Category: Bible (Page 270 of 419)

Insurance is a wonderful thing. I just got my Jeep back from the bodyshop after a fender bender. My auto insurance paid for most all of the repair. Along with car insurance, I have homeowner’s insurance, health insurance, savings insurance (FDIC) and life insurance.

Amaziah, king of Judah, won a smashing victory over the nation’s oppressors. When he returned to the palace, he carried back the idols of the defeated, bowed before them and worshipped. The Lord immediately dispatched a prophet with this message:

Why do you consult this people’s gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?

The prophet asked a good question—why would Amaziah worship powerless gods, and in doing so, offend the Lord who went before him?

Amaziah’s choice looks wildly foolish. Maybe he thought in slow-motion? Likely something in the look and build of those idols caught his eye, and Amaziah heard stories of the power of those gods.

I suspect Amaziah hoped to add a layer of insurance. If the Lord saves, why not a few more deities? A dream team of gods? The Lord+?

I lean that direction. Whether position or money or recognition or security, I tend to layer insurance to the Lord’s role in my life. When the Lord looks the other direction, I’ll have something solid to hold. I cannot quite trust all the way.

It’s not to the level of burning incense and praying to carved images, but I notice my lack of assurance. Why do I consult the people’s gods when the Lord has always provided? I recognize the Lord stands beyond all the added ways I insure my life anyway, so why get stuck on my insurance? Why look to create my version of the Lord+?

Only when my hope returns to the Lord do I find a solid, fully insured place to stand.

2 Chronicles 25 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Tierra Mallorca

Jonah was a miserable prophet. Or more to the point, he carried a bad attitude during his prophetic cruise to Nineveh. Jonah felt the Ninevites deserved some wrath of God in their lives so he bitched and moaned all the way to Nineveh and then into the prophet’s hall of fame.

Three days in the belly of a giant fish set Jonah straight. He fulfilled his mission and the people in Nineveh responded overwhelmingly, fasting and praying and hoping for the Lord’s compassion.

The Lord noticed: When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.

Jonah never wrapped his mind around the graciousness and compassion of the Lord. He fixated on the evil acts of the Ninevites, but overlooked their lost souls—a position I find myself in at times.

I pause at the story of Jonah because I notice how God sent a reluctant messenger through the belly of a fish to reach clueless, idol-worshipping people. God wants all to come to repentance, and God uses even lousy prophets to carry his message.

Hopeful for all of us, as we’re all either straying from God, or lousy prophets attempting the work of the Lord.

Jonah in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Mitchell Orr

When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you (Psalm 50:21).

One of the great mistakes I make is to believe God is like me. Or, to believe that his silence is tacit approval for whatever way I choose to live my life.

I often hear, “Well, I just can’t believe God meant that,” or “I believe only in a loving god,” or “the god I believe in wouldn’t act that way.” But when we believe in only a god we comprehend, we create an idol, an image, a Disney-god of our imagination.

When I think I know exactly what God is like, then I know I’m exactly wrong. The psalmist writes: His greatness no one can fathom.

I’m guilty. Deep down I want a god I can understand, a god that’s safe, a god I control. One that’s presentable in polite company and helps me look reasonable and educated. I carefully curate the god I pull from my pocket.

Fortunately for all of us that god does not exist. So much better to ponder the God we discover throughout the entirety of the Scriptures, from start to finish, Old Testament and New. Wrestle with the descriptions of the Lord and his treatment of people. Invest in his words. Only then do we grow towards a richer knowledge of the Lord.

Rest assured, God is not exactly like us.

Psalms 50 & 145 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

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I get conflicting thoughts from reading Jesus. On the one hand, he told his followers peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:27).

But on another day he sent out the original twelve with this gristle to chew on: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34).

Which is it—peace or sword?

Both.

As a disciple of Jesus, I draw on his peace as I make my way through this world. My heart rests, indeed I enjoy a certain fearlessness. The quote above from John refers specifically to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Through the power of the Holy Spirit peace and confidence may infuse my life.

I need such peace because the way of Jesus draws the opposition of the world. Remember, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus brings a sword to the evil in the world. Indeed, you and I are his swords whenever we turn the other cheek, or hunger and thirst for righteousness, or serve a peacemakers. By living this way we bring light to the spiritual blindness inflicted by the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Rest in the peace made available for you, and remember it rests most powerfully when we remain awake to the nature of our true opposition.

Matthew 10 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Anis Rahman