Tag: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: 1 Peter 1:3

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As far as the world is concerned, the way of Jesus is a way of weakness and failure. Well, weakness in a world dominated by what is perceived as strength invites aggressive people to challenge and persecute those who are given the unfortunate label. Those people and institutions and even nations that are thought to be weak are made into targets. They can become scapegoats for all kinds of problems. Eventually they are seen as less than fully human, and once that particular line is crossed in the minds of their adversaries, a whole range of awful things suddenly fall within the realm of reasonable, acceptable, and even good to do to them. The apostle Peter, who had once fully bought into the world’s narrative of strength, opens his first letter by offering praise to God because of the living hope He has given us through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The trouble with a resurrection hope is that it starts with a death. In this case it was a voluntary death that was not resisted. The world sees that as weakness and responds accordingly. How do we live with a living hope in a world that doesn’t understand such a thing?

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:17-21

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“You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession; Lord, you have prepared the place for your dwelling; Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary. The Lord will reign forever and ever! When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the clearest indicators that God was the ultimate author of all the Scriptures via the inspiration of His Holy Spirit is the sheer number of times and places where one part makes reference to another part. Backward-looking references are certainly easy to explain. The later authors simply had to be familiar (very familiar sometimes) with the earlier documents. Forward-looking references (prophecy), though, are harder to understand apart from two things: God’s inspiration, or a much later authorship of some parts of it than we think. In this final part of Moses’ song of praise (whose exact ending point in the text isn’t totally clear), we see an example of this. Let’s talk about this last stanza, what follows, and what we can learn from this whole thing.

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Morning Musing: Galatians 5:19-21

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“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things – as I warned you before – that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our culture’s relationship with violence is an interesting one. On the one hand, the movies and streaming series we produce are increasingly gory. Long gone are the days when violent releases merely hinted at the really gruesome stuff. Now directors seem to delight in finding more and more creative ways for people to be killed or otherwise mutilated, and also in showing us all of the details. Horror films used to rely on scaring audiences. Now they mostly rely on overwhelming their senses with senseless gore. On the other hand, the barbarity of Hamas’ recent attack on Israel was a shock to our senses. We hear the stories or see the videos and ask how one person could possibly do that kind of thing to another person. The answer is almost certainly not that they were just desensitized by watching recent Western horror films. The answer is that this is how people have always been. Let’s talk about why we struggle to understand that, and just what it means for us.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:1-3

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“Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said: I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I mentioned this earlier this week, but let’s come back to it. I remember when Osama bin Laden was killed. People were celebrating in the streets. There were hundreds of impromptu parties across the country, even in the middle of the night, when the news first dropped. Perhaps that sounds odd to say now. After all, isn’t it kind of ugly to rejoice that someone has died? Maybe, but this was the man ultimately responsible for the murder of several thousand Americans in the 9/11 attacks. He was the most wanted man in the world as far as our nation was concerned. We had finally gotten him, and we were happy about it. I say all of that by way of introduction to the next part of our journey through Exodus. The Israelites’ celebration of God’s action in rescuing them from the pursuing Egyptian forces that comprises the first two-thirds of Exodus 15 is full of language that is uncomfortable to read. Understanding their mindset as a people helps make sense out of it. Let’s start working through their song of praise today, and see what we can learn together along the way.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 14:23-28

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“The Egyptians set out in pursuit – all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen – and went into the sea after them. During the morning watch, the Lord looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. ‘Let’s get away from Israel,’ the Egyptians said, ‘because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.’ So Mose stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea. The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I was on the Scholar’s Bowl team when I was in high school. Imagine little jeopardy competitions but without the answers needing to be in the form of a question. It was a ton of fun. (Yes, I know, I was a nerd.) But while I was pretty good at knowing or otherwise coming up with an answer in my areas of specialty (science, culture, and random, useless knowledge), what I struggled with was being fast enough on the buzzer. Knowing the answer was one thing. Knowing the answer and then buzzing in fast enough to beat the other team was another. You didn’t get any points if you buzzed in late. As the Egyptians chased after Israel into the dry seabed of the Red Sea, they realized they had made a mistake. Unfortunately, for them, they realized this too late. Let’s talk about what’s going on here.

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