Author: Dave Dishman (Page 182 of 480)

It’s easy to prove most anything you want from the Bible. People twist the scriptures, sometimes beyond recognition, to gain status or power or wealth.

Slaveholders during the American Civil War massaged passages to undergird the institution of slavery, while at the same time abolitionists preached liberation texts from the same Bible. The abolitionists hoped to free enslaved men and women, while the slaveholders loved that money.

We can hold the law of God in our hands, but fail to grasp the wisdom within. Or worse, twist the wisdom for our pleasure. Jeremiah confronted the religious elite in his day for doing just that:

How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?

Handling the scriptures falsely remains a favored path to popularity. Picking certain passages to emphasize i.e. God is love, allows for all types of selfish thinking. If God is indeed love, doesn’t he want me to be happy? Shouldn’t I chase after the relationships and lifestyle and stuff I want?

To do so one must tamp down other teachings on love, i.e. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The teachings in the Bible push us away from a phone full of selfies. They instead point toward the care and flourishing of others. While searching out truth and persevering in faith, the Holy Spirit uses the Holy Scriptures to move us from bitterness into forgiveness.

Any teaching that tells you different comes from the pen of a lying scribe—and what kind of wisdom it that?

Jeremiah 8 & I Corinthians 13 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Nicolas Thomas

Jeremiah confronted a nation far gone. The chosen people rejected obedience required by a relationship with the Lord and turned enthusiastically to the ways of the world. To wake them up, the Lord put his message into Jeremiah’s mouth:

This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.

The Lord continued:

The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes. They set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Beth Hinnom to burn the sons and daughter in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.

The stunning reality of his people freely burning their own children alive to appease a demonic deity shocked even the Lord—nor did it enter my mind.

When enough people gain power and leave truth behind atrocities follow. Think of Nazi Germany exterminating Jews, or Mao Zedong’s terrors in China, or chattel slavery in the United States. Millions suffered due to the devaluing of human life and the rejection of basic dignities.

When truth perishes we’re all at risk. From history we learn that no nation or people group is immune to such devastating turns.

Always remember—the Word of God is truth. Cling to that truth. Live the truth found within every day, and speak truth whenever necessary. Because when truth perishes, hope perishes as well.

Jeremiah 7 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Joshua Hoehne

God forms each of us in our mother’s wombs, and knows us intimately from the earliest stages of our existence. The prophet Jeremiah learned this truth from the Lord’s own mouth:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

A prophet to the nations—Jeremiah wanted no part. He sputtered, Alas, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am too young. Anything, God, but don’t make me go yell in the streets to jeering crowds. The Lord rolled over Jeremiah’s feeble objections:

Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do be be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.

Then the Lord reached out and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, sending a wave of power and confidence through his entire being. The Lord finished Jeremiah’s commissioning with this charge: I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jeremiah took on the mantle of prophet and doggedly proclaimed God’s message through the reigns of three kings, faithful even to the exile of Jerusalem. He moved at God’s direction all his life.

I never received dramatic instructions like Jeremiah. But I find comfort knowing that from the womb the Lord knew me and held plans for me. Many of us spend a lot of time searching for God’s will, but even as we search we can enjoy the Lord, who stays with us all along the way.

The promise I am with you held true for Jeremiah throughout his tumultuous life, and holds true for you and me today.

Jeremiah 1 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Viviana Rishe

Folks who hold to God, who turn their thoughts beyond themselves, ever hope to attract the Lord’s kindly attention.

King David wrote of this desire: I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense, may the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

David’s prayers and worship rose to the Lord like incense. Revelation chapter five also describes the prayers of the saints as incense, swirling around the throne of God.

But prayers aren’t the only thing rising. Asaph, begging the Lord to show up and defeat those who oppress the people of the Lord, closed one of his psalms this way: Rise up, God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long. Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies which rises continually.

The appeals of the saints rise to the Lord, along with the racket of those who oppose him. It’s comforting to know the Lord catches both. No one escapes his notice, good or bad.

Sweet smelling incense, or the din of unrelenting clamor—how might the Lord recognize you and me from his throne?

Psalm 141 & 74 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Enache Georgiana