is not a collection of manuscript evidence, it
Lamentations 1:14, ‘My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by His hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck…’ Jerusalem’s punishment from the Lord is nothing other than their own sins against the Lord poured back out upon them. Consider what it means to say that the horrors of the
Today’s picture is divided into TWO PARTS in order to highlight two different perspectives on the ‘dark night’ of the Christian soul: Part 1 (the darker one) corresponds to Ps.22:1-2; Part 2 (the lighter one) corresponds to Ps.22:9-10. Picture 1: Ps. 22:1-2, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you
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1 Cor. 6:7, ‘To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be defrauded?’ Paul’s question forces examination: “Why not” or “For what reason” would you not rather be defrauded? What is it that causes you to refuse to release your possessions—even if the situation IS unjust?
In Ephesians 6:10, Paul calls believers to be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Any strength the Christian has in the struggles of this life is strength in the Lord (that is, in union with Christ) and is, in fact, the Lord’s own might—just as any vitality or fruitfulness a
John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome / comprehended it.” The ‘light’ that shines in the darkness is the ‘life’ that is in the Word from all eternity (v.4), and what is that life? It is the knowledge of who God is as He is known in the
Isaiah 9:6, ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called…Prince of Peace.’ God With Us, born into the heart of our darkness, given into the midst of our strife with one another and the midst of
Gen 50:20, “…you *meant* evil against me, but God *meant* it for good…” Don’t miss the parallelism in this statement. It is not that Joseph’s brothers *meant* evil, and that God *used* their actions for good, it is that—in the very same action—the brothers meant evil and God meant good. There are at
