Digging in Deeper: Joshua 23:6-8

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“Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

A major purpose of the Law of Moses was to give the people of Israel a national identity that set them apart from all the other nations around them.  Over and over again we see that the Lord wanted them to be different from everybody else.  All the other nations, in spite of their own uniquenesses, were functionally the same: They were pagan.  Israel, on the other hand, was to be a people of the Lord. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 2:25

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“‘If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him,  but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?’  But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of those verses that’s hard to get our minds around at first read.  And second read.  And third too.  The Lord willed to put them to death?  What happened to mercy and compassion and grace?  Who can survive if the Lord deigns to destroy them? Read the rest…

Knowing Jesus

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This week we got back on track with our series, Hard Sayings.  One of the things Jesus made fairly abundantly clear over the course of His ministry is that following Him isn’t something to which we can get by with giving merely a cheap lip-service.  The hard saying we examined together yesterday morning makes this even clearer than most.  Too often we rely on serving Jesus to cover up for not knowing Him well.  That won’t cut it.  Keep reading to see why.

 

Knowing Jesus

Think back with me for a minute to your bedroom growing up.  What kind of stuff did you have in it?  Specifically, whose poster did you have on your wall?  Was it an actor?  A musician?  A sports star?  Who was it?  How much did you know about this person?  Were you a casual fan or a full-blown disciple in the model of the Beliebers?  It is not at all uncommon for young people to have someone they idolize.  A lot of young, aspiring basketball players today want to be the next Steph Curry.  Baseball players look up to Aaron Judge—literally, since he’s a giant.  Singers want to be the next Arianna Grande or Miranda Lambert or Taylor Swift. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 1 Samuel 2:17

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“Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Religious sin is disgusting.  Are you with me?  There’s something about seeing people use religion as a means of committing some kind of sin that is particularly repulsive.  We may not be able to give precise wording to it, but something inside of us recoils with especial revulsion when we see it.  There’s just something rotten about it.  Do you know what?  God feels the same way. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Joshua 10:40

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“So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings.  He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

I’ve said it before and let me say it again here: If we don’t get the character of God right, we won’t be able to make sense out of the Scriptures.  This is important all the time, but it is especially important in the narrative of Joshua where we find this verse, which, along with the other verses similar to it in this chapter and the next, gives people more trouble than just about any other portion of the Old Testament. Read the rest…