As a fugitive from the Egyptian Pharaoh who had raised him, Moses’ life slowed to a crawl. Once he had been an adopted member of the Egyptian royal family. Now, on the back side of the desert, at the foot of Mount Sinai, he was watching over his father-in-law’s sheep. His life as a shepherd […]
Down through the years some of us have pointed out that God didn’t give Moses The Ten Suggestions. With similar conviction we rightly recognize the importance of being obedient to God. Many have also observed that the only real solution for the world will come in a day when God’s Messiah rules the world with […]
In the days of the Bible, the world understood the concept of a kingdom. People saw themselves as subjects of one who would rule over them until death, defeat, or voluntarily relinquishing power to a son. Today, and most recently with the help of social media like Facebook and Twitter, governments that refuse to acknowledge […]
The Apostle Paul has an interesting approach to prayer. He doesn’t end his prayers “in Jesus name.” Neither do his prayers sound like “The Lord’s Prayer” (Eph 1:16-20) (Eph 3:14-21). In addition, Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that in our weakness we don’t even know what to ask God for. So, according […]
Am in the recording studio this week recording conversations with Alice Mathews and Haddon Robinson for our Discover the Word Radio series. We are currently working through the Sermon on the Mount and have gotten into “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matt 6:9-13). In the process, we have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the […]
A column in the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy responded to the S & P’s downgrading of US Credit rating with an article called “How Debt Has Defined Human History”. Author, David Graeber, describes how ancient civilizations developed elaborate systems to manage credit and debt. He maintains that such systems depended on the insistence that there […]
It begins with Hubble pictures of the cosmos and the whispered question, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4,7) As a film, The Tree of Life, written and directed by Terrence Malick, and starring […]
As children use the term, you don’t want to be around a jinxed person. Who wants to be around when bad stuff messes up something good we thought we could count on? In the world of sports, athletes do a lot of strange and superstitious things to avoid the dreaded curse, field gods, or anything […]
One of our friends asked a good question in response to the last post. Does anyone have a valid reason for being angry with God? Our answer to that question, as well as our thoughts about “anger with God” may depend on the extent to which we are inclined to “be right” or to “do […]
Is it safer to take out our anger on people or God? If we discover that we really do have a beef with the Almighty, are we wise to keep our feelings to ourselves? The Hebrew Scriptures give us plenty of examples. Let’s think about a couple. Jonah was a prophet who was angry with […]
