Exodus 4:15-16
Have you ever wondered why God had Aaron speak for Moses? A lesson that even the great prophet Moses struggled with self-doubt and human failing.
Matthew 10:19-20
Have you ever been in a situation where your fear and anxiety have suddenly given over to clarity and words have just come, like some miracle?
It is a miracle. It is the Holy Spirit working within you!
Genesis 11:4-5
Man said let's make a name for ourselves, and build a tower which will reach into Heaven. Then God came down to see the city, and the tower, which the sons of men had built...
Having shown Saul how much he must suffer in God's name, The Lord Jesus sends Ananias to open his eyes, and bring upon him the Holy Spirit.
Altarpiece depicting the conversion of Saint Paul by Ananias, 1786
Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820)
Ezra 9.6
I am ashamed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
Matthew 9:5-7
Which is easier? To say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Acts 7:58
Stephen is stoned to death.
Saul of Tarsus looks on, safeguarding the cloaks of those watching.
Genesis 7:24
And it rained.
Genesis 7:8-9
Two and two they went into the Ark with Noah, as God had commanded.
Acts 6:13-15
Stephen faces the Sanhedrin. He readies his defence.
This one line is so incredibly complex. And there it is, central to Christ's model prayer. As a child, who learnt the Book of Common Prayer version of the Lords Prayer by heart, I never gave it much thought. But now, when I think on it, I realise how incredibly profound it is.
Got Questions has an interesting article that illustrates just how rich with meaning these words are.
Painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin
'Follow me, Satan', 1895
45×61cm
Genesis 2:4
The first 'toledoth' (תּוֹלְדֹת) introducing the progeny that came forth from God's first act of creation - the Heavens and the Earth.
What a beautiful way of rooting man back to nature and the cosmos.
Genesis 49:11 Israel's promise to Judah.
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
Genesis 45:7 Joseph and his brothers are reconciled.
"God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors."
Joseph's foresight, borne out of slavery, saves not only Egypt, but Canaan and 'all the world'.
Genesis 34:7. Dinah is dishonoured. Jacob's sons seek vengeance.
This is a difficult story. Sin against us is never put right by our own sin. Genesis 34 shows what happens when we trust in ourselves. Better we should trust in God. HE will ensure justice.
I found this commentary, by David Vanacker of Grace Church Wyoming, very helpful in properly understanding this chapter. It is a complicated narrative, with more than surface level lessons to be learnt.
https://gracewyoming.com/the-defiling-of-dinah/
Perhaps the best overall take-out for me, is that 'the narrative passages of the Bible are not meant to teach morality. They are only meant to show the result of the moral choices people make.'
Genesis 32:28 Jacob wrestles with God.
When we pray, when the Spirit helps us with our insecurities, and we can barely describe our fears or our needs, our prayer is wrestling with God.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
And John knew Jesus from the womb.
Isaiah 65:17 and 20.
Not a description of the eternal Kingdom, nor a description of a millennial new Jerusalem... there's no death or sin in either... but hope and inspiration for the believer, perhaps, that things can and will get better.
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
The Suffering Servant
Genesis 24:11-14
Abraham's servant seeks a wife for Isaac.
I do love how the servant entrusted with such a significant undertaking, uses such a simple approach to discerning a kind and generous heart.
And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water. And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.
Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
Genesis 19:24-26.
“For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
But not even ten righteous souls could be found in either Sodom, or Gomorrah.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Commentary from Luke 17:28-33.
“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is whole toward him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9
God’s care is first to His children.
To those who mock the ‘foolishness of the Cross’, wondering why He doesn’t show himself to them, is it any wonder? All are welcome at His table. Accept His gift, let Him in to your heart.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
