Tag: Morning Musings

Morning Musings: Proverbs 18:13

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“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” (ESV)

How many times have you watched a talking heads program as the two (or more) guests responded to what each other was saying almost as if they hadn’t heard them at all?  The fact is, a lot of the times they haven’t.  They come ready with their list of talking points and are committed to firing those off regardless of what the other person has said.  Those shows may attract some audiences for the spectacle of it, but not for the news they offer.  It’s really embarrassing.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 1 Chronicles 1:1

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“Adam, Seth, Enosh…”  (ESV)

The first Bible reading plan I ever went through was three years long.  It had you read basically one chapter a day.  The major exception was when you started into 1 Chronicles.  They had you read the first nine chapters all at once.  I remember doing a double take when I saw it.  Then I started reading and did exactly what they figured I would do, justifying their decision to group all nine chapters together.  I skimmed.  Quickly.  Because it was boring.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Hosea 13:14

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“I shall random them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death.  O Death, where are your plagues?  O Sheol, where is your sting?  Compassion is hidden from my eyes.”  (ESV)

This prophecy, quoted by Paul in the magnificent conclusion to 1 Corinthians 15, was fulfilled in Christ who provided the ransom God promised here.  Here once again, though, we see God’s heart.  He will punish the people for their embrace of injustice and idolatry (and idolatry in whatever form it happens to take always leads to injustice), but He will not leave them there.  He will redeem them.  That redemption was fulfilled in Christ.  And, it is a redemption made available to all who would receive it.  We have all walked the path of Israel, the path of sin and rebellion.  In His justice, God allows us to taste the consequences of our choices, but in His love He has provided a way out through Christ.  We need only take it.

Morning Musings: Hosea 12:8

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“Ephraim has said, ‘Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity of sin.'”  (ESV)

There is a great temptation in being wealthy (and if you are reading this on a computer or smart device you are fabulously wealthy compared to the rest of the world) to place our trust in our wealth instead of in God.  There is a great temptation to believe that if we have enough money, we can generally be protected from whatever life may throw at us.  This is a false belief.  It will invariably lead to a great fall.  Our only real hope is to trust in God.  Everything else is transitory and will eventually fail us.  He alone will stand firm.

Morning Musings: Romans 9:13

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“As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'”  (ESV)

This verse has given interpreters and readers a lot of trouble over the centuries.  The biggest reason for this is that somewhere along the line the basic understanding of the ideas of love and hate changed to be in line with how we think about them today.  We most often think of love and hate as emotions.  In the Scriptures, though, they are both decisions of the will that have less to do with how someone is feeling about the object of the decision than about their intentions toward them.  More specifically, to love someone throughout the Scriptures is to choose them.  To hate someone is to not choose them.  The reasons for these choices may be many, but it is choice, not emotion, that is the basic idea.  Read the rest…