Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Psalm 119:9

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“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What’s the secret to the good life? That’s something we all wonder about from time to time. We may not ask it out loud, but it’s rumbling around in our heart and mind. We do the things we do because we believe those actions will lead us to life and flourishing. But inside we wonder: Are these the things that will get us there? Well, while the Scriptures were not written specifically to answer that question, if we pay close attention, sometimes—like right here—they give us a pretty good clue to the answer.

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Morning Musing: Malachi 2:10

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It’s vacation week! Blogs will keep appearing this week, but the audio recordings may not. Things will be back up and running like normal starting next week.

“Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As the prophet Malachi was offering various warnings to the people of Israel to get back on track with God, he took a minute to remind them of who they were. He reminded them of the common heritage they all shared. Although this reminder wasn’t aimed at us, the spirit behind it is still very much relevant today. It is relevant for our nation. It is relevant for the church. Let’s talk about why this morning.

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Morning Musing: Malachi 1:2-3a

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“I have loved you,” says the Lord. Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When God asserted His love for the people of Israel at the beginning of Malachi’s little collection of prophecy, the people whose hearts were hard from years of doing religion without any kind of relationship meaningfully in place, immediately fired back a challenge: “How?” God’s response is, for modern ears, one of the hardest things we find Him saying in the Old Testament. What are we supposed to do with this?

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Morning Musing: Malachi 1:2a

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“I have loved you,” says the Lord. (CBS – Read the chapter)

The history of Israel is one of the all-time epic stories of human history. Starting through the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it wound its way through 400 hundred years of captivity in Egypt. Moses led the people to freedom and Joshua to inhabit the land God had sworn to Abraham to give his descendants. From there, things were generally rocky. They were on again, off again with God, but He never wavered in His faithfulness to them. Even when He finally had to call a national “time out” because they had drifted so far afield, He was still faithful to them there, and brought them home again to rebuild what had been lost. You perhaps already knew much of that. So why tell it again? Because of what Malachi says here.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 7:12

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“Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Jesus was not the first one to say something like this. Did you know that? This basic moral idea predated Jesus by several hundreds of years. You can find a similar idea expressed in numerous other ancient religions. Okay, well doesn’t that seem to give credence to the idea that Jesus is just another moral teacher like so many others have been? Not so fast. 

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