Heb.13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. How crucial is the grace of faith that looks into the past and sees who God has declared Himself to be in the Passion of His Son, and that turns toward the impenetrable veil of the future and believes He will always be as He […]
John 16:21-22, ‘When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer removers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your
Gen 50:20, “…you *meant* evil against me, but God *meant* it for good…” Don’t miss the parallelism in this statement. It is not that Joseph’s brothers *meant* evil, and that God *used* their actions for good, it is that—in the very same action—the brothers meant evil and God meant good. There are at
Ps. 52:8-9, “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever…I will wait for your name, for it is good…” David as a tree in God’s house is an image for his trusting in the Lord. As in Ps. 1:3—and
Genesis 5:29, “Out of the ground YHWH has cursed, this one shall bring us relief…” These are the words spoken over Noah at his birth, and Noah in some sense fulfills them in that he goes on to grow vineyards, tangibly bringing a source of relief up from the cursed earth (Gen. 9:20). However,
Isaiah 11:1-2, 9, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse…And the Spirit of YHWH shall rest upon him…[and] the earth shall be full of the knowledge of YHWH as the waters cover the sea.” First, the chapter begins with an anticipation of the “shoot from the stump of Jesse,” the
Hebrews 10:34, “…you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” If we honestly consider what the Spirit is saying to us in these words, it truly is revolutionary. How do disciples of the slain and risen Lord respond when—because they
Psalm 1:1-2, Blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of YHWH…” The blessed person—that is, the deeply happy person—is the one who delights in YHWH’s law. Now, to delight in a thing is a sort of blessedness in and of itself, and to be blessed implies that that which we delight in
Is 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty…” Rain that falls on the fields is never wasted…it
Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What our heart loves is where our heart lives. And where our heart lives determines everything about us, since from it flow all the streams of our life (Prov.4:19). May we—by the Spirit—be enamored with the crucified and risen Lord and so
2 Corinthians 1:5, “…just as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, so through Christ our comfort also abounds.” The phrase, “just as” at the beginning of this verse refers back to what Paul has been talking about in the preceding verses, namely, the afflictions which he and others believers suffer. This is important
1 Corinthians 8:1-3, “This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” (I’ve given you three levels of complexity on this right up, so, read which ever version
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Psalm 116:8-9, “For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before YHWH in the land of the living.” /// My soul, my eyes, my feet, my life Delivered now from woe And with the one who bore my strife I’ll walk in joy,
Isaiah 55:13, “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for YHWH, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” With the resurrection, the thorns of our curse which crowned the brow of our King sprout into
Acts 20:35, “[the Lord Jesus himself] said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” It is happier, it is sweeter, it is more soul-healthy, it is more pleasurable to give than to receive. Pouring out is better than taking in, giving up is better than claiming for one’s own, releasing is better than
2 Corinthians 12:10, “for the sake of Christ, then, I am content (or “well pleased”) with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am when, then I am strong.” How can Paul be content with—or even embrace—his sufferings? This is not only counter intuitive, it is counter nature. We do not move toward
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Hosea 2:6-7, “Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” – Psalm 46:4 And that City is the Bride of Christ (Ps.45:13-15; Rev. 21:2, 22:1-2). It’s interesting
Isaiah 27:4-5”…I would burn them up together. Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.” YHWH will consume the “thorns” that oppose Him in the fires of His wrath—yet even as He threatens this reality, He calls the thorns to enter into His
John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus’ call to obey His commandment (s) (there are, I believe, two commandments in view when John uses the plural “commandments”, 1) to receive Jesus as the Son and Revealer of God, and 2) to love as He
