“to bow his head down like a bulrush” Isaiah 58:5 Bulrush – When I was a child, we called them cattails. Those long green stalks rising from the water’s edge, ending in a clump of densely packed seeds. Isaiah uses this image to describe one important aspect of false worship: the ease of bowing in…
“Why have we fasted”, they say, “and you have not seen it”. “Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?” Isaiah 58:3 NIV Why? – The people complain: “Why don’t you hear us? We have fasted. We have done our duty. But you don’t answer. Why don’t you do something? Don’t you see…
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah 58:1 NIV Shout it aloud – For the next twelve days, we will look at one paragraph in Isaiah. As preparation for the coming of the Messiah,…
“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion.” Lamentations 3:32 Have Compassion – The beauty of the Hebrew word raham is not found its translation as “compassion” but rather in its connection with pregnancy. It’s the umbrella of meaning that shows us the real picture. What does compassion look like? Raham tells us…
“For if He causes grief, then He will have compassion.” Lamentations 3:32 Causes Grief – Jeremiah was a prophet of unusual insight. Perhaps that’s because he got his vision straight from God. Here Jeremiah gives us a glimpse of the connection between grief and compassion. It’s not the connection we would expect. Jeremiah tells us…
“but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” 1 Corinthians 13:10 When – Do you have Job’s DNA? Are you a blood relative of the man who cried out to God, “Just tell me why”? I often think that the principal reason for the book of Job is not to resolve the…
“[Love] does not take into account a wrong suffered” 1 Corinthians 13:5 Wrong Suffered – All evil is not the same. If you’re confused about this, you’re walking a dangerous path. There are two views of evil floating around in this world. Only one of them is Biblical. The other is a lie. The second…
“and you have polluted a land with your harlotry and your wickedness. Therefore, the showers have been withheld, and there is no spring rain.” Jeremiah 3:2-3 Therefore – Over and over we have seen that the ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek contain specificity where English words have umbrella functions. Greek has five words for…
“[Love] does not take into account a wrong suffered” 1 Corinthians 13:5 Not take into account – Ou logizetai to kakon . Literally “does not count (to itself) evil”. Want to know what God’s love is really like? Don’t count the injury someone has done to you even if he deserved to be punished and…
“Flee immorality.” 1 Corinthians 6:18 Immorality – If it were only about “adult” bookstores and Internet sites, we could almost breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, there are 4 million porno sites on the Internet. Yes, more than 50% of Christian males view these images. But we all know that it’s sin. We’re quite clear…
