365 Reflections

David's time has finally arrived. Though the demise of Saul's reign came through bloodshed, jealous rivalries and betrayal, God used the evils of men to produce the king He planned. Now in 2 Samuel 5, David is set over the entire house of Israel. 2 Samuel 5:1–3 (ESV) Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. 2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel. We note first that the tribes came to David. They knew he was the one. They understood that their successes under Saul were really because of him. They also knew the Lord promised this for David. For them, this was the fulfillment of both the obvio...

I wish Samson's story got better at some point but it keeps descending into a morose.  Judges 15:16–20 (ESV)   And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. This passage is perhaps the most revealing of Samson's character than any other. He has just finished killing 1000 Philist...

Things are getting worse for Israel in the book of Judges. We have these stories preserved for us so that we do not follow the ways they took. Consider: 1 Corinthians 10:6 (ESV) Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. The people of Israel once again serve the baals and ashtorehs of Canaan. These gods represented a plentiful harvest and fruitfulness in sex. It's amazing how we serve money and sex the same exact way thousands of years later just as they did!  When Israel feels the sting of the nations pressing in around them, they again cry out to God: Judges 10:10 (ESV) And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.” What's interesting is how God perceives insincerity in their cry for help. Because He turns up the heat in His response. Before Gideon was called, a prophet was sent to remind the people of Israe...

I can't think of a better way to begin a New Year than with this passage from Exodus. Exodus 3:3–4 (ESV)   And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” I've always been reminded of this little fact in Exodus 3. God shows up in the bush but does not speak to Moses until He sees that Moses turns aside to see what's going on. Moses made a turn that truly changed his world. The word in Hebrew for "turned aside" used twice in this passage means "to depart" and is used of Samson when he did not know the Lord had "departed" from him. It can also be used to infer apostasy which will later happen in Israel's leaders. The evident implication of this word is that of strong and complete redirection of one's attentions and affections. And Moses here redirects his attent...

Genesis 46:1–4 (ESV) So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” I think we fail to realize how big of a moment this is for Jacob. Remember, he has lived most of his life in the land of Canaan; he's comfortable and settled. He's old, he's not ready for a huge transition. He has just learned his son is alive and in charge of the operations of the world's foremost superpower in Egypt. He has to uproot his existence and live there. What a radical change to handle in one's old age. On top of this, Egypt is severely pagan with...

Revelation 19:6–8 (ESV)   Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Did you notice what happened in this verse? The voice commands rejoicing and glorification to the LORD for something the Bride did. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Because we know apart from Him we can do nothing. On the surface, it seems John is saying our righteous acts have made us worthy to partake in the new culminated life in Christ at the end of the age. But of course, he is not. The Bride (the body of Christ) makes herself ready because it was granted her to do so. Our...

Ministry is sweet and sour. Being a follower of Christ in the truest sense of the word brings about a gigantic dichotomy of experience in life. The sweet and the sour. John experiences this having received the revelation of Jesus Christ to a world hopelessly in love with itself. Revelation 10:8–11 (ESV) Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” John hears the voice from heaven. It tells him to eat t...

Your testimony doesn't have to be very complicated. It simply has to be clear, Simple, and pointed out what Jesus has done for you. In John 9 a man born blind is suddenly healed miraculously by Jesus. This of course angers the religious leaders of the day because Jesus healed the Sabbath. They call him in to testify he tells them what Jesus done. They aren't content so they call his parents and they testify that he is their son was born blind. They call him in a second time and here's what it says: John 9:24–25 (ESV) So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” The Bible has a few good "One thing" statements: Jesus in talking with Mary and Martha, says to an overly committed Martha: "One thing is necessary." (Luke 10:42) Paul in speaking abou...

John 7:44–46 (ESV) Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. 45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” This is an amazing moment that we often breeze by in our reading. The chief priests and Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus so they sent a guard to seize him. But they came back empty handed. Why? Because His teaching was that astonishing. His teaching was that powerful.  This is an incredible example of the power of God's Word. It can change the hardest of hearts who hear it. Romans 10:17 (ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The Psalmist rightly declared the power of the Lord's Word. Psalm 29:4–5 (NLT)   The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. 5 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of L...

2 Corinthians 3:16–18 (ESV) But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Paul is spending a considerable amount of time talking about Moses' veil and what it meant. When Moses came down from the mountain after speaking with God Exodus tells us his face shone with the glory of God. But after he spoke with them, he would put a veil over his face. Why? Because the glory would fade after a while. Then he would go back up and his face would glow again, he would teach the people and then his face would fade and the veil would be put back. He was kind of like a glow in the dark light.  Why did this happen? Paul tells us it was God's way of saying everything Moses was instituting was from ...

Admittedly, every church has it's problems. Corinth is no exception. We discussed that in the last post that even though they were undeniably gifted they had serious failings Paul needed to correct. In the Old Testament "epistles" (we call them the Prophets) the nation was often rebuked for sins followed by a promise of restoration. Consider one of the all-time favorite memory verses in the church: Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. We love to put that verse on our coffee mugs, t-shirts and bumper stickers.  But the context of those words is anything but good. The nation is about to be carted off to exile, their temple burned, their homes ravaged, their land turned over to a godless nation at the whim of a dictator. They have not listened to God and they are to be corrected. But AFTER the rebuke, Jeremiah brings the promise. God still has great plans for t...

The John we see in Luke's Gospel, chapter 9 at least, is not even close to the one who would write the Epistles, Gospel, and Revelation that we know from him. The younger John (from Luke 9) gets into arguments about who would be greatest, then tries to stop an outsider from performing miracles in Jesus name because he didn't belong to the "club," then he desires to destroy an entire village because they reject Jesus. Wow. In 1 John he is known as the Apostle of "Love One Another." In the Gospel of John he is the "disciple Jesus loved." And in Revelation, even there we see a contrite man before the Lord. What happened? He walked with Jesus for a long time.  The John who wrote those books was well into his 80s or 90s by historian accounts.  The John in Luke 9 is a teenager. Good news for me.  There's hope.  My Mother used to lead Sunday School with a song that went like this: "He's still working on me.  To make me what I ...

In the parable of the sower Jesus describes four possible responses to the Word of God.  Some have heard but the devil takes it away.  Some spring up quickly, joyfully accepting the message, but when testing comes their shallow faith is revealed. Then there are those who let the money and cares of this world choke out the word of God from their hearts. But the final soil is good soil.  It produces a crop.  It bears fruit.  Jesus says this is how it happens: Luke 8:15 (ESV) As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Patience... that's a key word here.  Jesus is implying something for everyone who has wanted to be a fruitful Christ-follower... be patient with your own results. For everyone wondering why they have struggled to see change in their lives EVEN as a Christ follower, they need to know: Fruitfulness isn't overnight.  That's good and b...

Luke 1:4 (ESV) that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Why do we study the life and work of Jesus?  The same reason Luke put his Gospel together: That we may be CERTAIN of the things we have been taught. Luke is writing to a man named, "Theophilus" - lover of God.  Either that is his given name or one he came to have after conversion.  But I want to use it to make an important distinction.  There are many who say they "love God" in their own little way and for their own idea of what He's like.  But having a generic "love for God" is not what the Bible asks of us.  We are called to KNOW Jesus.   But we have never been called to know a generic idea we may have of what god is like "to us."  That God is easy to like and easy to ignore and easy to get upset with when life doesn't go our way.  The problem is, our idea of God is often not the God of the Bible.  Certainly not Jesus. ...

Galatians 5:5 (NLT) But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. The message in Galatians can seen upside down to us in the 21st Century.  It speaks of freedom from the law in terms foreign to us from it's original context.  We can misinterpret it to use these scriptures as a license to do what we want.  We forget that it was written to counter legalists who wanted to go back to the old code of the law rather than see people liberated from that old form of religion to new life in Christ. There is some worry in the church about "free Grace" or "cheap Grace".  That we use grace as a license to sin.  Paul makes it clear, that for those truly saved by Christ, that could never be the case.  You are changed.  Your desires are different.  You want to be righteous and instead of working toward it by religious ritual, you receive it by faith from God because of the Spirit now living wit...

Christians often need a WAKE-UP CALL. James is about to give one. James 4:4 (ESV) You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. To truly understand what James means in chapter four, you have to understand the Greek idea of friendship.  One commentator said, "Hellenistic friendship “involved ‘sharing all things’ in a unity both spiritual and physical.” What were they sharing? Covetousness and out of control desires that led them to do despicable things to each other. The "brothers" of James' audience were certainly a dysfunctional group.  It gives me hope for the church of the 21st Century.  They were killing each other (and some commentators do not take that as a metaphor from the text).  Wow. Even with all their faults and even in their horrible spiritual condition, James doesn't lead them to condemnation.  Of...

I have never really stopped to picture the event of the Triumphal Entry.  I read Philip Yancey's description of how it would have been pale in comparison to a Roman Centurion and it legion... but still, look at what happened: Someone no one knows gave their donkey and her colt to two strangers without hesitation. The people took their cloaks - a very valuable item in those days and laid them on the ground and used them for a make-shift saddle for Him.  Think about it, picture it.  Amazing. The people cried out "Hosanna to the Son of David!" The children sang all the way to the temple. The people of the city were stirred. Wow! The crowds cried, "Hosanna" which means, "Lord save us!"  A cry for help in Hebrew.  They cried to be released from the vile Roman army and  its massive legions.  They cried to be freed once again from subjugation to a God-less nation.  They cried to see the conquest of David's kingdom once again. And the first thi...