Month: October 2018

Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 1:14-16

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“David said to him, ‘How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord ‘s anointed?’ Then David called one of the young men and said, ‘Go, execute him.’ And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, ‘Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, “I have killed the Lord ‘s anointed.”’”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

I’ll be honest: I’ve been wrestling with this little story. I’m still not totally sure what to do with it. There are several different things to consider when trying to make sense of it. The truth is, though, sometimes even after we’ve considered all the different factors, we still can’t fully get our heads and hearts around a particular hard passage, and that’s okay. Here’s what I have so far. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 10:19

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“And when all the kings who were servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever helped someone do something wrong? Let’s not go so extreme, though. Have you ever helped someone do something foolish? How’d that go for you? Did they get caught? Did you get caught with them? Did you face any consequences with them? Worse yet, did you face consequences that they didn’t face? Depending on either how close the relationship is or else how big the promise of potential reward is, there are times when we are sorely tempted to join in on something that just isn’t very wise. Read the rest…

Calling on God

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In this second part of our new series, Pursue: Chasing God in a Godless World, we deal with a bit of reality.  The reality is that sometimes we get as prepared as we can be for the challenges that a godless world might throw into our paths as followers of Jesus and they just don’t seem to matter.  What are we supposed to do when that happens?  Keep reading to find out.

Calling on God

Do you remember a time when you felt completely overwhelmed by some situation you were facing?  Now, it’s one thing to feel like that when you came into a situation totally unprepared.  But it’s a bit scarier when you have prepared really well.  It’s scary to realize the challenge is going to be even beyond what you thought it might. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 10:3

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“But the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think, because David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Has not David sent his servants to you to search the city and to spy it out and to overthrow it?””  (ESV – Read the chapter)

What do you expect from people? We live in a day in which there is a growing deficit of public trust. People are generally suspicious of one another and expect the worst out of them. The thing is, this blanket distrust doesn’t come naturally to us. It is a learned skill. But once it has been learned, it’s hard to unlearn. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Chronicles 14:2-4

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“And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment.”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Here at the beginning of the description of the reign of King Asa of Judah, as is the usual custom, we get a kind of summary statement. In the following verses and chapters we get more details as to what exactly this looks like. I’d like to walk through those with you if you’ll let me. Read the rest…