Jeremiah 13
The Israelites were in a predicament. They were on the verge of being captured and carted off to captivity, and that was just their external problem. Their internal problems were far more dangerous. Lust, greed, and idolatry were eating out the very heart of the nation. Everywhere you turned, there was corruption and wickedness.
Jeremiah 8
Maybe it’s because, as a musician, I’m so familiar with that great old hymn, There is a Balm in Gilead, but I nearly did a double-take when I read the ending of this chapter: “Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” (vs 21-22)
Isaiah 61
I’ll never forget when our oldest daughter first began to find her feet. For quite some time, she would pull herself up into a standing position at the sofa and take a tentative step to the right or left, only to come quickly crashing down on her behind. But then, one day, she started “cruising,” walking smoothly around the perimeter of the sofa while holding onto the cushions.
Isaiah 33
Everlasting fire… hmm, what does that sound like? Hell, right? Isn’t that what you’ve always heard—that the righteous are going to live forever with God in heaven and the wicked are going to burn forever in hell? Interestingly enough, that’s pretty much the opposite of what Isaiah says in this chapter. Here, he says (as the title of a great sermon once put it) that heaven and hell have the same zip code.
Proverbs 11
While statistics vary widely from place to place, it is generally estimated that more than seven million people around the world die each year from cancer. In 2019, nearly six billion dollars was spent on cancer research in the United States alone. I wonder how many times God has heard the prayer that a cure for cancer be found.
Psalm 103
Do you doubt the title of this blog? It’s straight out of Psalm 103: “Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (vs 2-5)
Psalm 99
Shortly before giving birth to our first daughter, I watched an episode of the Supernanny television show, where the family being chronicled included a dad who “spanked” his children. I put that word in scare quotes because his “spanking” really amounted to nothing more than hitting the kids when he was angry or frustrated. Sometimes the blows would fall on their bottoms; other times, he hit their arms, legs, or back.
Psalm 85
In this psalm, the word Selah came immediately after this passage: “You forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins.” (vs 2) If you remember from a few days back, the word Selah most likely means to stop and carefully think about what has just been declared. God forgives our guilt and covers all our sins. Now stop and think about that!
Psalm 38
In this psalm, it appears that David is crying out to God over an illness—one that was apparently caused by some sin in his life (vs 5). Although I don’t know exactly what David was referring to, I must say that I can sympathize with his emotional plight. He almost sounds depressed, relating how he feels feeble (vs 8), weak (vs 10), and helpless (vs 13-14).
Job 31
At the beginning of the book of Job, God called Job "blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." (Job 1:8) In this chapter, we finally get a description from Job about what that life looked like. Job defends his conduct, his way of life, and—although he doesn’t know that God has called it "blameless and upright"—he is sure that he is not guilty of any secret sin.
Nehemiah 13
For Nehemiah, this must have been a shocking end to his story. He had devoted his life to overseeing the rebuilding of the Jerusalem walls and ushering in a new era of spiritual revival for the Israelites. The dramatic rebuilding of the wall—which had survived numerous attacks and intended detours by political enemies—had been topped off by a spiritual celebration in the temple, culminating in a signed covenant made by the people.
Nehemiah 2
This chapter, for me, held another stunning example of what God is like, as observed in the actions of His ambassador Nehemiah. After hearing about the state of things in Jerusalem, Nehemiah had prayed to God that restoration would come to that great Israelite city. He determined that, at some time, he would have the opportunity to speak to the king about what was on his heart.
1 Chronicles 20
In English (especially colloquial English), we have two sets of famous Rs. More specifically, the three Rs. There is one set of Rs to describe the main subjects in school: reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic (math). Of course, these three words don’t all begin with the letter r, but all of them begin with the sound of the letter r. More recently, a second pair of three Rs has been coined and made famous by the environmental movement, as a reminder for what we should do to protect the Earth: reduce, reuse, recycle.
1 Chronicles 2
Okay, ready for genealogy lesson number two? In this chapter, we revisit the genealogy of the twelve tribes of Israel. In it, we find the story of Er and Onan (the sons of Judah) and Tamar. Tamar was married to Er, but before they could have children, Er died. As Er’s brother, Onan was supposed to marry Tamar and continue the family line. He refused, and he died. Tamar appealed to Judah regarding her situation, but even he was unsympathetic.
2 Kings 24
Since I’m writing this blog with the aim of finding out what every Bible chapter has to say about God, I’m always looking for any specific "God statements" that the Bible writers make. And boy, did I find a doozy of one in this chapter! Did you catch it? Here it is: "The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against [Jehoiakim] to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive." (vs 2-4)
2 Kings 9
Before we get into the meat of today’s blog, I have to point out this verse because it actually made me laugh out loud: "The guard in the watchtower said [to the king], 'Your Majesty, the rider got there, but he isn’t coming back either. Wait a minute! That one man is driving like he’s crazy—it must be Jehu!'" (vs 20) Ha! It seems there were bad drivers all the way back in Bible times. Either that, or Jehu was a teenager.
