Joel 1-3 Climate Change is the buzzword of the day. We hear about it and are reminded that the cause is humans and their thirst for fossil fuels. Yet, in the years 1930-1939, the USA experienced what has been termed the Dust Bowl. It was because the farmers in the Midwest over-plowed and removed the […]
Ezekiel 24-28 and beyond. “It’s not fair.” The elders sat around Ezekiel, wondering what was going on and why they were in Babylon. While they are pining away, they are saying it isn’t fair that we are in Babylon while our enemies walk free and clear of their sins, How often do we say the same: […]
Hosea 8-10 Be careful repeating this saying: “do not judge.” We don’t know the motives behind a person’s heart. God is saying I am the ultimate judge, and I alone can judge the heart. Remember Jeremiah’s words: the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; who can know it? God alone knows the heart. [Jer 17:9-10] […]
Deut 17-20 Our US system of justice follows these patterns that Moses gave the Israelites. Just like then, so today, we must not judge a person based on the evidence of one witness but rather have at least two. This is impartial judging and brings forth truth rather than what is false. Any death is […]
Job 33-35 Elihu Speaks Elihu has been silent up to this point. Now he is “full of words,” and angry. In fact, that character quality is mentioned four times. He was angry because Job saw himself as innocent and God as the aggressor. In hindsight, it would have been better for Elihu to have been […]
Zechariah 7-8 God and People NoticeWhen others hear my voice or see my actions, what does it tell them about my Christian walk and talk? The leaders in Bethel came to inquire about their practices of fasting. They expected to hear that all they were doing was righteous and pleasing to God, but they were […]
Hosea 8 to 10 If you listen carefully, you will hear many saying: “do not judge.” Jesus used that verse to remind us of the standard of judgment and that the standards we apply to others, God applies to us. Jesus is teaching that we are not God and we don’t know the motives behind […]
Jeremiah 5/Gen 18 Have you ever felt the deepness of a heart’s sadness? The world seems shattered, and the residents see death all around them. At times like this, our words lay fallow in our prayers—or so we think. We wonder, as Jeremiah did, Is there any good news, or Is it all bad news? […]
Luke 14 and James 2 “Pride and Prejudice.” Jesus and James show us the effects of both prideful and prejudicial choices. Luke recorded a story told by Jesus about how we view ourselves and demonstrate it in our options at a wedding feast, and the second story in James shows us how others view us […]
Jeremiah 5 Is our Heart like God’s? Jeremiah began to wonder, is there any good news? Is it all bad news? Like Ezekiel whom God told to look for a man who would stand in the gap, [Ezekiel 22:30] God told Jeremiah, “See if you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries […]
