Hallelujah in the Psalms
In Hebrew the word hallelujah (“praise the Lord”) is actually two words, not one – hallelu is an imperative form of the verb hallel, which means “to praise” + one of the words for God in the Old Testament, “Yah”. Hallelujah is more than an expression of praise, as it is often used today…it is […]
God as Divine Warrior
When you hear people talk about salvation it is often in that some day, over there type discussion. It is true that salvation has components that have not yet taken place (Rom 13:11). But it is also true that in the here and now God is fighting for us. In both testaments the word salvation […]
What Can We Learn from False gods of the Bible?
There are some things that are just not up for debate when it comes to deciding what to believe as Christians. One of those things is that there is only one God.There are not household gods, city gods, and gods for different parts of nature and culture. There is only one God (Deut 6:4). There […]
Psalm 119 – An Appreciation for God’s Word
Psalm 119 is one of the most interesting psalms in the book of Psalms. Not only do modern translations retain the Hebrew letters to give us a heads up that this is a Hebrew acrostic, the contents of the psalm are fascinating and very worthwhile for us to glean something beneficial from. When you read […]
Overcoming the Christian Misperceptions of What Blessings are All About
One of the problems we face as we think about blessings is that Christian teaching and preaching have typically viewed the blessing as being about the receipt of material or spiritual benefit. As Kent Richards points out in his article on blessing in Anchor Bible Dictionary, “The primary factor of blessing is the statement of […]
Growing Closer to God in All Seasons of Life
The 23rd Psalm is probably the most often quoted passage in the Bible. Our youth minister Joel and I were reflecting on how to teach teens about spirituality. It occurred to me that spirituality is more than just a series of consecutive mountaintop experiences. David writes about times like that with his shepherd but he […]
Is God Like the IRS?
Tax time is just around the corner. We have been getting all those forms in the mail and I have just started crunching the numbers (thanks to Turbo Tax!). Turbo Tax certainly makes things a lot easier because I used to do it all by hand. Either way there is this feeling as you decipher […]
Ugarit and the Old Testament
I have recently finished a book called Ugarit and the Old Testament by Peter Craigie. He tells the story of the discovery and translation of thousands of tablets of a culture contemporary with much of the early Old testament. What is so important about this archaeological discovery? The texts they have unearthed at Ugarit are […]
How Archaeology Helps Us Understand Scripture
Archaeology plays a major role in how we understand the Bible. It is more than Indiana Jones style trips to far away lands in search of lost treasures or the holy grail. In a practical way, archaeology illuminates scripture as we come to understand the culture and language of the time in more precise ways. […]
Rediscovering God – Hearing it Again for the First Time
Philip Yancey wrote, “Strangely, rediscovery may strike a deeper chord than discovery.” (What’s So Amazing About Grace, 52). There are fewer books in the Bible that is more true of than the Psalms. Written over half a century and read now for three thousand years the psalms are valuable in the process of rediscovering God. […]