365 Reflections

It's one of the most amazing things about the land of Israel. Presently it is flourishing economically, agriculturally, technologically, militarily, and diplomatically. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, this small nation continues to stand as a testament to the surety of God's Word.  Ezekiel 36 arrives on the heels of the doom announced to Edom in chapter 35, who sought to exploit Israel's discipline of exile to Babylon by taking the land for themselves. It never happened, and the land of Edom has become a desolate waste just as Ezekiel 35 foretold.  Not Israel. The exact opposite has happened to God's favored nation. In Ezekiel 36, the Lord tells His prophet to speak to the mountains of Israel and declare the blessing that will surely arrive as He brings His people back to the land.  Ezekiel 36:8–9 (ESV) “But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 For behold, I am for you,...

Ezekiel 16 is a long narrative describing Israel's past from God's perspective. The terms are not flattering to this faltering nation. They began ignominiously, they failed continually, and by every estimation they did not deserve the grace God showed them again and again.  Ezekiel 16:1–5 (ESV)  Again the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. The first 5 verses include terms that we generally would not find in the Genesis ac...

Isaiah 57:14 (ESV) And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” Isaiah shifts back and forth in these chapters from grim judgments on Israel's failures to the blessed hope of their God who promises to save them. You get the feeling he's both enraged by the cultural rot around him and utterly positive in God's faithful grace.  Here in verse 14, we have hope again. Instead of the people's failure, God's provision is highlighted. He will make the way possible for them to return. He will remove every obstacle in their path. He will be with them in spite of their lowly estate. He illustrates this reality with one of the Bible's most compelling descriptions of the Lord.  Isaiah 57:15 (ESV) For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “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 lowl...

Many times we let what people say about us really stick. Especially in times of hardship. That's what happens to Job in Job 30. He spent the previous chapter reminiscing about the glory days of his past. Now in chapter 30, he's talking about the devastating effects his suffering has had on his standing in the community.  Job 30:1 (ESV) “But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. I would say that Job has sort of backtracked here. He's no longer interested in a response from God. He's looking at the response of people. This is a fool's errand in so many ways. People are never the proper barometer of our life. So what that they laugh? Their laughter betrays their ignorance. They have no idea that God was bragging about Job's righteous ways - that there was none like him in all the Earth (Job 1:8). He continues later: Job 30:8–11 (ESV) A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whi...

We come to 2 Kings 13 and the narrative moves back to focusing on the northern kingdom of Israel where a new king is on the throne, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. But he's not exactly a noble leader... 2 Kings 13:2–3 (ESV)  He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat , which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them . 3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. This is a familiar refrain for Israel, their king commits idolatry and the people fall in line. God brings judgment in the manner of Hazael, king of Syria as he attacks and defeats them " continually ".  Jehoahaz gets a wake-up call during all this and turns back to God.  2 Kings 13:4 (ESV) Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppress...

I've been blogging through the Bible for a long time. I'm constantly amazed at ONE thing. God keeps being gracious in ways that astound me. The king of Israel is in a heap of trouble in 2 Kings 6. His nation is in a dire famine, people are engaged in cannibalism, and dove's dung is now a popular food item. He's in this mess because he is one of a long line of immoral kings in the Northern kingdom who desperately seeks the approval of the nations around them instead of trusting the Lord implicitly. He's in this mess because instead of leading the world into the light, he's followed the pagan nations into the darkness. He's a lot of like us. This is the transition from 2 Kings 6 to 7 is so amazing. What does the Lord do as the king's messenger comes to seek the life of the prophet whose been keeping the nation from certain destruction? 2 Kings 6:32–7:1 (ESV) Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispa...

If God's grace does not seem unfair and/or too much for you at times, you may have never experienced its fullness. I bring you to the second to last chapter of 1 Kings where we find the ruthless, evil, wicked and abominable king Ahab rebuked by Elijah for his acts toward Naboth and his response: 1 Kings 21:25–27 (ESV) (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. 26 He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel.) 27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.  Look at the beginning and end of this passage. This moment seems so out of place for Ahab's character commentators figure Ahab's repentance was only a show. Seeing Bible scholars have a hard time believing Ahab was repentant says something significant about the pa...

2 Samuel 22 is another version of Psalm 18 but this time, the song is placed in the historical setting at which it was uttered. David has lived a blessed and sustained life from the Lord. He acknowledges freely and joyfully that without the Lord he would have been doomed. One thing that jumps off the page for me is that the mighty king and warrior is also a worshipper. So often we think worship is for the weak or maybe even the feminine. It is not just for them! It is also for the strong, the mighty, the one who knows the Lord is strong FOR them and THROUGH them. 2 Samuel 22:2–4 (ESV)   He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, 3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the Lord , who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Notice the personal relationship David maintained with the Lord. Ten times in...

We don't live in a culture of covenants. We should. They are all over the Bible and they were serious. They were also intended to save and bless people. We turn to another troubled moment for David to see how. David's troubles with rebels turn into troubles with the Lord. In 2 Samuel 21, there's a three-year famine n the land and the Lord tells David why: 2 Samuel 21:1–2 (ESV) And the LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. It should be eye-opening to modern people that the Lord would hold Israel accountable for the mistreatment of a people group from a generation ago. But the Lord is not LIKE US. He is perfect in justice and will r...

David is saved from his son's rebellion and now is about to return to Jerusalem to assume the throne. But we must remember how much damage has been done to the kingdom and to David during this whole ordeal. He was cursed and betrayed. He was abandoned by the very people he led to the pinnacle of glory! And yet, when David returns, he models for us a compassion and grace we will only see more perfected in the true David, Jesus Christ. First, we see hesitancy in bringing David back. So much hesitancy that he has to instigate the reconciliation himself. 2 Samuel 19:11–13 (ESV) And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Say to the elders of Judah , ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the word of all Israel has come to the king? 12 You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13 And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me and more also, ...

David's family is broken. Amnon is murdered by Absalom who flees from the capital and lives in exile as a result of his vengeful act. Joab, the whiley commander coordinates a plan to get Absalom back home and sends a woman from Tekoa to trick King David into returning his son. 2 Samuel 14:2–3 (ESV) And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, “Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead. 3 Go to the king and speak thus to him.” So Joab put the words in her mouth. Now the words Joab gives this woman contain a fake parable filled with half-truth relevance to the situation between David and Absalom intended to manipulate the King into returning his estranged son. The plan works and Absalom is restored: 2 Samuel 14:21–22 (ESV) Then the king said to Joab, “Behold now, I grant this; go, bring back the young man Absalom.” 22 And Joab fe...

You would think that David would want nothing to do with any person from the house of Saul. You would think he would be fully caught up in his own glory and kingdom having crushed his enemies on every side. You would think David was ready for "David-time." You would be wrong. In 2 Samuel 9, something wonderful happens for one of Saul's descendants. David is ready to bless someone for the sake of Jonathan. It just so happens that someone is a crippled boy named Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 9:1 (ESV) And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” We see here that David is unlike any other ancient king. Protocol required all living descendants of a former king to be put to death. But David does the opposite. He seeks out any living member of the house of Saul to BLESS! Let's see who he finds: 2 Samuel 9:3–5 (ESV) Ziba (Saul's servant) said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he...

1 Samuel 29:6–7 (ESV)   Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” The end of 1 Samuel is approaching and we are like movie-goers awaiting the tension to be resolved and the resolution to come. Saul is descending further and further into moral disaster, David is living among the Philistines, war is on the horizon between Israel and Philistia. What will happen? How will it all end? This is good storytelling and we do well to pay attention to the movements here on out.  The first move toward resolve is the rejection of David by the Philistine lords. While Achish had no qualms with his apparent loyalty, the other four Philist...

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...

Samuel is stepping out of the picture in Israel. They have a king and he's about to retire. In his farewell speech he minces no words: 1 Samuel 12:12–13 (ESV)   And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.  I'm thankful for the Israelite journey with the Lord through the Old Testament narrative. They show us our own faults and declare to us the greater mercy of the Lord in every stage of our growth. Here in 1 Samuel 12, it is made abundantly clear by Samuel that Israel's request of a king was the wrong move. Yet they now have a king and it is done.  Sometimes we too will make a poor choice in disobedience to God's Word. Sometimes, like Israel, we will look at the world/culture around us and adopt their values and strategies al...

The end of Samson's life looks like a terrible subscript written at the end of a movie which already seemed to end with tragedy. He is blinded bound and forced to work, grinding grain for the very people God called him to defeat. He has become physically what Israel is nationally - blind, bound and ground by their enemies. Now if you remember, the sequence of the famous Judges' cycle it is that Israel would sin, get enslaved and then cry out to God. God would respond with a judge and deliver them for a time until the cycle repeated once more. In the Samson cycle, there all the elements minus the people crying out to God for deliverance. Yet God raises up Samson and it seems clear Samson is not just a historical story but a picture of Israel's descent into the morbid slave-state vassal of Philistines. So I consider God is using this story not only to instigate the nation's deliverance but to awaken them to pray for His help EVEN when they seem to least deserve it! ...

God will have a people for Himself. Even human sin and Divine wrath cannot thwart His purpose in this regard. Consider well that after the long chapter of warning in Deuteronomy 28 and the reinforcement of the Covenant in chapter 29, Deuteronomy 30 follows with one of the most HOPE-filled passages in all the Pentateuch: Deuteronomy 30:1-8 (ESV) "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. ...

Deuteronomy 22 has a lot to say about sex and death. When there was adultery in Israel, people were to die. When a woman "whored in her father's house" she was to die. When a man raped a woman, he was to die. When a man slept with a virgin to whom he was not married, his singlehood was to die - that woman became his wife for life. All in all, this is a fun bit of text! First, we learn, sex is a matter of life and death to God. In our culture, we couldn't be further away from God on this very point. Sex in the minds of many in the West is a "non-issue". Though we still take rape very seriously, sex outside of marriage is basically considered a right of passage for many young people in America. How very different than what we hear from God on these matters from the Law. Sex is serious. God says illicit sex can cost you your life and bring shame upon your whole family. The question the West is grappling with belligerently today is this: On the matter of sex...

Deuteronomy 19:7–10 (ESV) Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. 8 And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— 9 provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three, 10 lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. I have already spoken about the cities of refuge mentioned in Numbers 35 and how they serve as a type of Christ for sinners to avoid the wrath of sin and how at the death of the high priest, the man slayer might return home. So too in Christ, we have the right to return home since our high priest has died for us. Here in Deuteronomy God gives Moses an additional command concerning the cities. Remember ...

Deuteronomy 9:4–5 (ESV)   “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Israel is a blessing to our lives in many ways we do not understand. One of the ways is how Israel serves as a real life parable for the nations that God, not us, is the faithful One who keeps His PROMISES. Thankfully, He does not depend upon our actions to do what He said He would do.  Israel would be taught by Moses that God is acting in response to the ...