“I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” God moves in complex and incomprehensible ways. He is fully capable of altering the physical world to achieve his ends, but he is equally capable of moving in the lives of people, individually and collectively. He is … Continue reading Isaiah 45-48 Psalm 119:33-64
Tag: Godswill
Isaiah 28-30 Psalm 115
So Isaiah lays into the priests and prophets, the spiritual leaders of Israel who are severely failing the people, and he accuses them of being drunks on top of everything else. These people were responsible for the spiritual education and welfare of the nation and they were degenerates. Isaiah asks, who then will God teach? … Continue reading Isaiah 28-30 Psalm 115
Isaiah 23-27 Psalm 114
God is a stronghold to the poor. All the laws protecting the poor. All the injunctions to help the poor. It’s almost as God views poverty as a ‘neighborhood’ problem. In the midst of dramatic victory, defeating death, glorious imagery, there’s this line about the poor! God is mercy. God attends to the least of … Continue reading Isaiah 23-27 Psalm 114
Isaiah 18-22 Psalm 113
Three years naked? Isaiah spent three years naked to make a point? Really? That seems really extreme, doesn’t it? That God would make his loyal servant suffer that level of indignity? Would you be able to follow those instructions? I’m serious. If God demanded something that extreme, that public, that humiliating, would you be able … Continue reading Isaiah 18-22 Psalm 113
When Something Need to Break
This series is a bit more difficult for me to write than the others. Through the Bible is the backbone of this blog, the original conceit. The Bible vs Sunday School is a secondary series with entries written as I encounter passages that seem to conflict with what I was taught, and Pieces of Me … Continue reading When Something Need to Break
It Wasn’t Failure, It Was Betrayal
I shared in a post to my Pieces of the Mosaic series about a time our lives were diverted because others failed to make the right call. It was painful, but it wasn't really personal. They had failed themselves as much as they had failed us, anyway. It was hardly our worst experience. See, my … Continue reading It Wasn’t Failure, It Was Betrayal
2 Kings 15-17 Psalm 105
So tonight I’m sitting here with perhaps the biggest ‘what-if’ I’ve wondered so far in this read through: What if these other nations had actually turned toward God? Israel utterly fails, so God allows them to be carted off by Assyria. Then Assyria, in a classic move, resettles other peoples into the area. These other … Continue reading 2 Kings 15-17 Psalm 105
1 Kings 20-22 Psalm 100
Oh, Ahab, the grown man, the king who throws a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get a piece of land he has no right to. Who won’t ask that prophet, the real prophet, for advice because he knows he won’t like what he’ll hear. I mean come on! How childish is that? “Nope. I don’t … Continue reading 1 Kings 20-22 Psalm 100
Judges 13-15 Psalm 74
I don’t like Samson. I never have. And I can’t say I’ve ever felt confident in my understanding of his purpose. Before I get into that, though, his parents get to watch the Angel of the Lord ride off on the smoke of their sacrifice. I mean, come on! That is truly awesome. And they … Continue reading Judges 13-15 Psalm 74
Joshua 9-12 Psalm 67
So a group of people approach Israel looking ragged and worn out, begging for a covenant of protection. Without consulting God, Israel agrees, and Joshua makes peace with them. There’s a couple things here: Joshua makes a covenant in the name of the Lord without consulting him first, the act of deception does not nullify … Continue reading Joshua 9-12 Psalm 67
Pieces of the Mosaic 