Morning Musings: Psalm 97:1-5

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“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!  Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.  Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.  His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.  The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

We work very hard to make the Lord relatable for people.  We talk about Jesus and how God wants to be our friend.  We delight in His coming near and giving us the gift of His presence.  All of this is right and good and true.

But, we cannot forget along the way that God is also holy.  He is mighty.  He is powerful beyond our imagination.  He is glorious, and not in the loudly-singing-angels kind of way.  He is glorious in the shine-you-out-of-existence kind of way.  His glory is fearsome and terrible.  Were we to behold it we would come to an end.   Read the rest…

Something Extra: Today’s Solar Eclipse

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I won’t do this often, but today’s special.  This afternoon (peaking at 2:41 PM where I’ll be watching) a narrow slice of the country (with way more than its normal population crammed in there together to see it) will have the rare pleasure of getting to witness a total solar eclipse.  This is a unique treat that in the whole of our galaxy happens only here on earth where the only creatures who inhabit our galaxy happen to live can see it.  Yet more than being something really cool, albiet totally random in a godless, chance-powered universe, an event like this one is a powerful pointer to the notion that maybe the whole thing isn’t a miracle of chance at all.  Perhaps there is an intelligent mind behind it.  Science stops there, but it doesn’t take a theologian very much effort to make some hops, skips, or jumps to a thesis or twelve as to what kind of a mind this might be.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 10:20

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“Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Ever wonder where the phrase “a little bird told me” came from?

All day long we see people and have thoughts about them.  We can’t help it.  They come to us almost before we even realize what is happening.  These snap judgments may be kind and charitable, but they also may not be.  In fact, for most of us, they’re not more often than they are.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Ecclesiastes 9:11

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“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Thanks to the influence of Eastern religious movements in this country, we have a fairly common phrase for when something unfortunate has happened to someone.  It comes in many forms, but the simplest (and cleanest) statement is this: “That’s Karma.”   Read the rest…