365 Reflections

Let's get something straight about peace. It does not come without blood. People can talk all they want about being nice and bringing a calm to the world but it's all a bunch of nonsense if someone does not execute swift punishment on the evildoer and deter further insurrections with a strong righteous hand executing justice. Without blood, World War 2 does not end. Without blood, terrorist plots are not thwarted. Without blood, the ego-maniacal dictators destroy millions of lives unfettered. Solomon's reign begins in blood. Which is interesting since his name literally means, "Peaceable." Yet his own father sets him on a course for the swift judgment of those notable names who were thorns in his side. 1 Kings 2:5–6 (ESV) “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that ha...

1 Samuel 23:26–29 (ESV)   Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi. For a large portion of the book of 1 Samuel, we have Saul chasing down David. This should be bothersome to us. It should bother us that two men whom God used mightily in battles for the Lord's people - to deliver them and enlarge their territory - are preoccupied with a stupid spat between them! Instead of Saul fighting for the nation, he's fighting for his own glory. Instead of David going to war and expanding the map, he...

Deuteronomy 23:9–13 (ESV) “When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. 10 “If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, 11 but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp. 12 “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. 13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. These two laws are incredibly important to an ancient culture far removed from the obsessive sanitize-everything-you-can culture of our day. The Israelites were to keep their military camps clean in the midst of warfare. These stipulations concerning what to do with semen and feces would have enormous health benefits to the nation's fighting men. The bottom line, in this case, is cl...

Numbers 21:1–3 (ESV) When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. 2 And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” 3 And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah. Something wonderful begins to happen for Israel in Numbers 21. They start winning battles against Canaanite kings. But here at Hormah, the more important thing is that they learn how to win battles.  It's interesting how the text gives us clues that they have circled back in many ways from their tremendous fall of Numbers 13-14.  First the text tells us that the Israelites are going "by the way of Atharim" - which means " by the way of the spies." S...

Exodus 15:1 (ESV)  Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The enemy is defeated, Israel is finally and fully saved from Egypt FOREVER. And the first thing they do is SING. Saved people sing. We are drawn to song when our lives are redeemed from hopelessness to hope, from emptiness to fulness. If there's a strength in the people of God during the Old Testament it is their commitment to song. Consider that the Old Testament's longest book is a book of Psalms - the hymnbook of the Jewish people. Of all the things they could have collected, they made sure to collect their songs.  Songs have an emotional effect. How often does a song just hit us at the right time and lift our spirits to something we previously weren't experiencing. How many songs express our common emotions both good and bad. Many popular singers make million...