“And Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
There are two ways to understand this verse, both of them are important. One of them is contextually anchored, and one takes what Israel would have understood and applies it forward to something that is an encouragement to us. Read the rest…
In this second-to-last installment of our series, Hard Sayings, we wrestled with the power of the cross. Just how big is the grace Jesus won for us there? It can save a normal sinner, sure, but can it save the worst of them? We’re actually faced with a harder question here: Do we want it to? Is Jesus’ offer of life to anyone fair? Keep reading to see the answer.
The Man Who Got It
Do you remember your parents ever doing something for your brother or sister that they did not do for you? What was your immediate complaint? That’s not fair! Actually, you probably said it with a bit more…emotion in your voice. That’s not faaaaaaiiiir!!! Worse yet, do you remember your brother or sister or cousin or a friend or, really, just about anyone, getting something you were convinced in your heart of hearts they didn’t deserve? What did you say then? About the same thing: “That’s not fair!” Read the rest…
“Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.'” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever been so upset about something that you were missing the world right in front of your face? Most of us have at some point. Life doesn’t go our way and we let it put us in a place where we can’t get past what went wrong. All of our attention gets sucked into the frustration and things that most people would say are obvious don’t even register on our radar. Read the rest…
“…let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
I love the last part of this. When our God pardons us from our sins, we are not just barely forgiven. He “abundantly pardons” us. God doesn’t just say, “Well, you didn’t really measure up, but I’ll let you slide in just under the radar.” No, He wipes our sins away as far as the east is from the west. He forgives us completely and we are able to stand perfectly clean in His sight. Read the rest…
“But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
One of the interesting things about this story is that while it appears that Esau forgives Jacob, the rest of the history of the relationship between the descendants of the brothers (the nations of Israel and Edom) reveals that it either didn’t really take, was only skin deep, or more likely that the two had already passed enough bitterness toward each other along to their children that the well was poisoned. Israel and Edom were bitter enemies and the latter was usually the aggressor. Read the rest…
The Nexus 