What Do You Know about Zephaniah and the Flood? A quick read of the beginning of the book of Zephaniah sounds a lot like Noah and the flood: “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the […]
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What Do You Do On Sunday? People have different ideas about what you can and can’t do on Sundays, how you should and shouldn’t act. This ranges from Sunday being the same as every other day to it being a solemn set-apart time when you go to church, rest, and do nothing else. Though I […]
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Zephaniah Asks: What Do You Really Rely Upon? The short Old Testament book of Zephaniah opens with an apocalyptic prophecy. Amid the forth telling of doom and gloom is the reminder that “neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them.” The Message Bible, puts it more directly: “Don’t plan on buying […]
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God Talks to Gideon—and to Us Another familiar character in the book of Judges is Gideon. There are three whole chapters devoted to him. He is a fearful man who is at first cautious of God’s call. But eventually he does fully obey what God says to do. There are three initial things that God […]
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Avoiding the Risk of Complacency Complacency. The word complacent means to be “pleased or satisfied” or especially, to be “extremely self-satisfied.” This seems to describe many people that I know. They are complacent, perhaps not materially, but certainly spiritually. They are content to sit back, with no concern for their non-material well-being and little remorse […]
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10 People Raised from the Dead in the Bible Resurrections Occur in Both the Old and New Testaments In the Bible, dead people return to life. This happens on ten occasions, with three resurrections occurring in the Old Testament and seven times in the New. Check out these stories of people supernaturally raised from the […]
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Who Do You Worship? A Lesson for Today from Zephaniah A common practice in the United States (and perhaps globally) is to take parts from different religions and philosophies, mashing them together to form a personal belief system. Doing so is a consumer-centric mindset. People keep the parts they like, and they ditch the rest. […]
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Do What Is Just and Right Do God’s Instructions to the King of Judah Apply to Us Today? It’s dark times indeed for God’s people. The prophet Jeremiah is his mouthpiece to speak truth. God sends Jeremiah to the king of Judah with a message. This message begins with some commands and ends with a […]
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Do You Worship Work? Do you worship your work? Of course we would say “no.” But consider that what we make sacrifices for is that which is important to us. Do we make sacrifices for work? Do we sacrifice family time to complete work projects? Do we sacrifice personal health and well-being to climb the […]
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What’s a Thousand Years to God? Time Is Different in the Spiritual Realm Than What We’re Used to in the Physical Though King David wrote many psalms, the book of Psalms also includes the work of others. One of these writers is Moses. Yes, Moses wrote a psalm, Psalm 90. It may be the oldest […]
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Is Self-sufficiency Your Strength? To be self-sufficient is to not require outside aid, support, or interaction for survival. It is a primary intent of much of today’s Western culture. A Google search for “self-sufficient” produced 13.7 million matches. Self-sufficiency is truly a big deal—and unfortunately, a prideful goal that produces a false sense of security. […]
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Women in the Bible: Rahab Rahab is a prostitute who two spies stay with when they scope out Jericho. We don’t know if they seek her for her services or merely want to get out of public view. When the king of Jericho commands Rahab to turn the men over to him, she commits treason. […]
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God Says, “Wait For It” A reoccurring gag in sitcoms is what I call the “wait for it” bit. It goes like this: Something that is expected to occur, doesn’t. With a knowing look, one character confidently states, “Wait for it.” There is a suitable pause, and then it occurs just as predicted—the audience expresses […]
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Does Silence Scare You? We need to learn to worship God in silence, doing nothing but standing in awe of him The Book of Revelation is an amazing book. However, I fear that many people miss the point of it. The intent of Revelation isn’t to give us a detailed map of the future. Instead, […]
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Micah: The Anti-Hero A curious fellow in the book of Judges is Micah (not to be confused with the prophet Micah who lived many centuries later and has a book of the Bible named after him). This Micah, with two chapters surrounding him, is not listed as a judge and does not lead the people […]
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The Simplicity of Faith: Jesus Says “Follow Me” In Peter’s darkest moment, he denies that he even knows who Jesus is. I don’t criticize Peter for this, however. Despite a desire to respond differently, I suspect that if facing death, I could easily do the same thing. Later, after returning to life, Jesus restores Peter […]
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Three Things God Requires from Us God’s Expectations May Surprise Us, but They Do Make Sense As Micah wraps up his prophecy to the people of Israel, he slips in a profound thought. In one short sentence he tells what God requires of his people. It’s succinct and simple. It’s startling but profound. Equally astonishing […]
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Do You Ever Wonder If Your Right Behavior Is in Vain? Keeping Our Heart Pure Is Hard, Especially When God Offers Us Grace and Mercy There are at least twelve psalms in the Bible written by Asaph. Psalm 73 is one of them. Asaph’s having a bad day. He’s going through a difficult time. It’s […]
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Micah’s Personal Prescription As the prophet Micah gives a series of stinging rebukes against the nations of Israel and Judah, he takes a pause for some personal reflection. As if keeping a journal, he wonders how he should approach God. With reverence, with offerings, with sacrifices? No. That is not what God wants. God requires […]
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Do You Have Peace Like a River? Isaiah Talks about Peace More Than Any Other Book in the Bible Isaiah talks a lot about peace, mentioning it more than any other book in Scripture. One-tenth of the Bible’s references to peace occur in this one book. That’s a lot of peace in one place. And […]
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