'God' Tagged Posts (Page 4)
Daily Devotions
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” vs. 7 Psalm 46 The psalmist had a strong sense of God’s closeness–to put it in theological terms, he was aware of the immanence of God. To put it even more plainly, God was real to him, palpable and near, capable of being perceived by his senses. When there was danger or trouble of any kind, the psalmist was confident that God would protect him. Some…
Daily Devotions
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved;” vs. 1 Psalm 93:1-2 As the psalmist searched for ways to describe the power and majesty of the Lord he ended up using the word “king.” It meant something different in those days than it does now. For us it simply designates the head of the royal family in those few countries…
Daily Devotions
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.” vss. 30-31 Psalm 22:27-31 Sometimes when we see the mess that the world is in and the increasing number of people who have abandoned traditional religious forms, it’s easy to begin to think that believers are like the dinosaurs and about to go extinct. Indeed science has brought new knowledge and things once…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 139:1-6 “You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways…Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.” vss. 3, 6 The psalmist didn’t think of God as some bearded old man sitting on a cloud, a figure like that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. No, the Lord was bigger than that, a Being intimately acquainted with all his thoughts and…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 90:1-4 “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” vss. 1-2 The psalmist’s sense of God was deep and profound, far beyond the silly notions we hear bandied about in our time. There is no hint that he pictured the Divine as anything other than the “ground of all being.” Even before there was…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 46:1-5 … “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” vs. 1 In the 1520’s as Martin Luther was facing increased resistance to his reformation writings and the forces of the Empire were poised to eliminate the fledgling Lutheran movement, he found great comfort in the words of Psalm 46. In fact it became the inspiration for his greatest song, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” a tune sometimes called “The Battle Hymn of the…
Daily Devotions: January 8, 2020
January 8, 2020 For full passage click: Psalm 29 … “Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.” vss. 2-3 In our time, God is little more than an impotent fictive being for many people. They use God’s name almost exclusively as an interjection and seldom in a prayer. They often espouse a kind…
Daily Devotions: October 12, 2019
October 12, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 17:11-14 … “When he saw them, he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were made clean.” vs. 14 The book of Leviticus is meticulous in laying out the ground rules for dealing with any kind of skin disease. Those who contracted the most serious of those diseases, the one known as leprosy, were ostracized from the community and forced to keep their distance.…
Daily Devotions: October 10, 2019
October 10, 2019 For full passage click: 2 Timothy 2:8-13 … “…if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” vs. 13 People in the early church firmly believed that those who die with Christ will also live with him. That phrase shows up in early hymn fragments and was probably recited at baptismal rituals. But they also believed and taught that if they were faithless, Christ would remain faithful. This simple teaching was at the core…
Daily Devotions: October 6, 2019
October 6, 2019 For full passage click: Luke 17:5-10 … “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.’” vss. 5-6 Jesus’ response to the apostles’ demand that he increase their faith is enigmatic at best. It seems that he’s telling them that faith is not quantifiable. We…
Daily Devotions: September 20, 2019
September 20, 2020 For full passage click: 1 Timothy 2:5-7 … “For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human…” vs. 5 As time passed, the early Christians continued to reflect on the person of Jesus and his connection to God. By the time this letter was written–probably in the late first century, (and most likely not by Paul), there was some agreement that there was but one God, but that…
Daily Devotions: July 1, 2019
July 1, 2019 For full passage click: Isaiah 66:10-14 …“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her—that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom.” vss. 10-11 Even the prophet knew that patriarchal language was not sufficient in describing the bounty of the Lord’s goodness. He’d seen children drinking from their…