'punishment' Tagged Posts
Daily Devotions
Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.” vs. 6 Numbers 21:4-9 It’s not uncommon for people to wonder why awful things are happening in their lives. And for people of faith the wondering is often accompanied by the question, “Why is God doing this to me?” Behind the question lurks the popular assumption that when we sin, God will arrange for our punishment, maybe not with poisonous snakes,…
Daily Devotions
Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples…” vss. 6-7 Psalm 149:6-9 In the psalmist’s apocalyptic vision, those heavenly choirs would do more than sing praises to God. It would be their pleasure to take two-edged swords and execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples as God’s chosen instruments of judgment. That kind of language has long had…
Daily Devotions
Psalm 103:8-13 … “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” vs. 10 Probably each of us have heard someone say these words: “The Lord is going to get you for that!” More often than not such things are said in jest, and are meant as a joke, but occasionally they’re said in dead seriousness. The speaker sincerely wants the hearer to know that whatever has been said or done is…
Daily Devotions: March 10, 2020
March 10, 2020 Psalm 95 … “For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.’ Therefore in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” vss. 10-11 Israel’s family story had some patches of what sounds like parental abuse. As they remembered their time in the wilderness, they heard about the problems at Meribah and Rephidim when the wanderers had been directed by…
Daily Devotions: December 17, 2019
December 17, 2019 For full passage click: Psalm 80:1-7 … “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?” vs. 4 Horrible things had been happening in Israel. External enemies had attacked and overrun the country. People had been praying that the Lord would appear and lead their armies to victory, but nothing had happened. There had been no rescuer or savior, so the Psalmist assumes that the Lord is angry with the prayers. He…
Daily Devotions: June 26 , 2018
June 26, 2018 Lamentations 3:27-33…“Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.” vss. 32-33 Those of us with parents who didn’t believe in sparing the rod may have heard them say these words, “This hurts me more than it hurts you.” Somehow hearing those words in that context failed to take away the sting or lessen the tears. While that mode of discipline…