Repentance – Page 8

Digging in Deeper: Isaiah 30:18

June 13, 2018June 6, 2018Leave a comment

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

The people of Israel were in a pretty hard spot. They had turned on the Lord. In fact, they had been turned away from the Lord for a long time. They had been turned away from the Lord for a long time and it was beginning to show. Their world was teetering on the edge. Some of them had started to realize just how dire their situation really was. They could read the international tea leaves. They saw the Assyrian army moving steadily in their direction, gobbling up nations in their path and spitting out nothing but ruin and destruction. But, instead of heeding Isaiah’s call to return to the Lord for their hope and salvation, they were running everywhere but to Him. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Joshua 23:11

June 8, 2018June 11, 2018Leave a comment

“Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

What Joshua calls the people to here is not some kind of a strong feeling, but to action. This is a command. And it is one they needed to be “very careful” to obey. This suggests that loving the Lord may not be something that comes easily. Is this really the case?

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Joshua 7:7, 10

May 11, 2018May 7, 2018Leave a comment

“And Joshua said, ‘Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! . . .The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Get up! Why have you fallen on your face?'” (ESV – Read the chapter)

Joshua was devastated and dismayed. He had put his entire being on the line before the people that God was leading them to occupy this land and drive out its inhabitants entirely. They had crossed the Jordan on dry ground. They had conquered Jericho with its impregnable walls. There was nothing that could stand in their way for the Lord was obviously with them. And then they got beat by Ai. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Genesis 19:26

April 20, 2018April 17, 2018Leave a comment

“But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

This has always seemed like such an odd punishment to me. What would this have been like? Was it instant? Did she gradually start to transform from the feet up or the head down? Is there any kind of a natural explanation for this or was it entirely miraculous? Was Lot aware of it at first? Or, did he go on for some distance before realizing he couldn’t hear her trying to keep up any longer? If only they had smart phones back then! We could have gotten the whole thing on video. Imagine how many hits that would have received as a YouTube post… Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Revelation 9:20-21

February 28, 2018February 27, 2018Leave a comment

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is the real key of this chapter and, really, one of the main themes of the entire record. There appear to be two goals of the various acts of cataclysmic judgments described in Revelation. One goal is the punishment of sin. God has been patient long enough and now it is time for judgment. It is time to let people see and experience the full weight of their sin. Just like with the nation of Israel in the days leading up to and during the conquest of Jerusalem and the exile, the time for the whole world has come up and sin is finally being judged on a large scale. Read the rest…