Steely Resolve
Deuteronomy 30:4b “From there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back” (NIV). Observation: God spoke in this passage of restoration. Through Moses, He predicted that Israel would stray even though they were now poised to enter Canaan, their land of...
No Other Shoe
Galatians 6:1–2 “If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. … Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (NIV). Observation: Paul emphasized how believers ought to relate to one another. He...
Only Partly Dead
Galatians 5:1, 7 “Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. … You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (NIV). Observation: Paul’s direct words are self-evident in their meaning. He challenges the...
Conquest
Deuteronomy 4:15–16 “You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape” (NIV). Observation: Moses...
Open To Question
Galatians 2:2 “I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain” (NIV). Observation: Paul had first felt released to preach years earlier and was confident in his effectiveness because his reputation...
Launchings
Deuteronomy 3:28 “But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see” (NIV). Observation: Moses has asked the Lord for permission...
The Mouse’s Path
Deuteronomy 2:25 “This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you” (NIV). Observation: Forty years of desert wandering had come to an end. It...
Steeped In Faith’s Traditions
Mark 5:40 “But they laughed at Him” (NIV). Observation: Jairus, an administrator of the local synagogue, had asked Jesus to lay hands on his dying twelve-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, at the house, mournful wails accompanying death had already begun. Jesus and Jairus...
No Curtain Calls
Galatians 1:24 “And they praised God because of me” (NIV). Observation: In this opening chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he said he was “astonished” (Gal. 1:6) that people he had only recently had a hand in bringing to Christ are so readily abandoning the...
Are We There Yet?
Deuteronomy 2:5 “Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on” (NIV). Observation: Israel had begun their desert wanderings under God’s specific direction. In Deuteronomy 2:4, He had said they were about to...