In Psalm 139 in today’s Bible reading* we see a powerful statement of God’s intimate knowledge of us. David begins the Psalm acknowledging that God has already searched him and known him. The word search, “can refer to initial phases of a search or the end result, but always connotes a diligent, difficult probing.[1] the…
One might read today’s Bible reading* and ask, “Is this a Bible contradiction? How can you possibly reconcile 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1?” We’re told that God punished David for conducting a census of the people under his reign. What could be wrong with that? The LORD’s anger burned against Israel again, and…
A major theme in today’s Bible reading* is the created order responds to God’s majesty. The psalmist personifies creation and notes that the inanimate world recognizes the majesty of its Creator. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD— at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens proclaim…
Psalm 42 in today’s Bible reading* gives us a remedy for spiritual depression. Note that I qualified depression as spiritual depression, which should be seen as separate from clinical depression.* Most of us know what it’s like to be depressed, to be blue, to be down in the dumps. That’s the meaning of this word…
In today’s Bible reading* we see some prayer requests that don’t tend to set well in our Twenty-First Century, Western Culture ears. Several of the Psalms — including some of today’s — are called imprecatory prayers. I’ve heard the definition before, but I checked again to ensure that I understood it correctly. An imprecatory prayer…