Fathering
1 Corinthians 1:9; 2:14 “God is faithful. … But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.” Observation: Paul was a spiritual father to the Corinthians, having been first to preach the Gospel there on an earlier trip. Corinth was a remarkably...
The Key Difference
Job 30:20 “I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.” Observation: There are two elements to Job’s lament in chapter 30. First is a comparison of his present devastation with his former life. In the...
Remembering Former Things
Job 29:2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by.” Observation: Job 29 is a walk with Job back in time to the days before his afflictions began. He recalled what it was like to have been in the prime of life knowing that God’s friendship spilled over and blessed every...
Submerged into Him
Mark 15:5 “Pilate was amazed.” Observation: Jesus found Himself in the belly of legal and religious systems run amok. Religious leaders clamored for His crucifixion while Pilate, the political leader, knew what a premium Rome put on keeping the peace at all costs. So...
Finding God’s Seat
Job 23:3 “O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!” Observation: In this reading, Job declared his great longing for God. The security, comfort, and health he had once known had been stripped away, and the counsel of his friends, while well...
Blathering
Mark 9:7 “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” Observation: Peter, James, and John had gone with Jesus to a high mountain where Jesus was transfigured into a heavenly being whose garments radiated such whiteness as to be otherworldly. Elijah and Moses then appeared...
The Paperwork Problem
Acts 25:25-27 “’I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before...
Prancing Giftedness
Psalm 101:2 "I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing" (NIV). Observation: In this brief psalm David beautifully expressed a heart set on pursuit of God alone. He promised to sing of God’s love and justice (v. 1) and to...
Thin Ice
Romans 14:4a: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?” (NIV). Observation: Paul’s question is intended to build harmony within the body by pointing out that all believers are fellow servants of the same Lord, Jesus Christ. The examples upon which Paul builds his...
Snagged By God’s Judgments
Romans 13:1--2: “The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment upon themselves” (NIV). Observation: Paul’s...