A test of family loyalty

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Deuteronomy 21-23; Psalm 60

TO CHEW ON: “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city, to the gate of his city.” Deuteronomy 21:18,19


One day before the February 14th Florida school shooting, a grandmother in Everett Washington reported her grandson to the police. This was after reading disturbing entries in his journal, entries in which he talked about shooting up his school (Read CNN article.)

What a test of family loyalty! And yet, for the greater good—the good of the community and this kid— this grandma reported her grandson for short-term pain.

The test of family ties in our reading is even more extreme. Parents were to bring their stubborn, rebellious, disobedient, gluttonous, alcoholic son to the elders, not for a scolding or a fine or lockup but stoning (Deuteronomy 21:21).

We’ve been studying the SHEMA which the Israelites prayed regularly:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” - Deuteronomy 6:5. 

Such a radical family “betrayal,” then, could be seen as part of that heart, soul and strength love for a God who hated, condemned and punished these sins.

Of course we now live in the New Testament church era. Jesus’ death on the cross has atoned for our sins of stubbornness, rebellion, disobedience, gluttony, addiction etc. It’s not that our current sin is any less serious, but that God’s holy wrath at our wrong-doing has been satisfied by Jesus’ death in our stead.

Still, I believe there is a principle for us here, seen in the singlehearted focus of the parents. Jesus in the NT also referred to the cost of following Him in Matthew 10:34-39. In that section he described how His coming into a life could have the potential to mess with relationships, especially in the family:

“‘For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or more more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worth of Me'” - Matthew 10:35-37.

Do we have this OT/NT devotion to Jesus that trumps even blood ties?


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, may my love for You be stronger than any love tie on earth. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 60

The Bible Project VIDEO: The Law (Theme series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

The last laugh

Lucifer cast out of heaven
by Gustave Doré

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 2:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision." Psalm 2:4

Here God appears contemptuous, laughing at the nations who unite to throw off His constraints. What other times in the Bible does God laugh in such a way? What actions and attitudes evoke His contempt? 

The worship of idols:  

•  Moses tells the Israelites that God will spurn them if/ when they forsake Him to follow other gods - Deuteronomy 32:19.

Plots against the righteous:

• God laughs at the wicked person who plots against the righteous one - Psalm 37:13.

• In another place he psalm-writer Asaph, writing as someone puzzled by the sufferings of the righteous at the hands of ungodly people, depicts God as waking up to defend the righteous - Psalm 73:20.

God-defiant nations:

• David asks God to vindicate Himself before all the God-scorning nations - Psalm 59:8. 

• Isaiah tells of Hezekiah receiving a threatening letter from the Assyrian king Sennarcherib. He spreads that letter before God and prays for help. Shortly after, Isaiah gets a message from God for Hezekiah concerning Sennacherib and addressing him that says, in part: "The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back" - Isaiah 37:22.

Pride:

• Wisdom laughs at the calamity of the ones who disdain her counsel - Proverbs 1:26.

• God scorns the scornful but gives grace to the humble - Proverbs 3:34.

If there is any thread that weaves through all these instances it is how our unrealistic human arrogance evokes God's scorn, derision, contempt and laughter.

Sadly, the attitude that challenges God and His power is more rampant today than ever. Let's be aware of it and careful not to get infected, for God will always have the last laugh.

PRAYER: Dear God, I want to live in the reality that acknowledges You and Your sovereignty over people and over me. When, in the face of circumstances, others challenge You—Your existence and Your power— help me to remember that the story hasn't ended yet. Amen.

MORE: Handel's Messiah Alert

Handel dipped into Psalm 2 often when writing the Messiah.

The recitative "Unto which of the angels said He at any time (Psalm 2:7) prefaces the chorus "Let all the angels."


"Let us break their bonds asunder" (Psalm 2:3)


"He that dwelleth in heaven" (Psalm 2:4) and "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron" (Psalm 2:9)  end with the Hallelujah Chorus.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

God of Fire

Photo © 2016 by V. Nesdoly

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 97:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "A fire goes before Him,
And burns up His enemies round about." Psalm 97:3

All of us no doubt have experience with fire. We've used it in helpful, controlled ways to cook, bring heat to our homes, and drive. We wear jewelry made of metal refined and shaped in the heat of fire and have enjoyed the atmospheric lighting of a candlelit dinner.

With experience we also gain a healthy respect for fire. We know the damage and deadly destruction it can do to a forest and our homes.

Interestingly, the Bible often depicts God's presence in terms of fire. Bringing what we know of fire to this connection with God makes for an interesting study:

1. God appeared to Moses in a bush that didn't burn - Exodus 3:2.

2. The cloud He gave the Israelites to accompany and direct them through their 40 years in the wilderness appeared as a pillar of fire by night - Exodus 13:21,22. Moses reminded the Israelites how God had talked to them from that cloud - Deuteronomy 4:36.

3. Several Bible writers talk about the fiery aspect of God's presence—a fire of righteous judgment. That seems to be the message of our focus verse, especially when we read it in context (Psalm 97:2,3). One gets the sense from this passage and others (Psalm 50:3; Isaiah 10:17; 66:15) that God's holiness can't help but consume all  that is unworthy in its path.

4. God's presence can also be too much for nature. In Psalm 97:5 and Micah 1:4 His coming melts the mountains.

5. Ezekiel's heavenly vision included fire with living creatures whose "… appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth." Does this mean there's fire in heaven?

6. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was with tongues of fire - Acts 2:3.

In our time when we think of God as friendly and approachable (and He is those things, thanks to Jesus), let's not put out of our minds completely this picture of Him associated with fire. For Paul talks of a future Day when God's fire will test the work of our lives - 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

The words of Hebrews express so well a realistic response to our fiery God: "Therefore since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire" - Hebrews 12:29 (emphasis added).

PRAYER: Dear Father, may I never become blasé toward Your fiery side, which is just as real as your grace, mercy, and love. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

"I do not know you"

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem - James Tissot

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 13:22-35

TO CHEW ON: “But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’....O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!” Luke 13: 27,34

“He is not safe, but he is good.” I'm thinking this description of the lion Aslan from C. S.Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe might be a caption for today’s reading.

The Jewish leaders thought they had God all figured out. In their theology, His favor was on the Jews. The very fact that someone was born one, and especially if that one tried to keep the law, guaranteed them a ticket to paradise with God.

In our reading today Jesus' teaching puts the boot to that notion. His illustrations of the narrow gate and broad gate and entry through only the narrow,  His stories of people coming to the Master of the house claiming familiarity only to be turned away from the door by, “I do not know you,” would breathe a chill into any heart. But simple knowledge of Him as a person when He was on earth, or about Him and His teachings now, was not and is not enough to secure us a place with Him in heaven. Here He seems dangerous – someone who will act in a way they (and perhaps some of us) would never expect.

A few verses later, though, we see Him weeping over Jerusalem, longing to protect her people like a hen protects her chicks. His goodness is shown in His tender love for even those who reject Him.

What a cameo of God – on one hand finding it necessary to exclude people from heaven because they refuse to come His way, on the other weeping over those same people.

So what is God’s way of coming? It is through Jesus (John 14:6). We must admit our sinfulness and inability to be acceptable to God on our own. (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 64:6). We need to realize that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin (Romans 5:8). When we accept and believe this about ourselves (John 3:16,17) and come to Him His way, we will never need to fear hearing those dreaded words – “I do not know you.”

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for making a way back to God for me. Help me to not only come to You for salvation, but to live my life on earth by the principles of Your kingdom. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Two sides of Christ

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 2:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are those who put their trust in Him." Psalm 2:12

Who is the fearful leader pictured in Psalm 2, against whom the nations rage and plot, who evoke His derisive laughter at their puny efforts at rebellion? Who is the "Son" who requests and gets these nations for an inheritance, who can "break them" and "dash them to pieces"?

The writer of my Bibles notes says: "This is a messianic psalm in which nations and kings are warned to serve God because ultimate judgment has been entrusted to Christ" - Dick Iverson, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 687.

Indeed, bits of this psalm are quoted or seen to come true in relation to Jesus numerous times in the New Testament.

• In Acts, Peter and John, after being released from jail for healing the lame man, quoted Psalm 2:1,2 ("Why do the nations rage; / And the people plot a vain thing?…") in their prayer for boldness (Acts 4:25,26).

• We see Psalm 2:2 ("And the rulers take counsel together, / Against the LORD and against His Anointed…") coming true in how the Jewish rulers plotted and schemed to kill Jesus in Mark 3:6 and 11:18.

• Psalm 2:3 (" ' Let us break Their bonds in pieces / And cast away Their cords from us' ") could well be the words spoken by the rebellious subjects in Jesus' parable depicting the faithful stewards and the Kingdom of Heaven in Luke 19:14.

• The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 2:7 ("You are My Son, / Today I have begotten You") when referring to Jesus in Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5.

• And Psalm 2:12 ("Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, / And you perish in the way, / When His wrath is kindled but a little") is pictured in vivid detail in Revelation 6:15-17:

 "And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?' ”

And so I think we can say with confidence, the judging ruler in Psalm 2 is none other than Jesus Christ, who we usually picture as loving, gentle, meek, gracious, forgiving… Even Psalm 2 references this softer side of Him when it speaks of Him as someone trustworthy who bestows blessings: "Blessed are those who put their trust in Him."

We are wise to keep in mind both sides of Jesus—the judging Jesus and the trustworthy, blessing Jesus. For they both have a bearing on how we live our lives in that:

• we don't take sin lightly.

• we live willingly under His authority now—trusting that He knows what's best for us and that the things He sends into our lives are ultimately blessings (even though they may not always appear that way on the surface).

• we include both the judging and merciful sides of Him as we share the gospel.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, this glimpse of You as judge of nations is sobering. Help me to factor this judging side of You into my day-to-day living. Amen. 

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God came down

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." John 1:14 

(photo © 2015 by V. Nesdoly)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Micah 1:1-16

TO CHEW ON: "For behold the Lord is coming out of His place;
He will come down
And tread on the high places of the earth." Micah 1:3

During this season when we prepare to celebrate the incarnation—Christ coming down as God in flesh—Micah's mention of the LORD also coming down grabs our attention. But as we read all of Micah 1, we see that this descent is altogether different from His coming to that Bethlehem stable as a newborn.

Here His appearance is fearful and powerful. He descends to Israel's and Judah's "high places"—elevated sites where idols were worshiped. And He comes with white hot heat:  

"The mountains will melt under Him /And the valleys will split /Like water soured down a steep place" Micah 1:4

Why the fearful coming down? Why the anger? This is a side of God we don't like to see. As Joseph Scheumann says in the introduction to his article "Five Truths about the Wrath of God:"*

"The doctrine of the wrath of God has fallen on hard times. In today's world, any concept of God's wrath upsets our modern sentiments. … We live in a day where we have set ourselves as the judge and God's character is on trial…"

In the article Scheumann makes (and elaborates on) five points about God's wrath: 

God's wrath is just.
God's wrath is to be feared.
God's wrath is consistent in both Old and New Testament.
God's wrath is his love in action against sin.
God's wrath is satisfied in Christ.

It is the last point that makes the story of God's incarnation in Jesus so incredible. For Jesus was born so that someday He would become the object of God's white-hot anger against sin, for us. He would take the punishment our sins deserved: John 3:16; Romans 5:8-10, 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Timothy 1:15.

We must never apologize for God's wrath against sin (all that is twisted, bad, hurtful…). For it is this wrath combined with His righteousness and love in perfect balance that invented the way for us to be saved from our own sinful nature—through Jesus.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to never take lightly Your abhorrence of sin. Thank You for making a way for sinful me to be right with You. Amen. 

*Read all of "Five Truths About the Wrath of God."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.