365 Reflections

Jeremiah makes a stunning pronouncement in chapter 3.  Jeremiah 3:11 (ESV) And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Israel had been more wicked than Judah up to this point by far. They are the nation of Ahab and Jezebel. They are the prophet-killing kingdom. They were the spiritual offspring of vile Jeroboam who taught Israel to abandon the Lord and worship in the high places. Yet here, Jeremiah says Judah is less righteous than Israel. How? Simply put, because Judah saw what happened to Israel. They were handed over to the Assyrians and destroyed. Judah should have paid attention and learned in order to avoid the same fate, but they did not, they ran in the same rebellious direction without care. There is a greater condemnation on the people who should have learned from the failures of those before them.  Jeremiah offers that northern nation hope: Jeremiah 3:12 (ESV) Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, an...

What is God making clear to Israel in Deuteronomy 18 when He forbids several vile practices of the nations in Canaan? Very simply put: We need TRUE guidance from God. Before God shows them how to follow Divine guidance rightly He eliminates the wrong options. Deuteronomy 18:9–12 (ESV) “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord . And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. For as long as humans have been on the Earth, they have acted in ways detrimental to their well being for the sake of inquiring of the spirits beyond. These ...

Deuteronomy means, "second law". The reason being that Deuteronomy serves as a retelling of the Law of God given to the people of Israel right before the death of Moses and entrances into the Promised land. Deuteronomy is regarded as a set of Moses' sermons to the people. Even the first paragraph describes Deuteronomy as specific words given to Moses for the people's instruction in their new life with God. Deuteronomy 1:1–3 (ESV) These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him in commandment to them, One commentator I read made the argument that Moses was to the Old Testament law what Paul is to the New Testament c...

John 16:12–13 (ESV) “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. During the long discourse in the upper room, Jesus starts to realize He is startling his disciples. He is speaking of their future, the persecution sure to come, the hatred of others they will bear, and to top it all off, His leaving them to do the work. But in the middle of this discourse, he lets them in one a teaching secret of our Great Shepherd. He doesn't try to overwhelm us. He says what we are able to bear. He is a caring preacher and leader of His flock.  What does this say about us? There are things God wants to say that we aren't ready for. There are life changing truths that God is not yet revealing. We should be longing for them. We should be desirin...