NT – Being slightly Obsessive/Compulsive, I love checklists. I have a checklist for cleaning the house, doing yardwork, doing my paperwork, going on vacation. And for goodness sake, don’t ask my bosses Alfred and David about my love of checklists! I go a little overboard about them.
Which is why I have a love/hate relationship with our NT scripture today. Want to know who is in and who is out of the kingdom? – well, here is your checklist.
1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Give clothes to the naked
4. Visit the sick
5. Visit the prisoners.
I love that there is a checklist. I just have a hard time with what is on it. For example, my friend Pearl (who also shares this dilemma with me) and I have tried for years to check #5 off our list. She thinks I have a toe up on her because I once picked my boyfriend up at the DeKalb County Jail where he had stayed all night on a drunk driving charge. I don’t think that counts especially since I refused to come get him at 2 AM and post bond for his sorry butt.
But how do you go about visiting prisoners? The one prisoner I know had a list of people he would see. He refused to put Pearl and me on it. So that was out.
And why prisoners? Where did that come from?
Well, in my Harpers Bible Dictionary, it says this comes directly from the prophets of the OT especially Amos and Micah. Micah 6:8 says “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Not a bad mission statement. And from Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”
If you were in first century CE Palestine, you could go to prison for ANY number of things. Mouth off to the local Roman regiment leader – disappear. Don’t pay your taxes and won’t sell your daughter, off you go. And once you got there, it was up to your family to feed and clothe you. They didn’t do it, you starved to death. And we complain now about the restrictions on how the prisoners’ commissary accounts are handled! (FYI, if you have a loved one in prison in South Carolina, you cannot send them money via check or any money order EXCEPT postal money order. All else will be returned to you. And you can’t send them more than $50 as it would make them ‘too richy’. )
On the other hand, having loved one in a Palestine prison was horrible for your social status.
Thus, Jesus’ commentary on going to the prisons.
But does that still apply to us today? Do all of them? Is it enough to give to food pantries and drop off our used clothing at Goodwill? Somehow, I think Jesus would not think that was enough. And that is where my uncomfortableness with the list comes into play. See, I think we are supposed to feed the hungry personally. To be with them. To ease their burdens face to face. To show them empathy, not sympathy.
I think I don’t get to check much off of this checklist. I am afraid I am closer than I want to think I am to being a goat, rather than a sheep.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
February 7
NT – As one who has gambled and lost in the stock market, I can safely say, I might fail the investment test. I have a hard time investing my ‘real’ money with any degree of risk. I cannot imagine investing someone else’s money especially someone that holds my life and death in their hands.
But in thinking this through, I have come up with a different way to look at this parable.
What if it wasn’t money? What if it were LIVES?
The first servant is given 5 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 5 other friends to come and learn the business.
The Second servant is given 2 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the Master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 2 other friends to come and learn the business.
The last servant is given 1 underling. He doesn’t know how to raise up good, productive worker bees and he is afraid. So, he gives him to a neighbor who works him hard and wrings all he can get from this free laborer.
Now, when God comes back to check, servant one has grown his evangelical flock from 5 to 10 and they are getting ready to open a brand new church. Praise, praise, praise.
Servant two has grown his evangelical flock from 2 to 4 and their church is creating new missions to help in their city. Praise, praise, praise.
The last servant has a broken, angry laborer who refuses to go to church. That church’s pews are empty except for the servant, his organ master and the old people who refuse to change and are dying off like flies. The bankers are circling and soon the church buildings will be sold to a used car dealership.
Too harsh? I don’t think so. This is a really harsh section of Matthew. I mean, he didn’t let the silly virgins in!! Feel differently? Let me know.
Psalm – Verse 5 says “into your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth”. Sound familiar? Think crucifixion. But that brought up the word “redeem”. I looked it up
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/padah.html
And the word we translate as redeem is the Hebrew word Padah. It means, literally to ransom or rescue by means of a ritual-sacrifice or blood payment. Brings a whole new flavor to that phrase to me.
Watch this video and KNOW that Jesus knew what the meaning of that word was and what it took to ransom us all. Including the third servant.
But in thinking this through, I have come up with a different way to look at this parable.
What if it wasn’t money? What if it were LIVES?
The first servant is given 5 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 5 other friends to come and learn the business.
The Second servant is given 2 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the Master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 2 other friends to come and learn the business.
The last servant is given 1 underling. He doesn’t know how to raise up good, productive worker bees and he is afraid. So, he gives him to a neighbor who works him hard and wrings all he can get from this free laborer.
Now, when God comes back to check, servant one has grown his evangelical flock from 5 to 10 and they are getting ready to open a brand new church. Praise, praise, praise.
Servant two has grown his evangelical flock from 2 to 4 and their church is creating new missions to help in their city. Praise, praise, praise.
The last servant has a broken, angry laborer who refuses to go to church. That church’s pews are empty except for the servant, his organ master and the old people who refuse to change and are dying off like flies. The bankers are circling and soon the church buildings will be sold to a used car dealership.
Too harsh? I don’t think so. This is a really harsh section of Matthew. I mean, he didn’t let the silly virgins in!! Feel differently? Let me know.
Psalm – Verse 5 says “into your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth”. Sound familiar? Think crucifixion. But that brought up the word “redeem”. I looked it up
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/padah.html
And the word we translate as redeem is the Hebrew word Padah. It means, literally to ransom or rescue by means of a ritual-sacrifice or blood payment. Brings a whole new flavor to that phrase to me.
Watch this video and KNOW that Jesus knew what the meaning of that word was and what it took to ransom us all. Including the third servant.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
February 6
OT – We have no actual drawings of the Ark of The Covenant but here are a few artist renditions based on today’s reading.
NT – I spent most of today thinking of church ministry work. It started when I got an email from a friend who is pastor of church in Charlotte, NC. He was bemoaning what I think is a standard fact for churches – 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Later, when I was at Sunday School, the lesson for today was Galatians 3 which is Paul’s great treatise on being saved by faith alone, not by works. I mentioned the email to the other students in the class and one of the ladies gently admonished me saying “we don’t know what they do in their lives. It is not up to us to judge.” And I am not. I get a lot of satisfaction out of church ministry work. As a matter of fact, I get more out of it than I put in. It just has always struck me funny that there are loads of people at church who don’t do ANYTHING.
In the lesson today for our readings, I found my answer. And just as Laura said, it isn’t for me to judge. But it is for me to DO. I know Jesus. I know what he expects of me – to use my gifts to further his kingdom. Not to do so would be the servant who is beating his fellow servants and drinking with drunkards. (vs 49). Is that how you interpret vs 45-51? Or do you have another take on it?
Psalm 30 – I love this psalm for vs 5b “weeping may remain for a night but rejoicing comes in the morning”. There in a nutshell is the memory verse for those of us with night terrors, nightmares, night worries, insomnia. I’ve written this on a index card and intend to keep it by my bed. The rest of the Psalm is excellent as well. This is written as a high note, a gratitude poem to God for deliverance. If you are in despair, this one would be a good one to use as a prayer. Write above it – ‘when I need God’s help the most’.
Which brings me to a procedural note. I got a comment today from one of the young people in my church regarding my Bible. This time it was not about the cover. It was about all the ‘stuff’ that is in my Bible as well as the highlighting and the underlining. I had dropped my Bible and since it has all sorts of stuff in it, he was amazed. He said he didn’t think you could write like that in a Bible. That God might get mad. I told him that I hoped God wouldn’t be mad but that I thought he was probably just pleased that I was taking the time to studying and reflect on his Word. I am not sure he agreed.
Do you write in your Bible? My mother’s Great Aunt Belle’s Bible was the oldest one I ever saw. It had been patched with pasteboard, mailing tape, and at some point, reglued. That Bible was precious. There were commentaries on sermons she had heard, cut out prayers from the paper, baby announcements and funeral notes. My mother was her favorite and lived with her during some hard times in her family. When she was dying, Aunt Belle asked Mother what she wanted and Mother told her ‘just your Bible’. When she asked her cousins for it after the funeral, they told Mother that they had thrown ‘that old ratty thing out. Who would want that?’ Oh, oh, oh.
May this be a week of drawing closer to God. Blessings on your studies and meditations.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
February 5
Proverbs – If a picture is worth a thousand words, this YouTube should be shown to all.
I do have to say, that just like in the parable A Prodigal Son, I find myself in a different position than when I read this as a young adult. I clearly identified with the ‘simple young man’ when I first read Proverbs in my 20s. Now, I am sure that I identify with the old man writing these proverbs. I have seen the devastation that adultery wrecks on a family. It NEVER ends up well. And I would spare my children and their children that agony if I could. In the case of the prodigal, well, let’s just say I have been all characters from the prodigal to the jealous older brother to the father who disregards the slights imposed by his child.
That is the great thing about the Bible. It has meaning no matter what your time of life or situation is.
NT – Matthew 24:15-28 is a type of writing called apocalyptic literature. The entire book of Revelation is apocalyptic as well as good amounts of Daniel and Isaiah. Sometimes these are called ‘prophetic writings’ since they tend to speak of future events. They usually have good vs. evil fight. This section of Matthew is a good example. Frequently, readers are frightened or confused by these texts.
When Presbyterian Women did a yearlong study of Revelation at Mt Vernon, we ended up offering another class just because so many of the women were afraid (or refused!) to study Revelation. Let’s not be frightened by Scripture. Empowered, strengthened, drawn closer to the Lord, but not frightened.
When I was growing up, I spent a good amount of time in graveyards. My childhood neighborhood backs up to Arlington Cemetery and whenever I wanted to dodge chores, I would grab my book and hop the fence. We visited my mother’s family’s graveyard in Blairsville frequently and my dad’s mother lived across the street from the best cemetery of all – Dalton Cemetery. Someone asked me if I was afraid of being in cemeteries so much and my reply was no, I am not afraid of dead people, it is the living that scare the h*ll out of me.
The same should be true of scripture. Yes, it can be challenging. But it is there for us to learn about God, all sides of him. Yes, even the Judge. And let us not ever forget that we have Jesus as our intercessor.
OT – one law really struck me today – it is 23:8 -- can we send this to the Georgia House where they are currently working on ethics bill?
Have a refreshing and relaxing Sunday.
I do have to say, that just like in the parable A Prodigal Son, I find myself in a different position than when I read this as a young adult. I clearly identified with the ‘simple young man’ when I first read Proverbs in my 20s. Now, I am sure that I identify with the old man writing these proverbs. I have seen the devastation that adultery wrecks on a family. It NEVER ends up well. And I would spare my children and their children that agony if I could. In the case of the prodigal, well, let’s just say I have been all characters from the prodigal to the jealous older brother to the father who disregards the slights imposed by his child.
That is the great thing about the Bible. It has meaning no matter what your time of life or situation is.
NT – Matthew 24:15-28 is a type of writing called apocalyptic literature. The entire book of Revelation is apocalyptic as well as good amounts of Daniel and Isaiah. Sometimes these are called ‘prophetic writings’ since they tend to speak of future events. They usually have good vs. evil fight. This section of Matthew is a good example. Frequently, readers are frightened or confused by these texts.
When Presbyterian Women did a yearlong study of Revelation at Mt Vernon, we ended up offering another class just because so many of the women were afraid (or refused!) to study Revelation. Let’s not be frightened by Scripture. Empowered, strengthened, drawn closer to the Lord, but not frightened.
When I was growing up, I spent a good amount of time in graveyards. My childhood neighborhood backs up to Arlington Cemetery and whenever I wanted to dodge chores, I would grab my book and hop the fence. We visited my mother’s family’s graveyard in Blairsville frequently and my dad’s mother lived across the street from the best cemetery of all – Dalton Cemetery. Someone asked me if I was afraid of being in cemeteries so much and my reply was no, I am not afraid of dead people, it is the living that scare the h*ll out of me.
The same should be true of scripture. Yes, it can be challenging. But it is there for us to learn about God, all sides of him. Yes, even the Judge. And let us not ever forget that we have Jesus as our intercessor.
OT – one law really struck me today – it is 23:8 -- can we send this to the Georgia House where they are currently working on ethics bill?
Have a refreshing and relaxing Sunday.
Friday, February 3, 2012
February 4
NT – This is probably a cheat but this commentary on Biblegateway.com on Matt 23 is AMAZING. Please click here to go to it and read it. I learned so much!
OT—And so it begins. We get the first of 2 of the 10 Commandments. Please get a ribbon or a really nice bookmark and mark Exodus 19. We will come back to this over and over again and you will want to have this readily handy. I have a bookmark that Carol Beckman’s Jessica painted for me and it stays always in this place.
The first 5 books of the Bible are known as the Law. And they are known that for a reason. There are A LOT of them. Your eyes, like mine, will tend to glaze over and you will have read that section and absorbed nothing. Don’t do this. Stop when you start to do this and ask yourself what the basis for this law really was. If you don’t know, type it into a search engine on the internet and see what comes up. For example, Vs 7 really made me mad. Are you surprised? Any man that gets to sell his daughter and she doesn’t get to go free when her 6 years of servitude are up. So, I typed into Google Man selling daughter and here is what comes up:
http://bible.cc/exodus/21-7.htm
Fascinating! And the reality is, he only got to sell his pre-pubescent daughter and then only in dire need. And the reason she didn’t get to go free was because she was intended to be some sort of concubine/inferior wife. So, the stricture was really to provide some sort of help to the daughter that she not be sold off to someone else or cast aside if the son of the household didn’t really want her once she grew up.
I ask you not to gloss over these laws but to really read them and ponder them. Ask yourself, why would these laws have stood the test of 2500 years at the bare minimum? Was there one that really struck you? What did you learn by looking it up on the web? Share, please.
Psalm -- look at verse 3. What does that remind you of? Doesn’t that sound just like what Jesus was talking about with the Pharisees? Can’t you just see a beautifully coiffed woman, smiling at everyone she know while inside she is repeating gossip and thinking really evil thoughts. Last night, one of the rabbis in our interfaith discussion group pointed out a Southernism. You can say *ANYTHING* about a person, as long as it is followed by “Bless his/her heart!”. That is what verse 3 says to me.
Blessings on your reading. May you find challenge and strength in the Word.
OT—And so it begins. We get the first of 2 of the 10 Commandments. Please get a ribbon or a really nice bookmark and mark Exodus 19. We will come back to this over and over again and you will want to have this readily handy. I have a bookmark that Carol Beckman’s Jessica painted for me and it stays always in this place.
The first 5 books of the Bible are known as the Law. And they are known that for a reason. There are A LOT of them. Your eyes, like mine, will tend to glaze over and you will have read that section and absorbed nothing. Don’t do this. Stop when you start to do this and ask yourself what the basis for this law really was. If you don’t know, type it into a search engine on the internet and see what comes up. For example, Vs 7 really made me mad. Are you surprised? Any man that gets to sell his daughter and she doesn’t get to go free when her 6 years of servitude are up. So, I typed into Google Man selling daughter and here is what comes up:
http://bible.cc/exodus/21-7.htm
Fascinating! And the reality is, he only got to sell his pre-pubescent daughter and then only in dire need. And the reason she didn’t get to go free was because she was intended to be some sort of concubine/inferior wife. So, the stricture was really to provide some sort of help to the daughter that she not be sold off to someone else or cast aside if the son of the household didn’t really want her once she grew up.
I ask you not to gloss over these laws but to really read them and ponder them. Ask yourself, why would these laws have stood the test of 2500 years at the bare minimum? Was there one that really struck you? What did you learn by looking it up on the web? Share, please.
Psalm -- look at verse 3. What does that remind you of? Doesn’t that sound just like what Jesus was talking about with the Pharisees? Can’t you just see a beautifully coiffed woman, smiling at everyone she know while inside she is repeating gossip and thinking really evil thoughts. Last night, one of the rabbis in our interfaith discussion group pointed out a Southernism. You can say *ANYTHING* about a person, as long as it is followed by “Bless his/her heart!”. That is what verse 3 says to me.
Blessings on your reading. May you find challenge and strength in the Word.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
February 3
top image is of the prayer shawl with long tassels. The tassels are also worn underneath shirts daily.
bottom images is a Phylactery. Imagine trying to lift someone else's burdens with that wrapped around your arm. They are worn when studying the Torah.
NT – In today’s reading, I kept coming back over and over to the first 12 verses in chapter 23. Jesus’ imagery especially of the heavy load that the Pharisees place is so vivid. I kept thinking of the overloaded donkeys and camels of the desert trips and how the pack animals plod along, so slowly, so very slowly. And supposedly, these were people that the Pharisees loved. Their own that they want to teach so that the people could draw nearer to God in their rule perfection. In my own little family, we call that ‘piling on’.
When I fight with Don or yell at the kids, I have a bad habit of saying ‘and another thing…’. Past hurts, slights I had let go by, beds unmade or bathtubs unscrubbed. Piling on is my way of evening the score. Putting all things back to right. Except, it isn’t right. If I let the tub go unscrubbed on Saturday, it is unfair to yell at Cole on Tuesday when I am in the midst of fussing about leaving the garbage can where Howler, the dog can get to it.
Same is true for the Pharisees. They deliberately pile on and make it impossible to follow the rules. There are too many variables, too many subsets. And the worst thing is, they want to spread their doctrine to all. Remember when our reading compared the Pharisees to yeast? Yeast is a bacteria that is activated by moisture, starch, and heat. Some Bibles translated it as ‘leaven’. In Bible times, there was no Baking Powder or baking soda. Leavening was yeast, carefully preserved so that wheat would rise. The bacteria permeate the bread mixture, you let it “sit” in a warm place and you get a poofy loaf of bread. Pharisee yeast gets a group of people who have to act a certain way or they are ‘not following the Law’. You are either an insider (Law follower) or out.
The Pharisees sat in ‘Moses’ seat’, the place of Jewish authority and legal wisdom. As a coincidence (?!?), our OT test today talked about the judges and officials that Moses appointed to handle the simple, uncomplicated disputes. They sat ‘in Moses’ seat’. But you couldn’t sit in that seat unless you were an upright man, full of the knowledge of the law. Jesus also says this about the Pharisees. Then the question becomes – is he being sarcastic when he says obey them or not.
I do not think sarcasm is here. I think he truly thinks you should do what the Law says. But I don’t think Jesus wants his disciples to emulate the Pharisees because Jesus didn’t think the Pharisees followed the Law. Just a few paragraphs earlier, Jesus had been asked, “Teacher (remember he didn’t want his disciples called Teacher or Rabbi), which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love you neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. Piling on is not loving your neighbors. Place of honor, the lovely long tassels (long tassels meant you could do no physical labor. They would get dirty and hence unclean….), important seats, etc. These are not taking care of others. These are taking care of self.
(As an aside, when this post was being proofread, the reader said, you can’t equate the love your neighbor stuff with the Moses seat stuff. They are in different chapters. Matthew did not write his gospels in chapters. The chapters and verses were added in the Middle Ages. Click here for a great tutorial in this. )
But back to the Pharisees.
If you truly loved your neighbor as yourself, wouldn’t you try to ‘lift’ their burdens? You wouldn’t ‘pile on’, you would simplify, you would take care of others. Maybe even others who were on the ‘out’.
Friends, don’t let us be the pilers. Let us be the encouragers, the simplifiers, the kind ones.
And for goodness sake, close the cabinet door on the garbage.
http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx284.htm
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
February 2
NT – I love Beth Moore. I love how energetic she is. I love how prepared she is. I love how hard she has studied and worked. I also love how thoroughly put together she always is. Perfect clothes, hair and makeup. But she is always telling a funny story on herself. Always showing her soulful imperfections. Watch this clip and laugh along with me and then let’s talk about the Pharisees.
The word that we translate hypocrite is from the Greek word ‘hupokrites” meaning stage actor. So, a hypocrite is someone who does not ‘act’ as he truly believes or is. Look at vs. 18. ‘Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said “you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” Why, indeed?
What risk was Jesus to them? Let’s remember who the Pharisees were. They were the ones that did all the synagogue teaching. They were the ‘true’ interpreters of the Torah. They told the people how to act, when to act, and what to wear when they were acting. There is that word again. ACT.
I think Jesus’ main problem with the Pharisees is that they were acting. Just like Beth didn’t want the cleaning lady to know she might have ear wax, the Pharisees didn’t want anyone to know what was in their heart. It wasn’t that they didn’t love God, it was that they put more faith in the ‘act’ rather than the heart.
So, go back to the risk part. How was having Jesus in their midst a cause for concern? If they were so perfect in their ‘act’ why would they care if some bozo who doesn’t do all the handwashing, appears to drink too much and eats the wrong thing on the wrong day, and gets himself unclean by touching yucky people shows up in their midst? Why were they afraid of him? Why try to bring him down? Show him up? Trap him? Don’t tell they didn’t have other weirdos running around Jerusalem and Israel. There are ALWAYS weirdos.
But Jesus appeared to be different. The crowds liked him except at home. There was that whole cloak and palm branch thing. He had a bunch of followers and some of them, well, some of them ‘smelled’. As in not ‘the right kind of people’ smell.
So, continuing from yesterday – who in your life are you a hypocrite to? How can you fix it and how, in Beth’s words can you ‘cut the bull’.
Psalm – Theses two stanzas of Psalm 27 are in the typical Hebrew contrast style. Vs 1-3 is stanza 1 and it is all about fear. Vs. 4-6 is about serenity and calmness which appears when the writer is ‘dwelling in the house of the Lord’. Even though he professes that the Lord is his salvation, clearly he is assailed on all sides and with people bent on destroying or ‘devouring’ him. It is only in the safe place of the Lord that he feels secure. “he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle”.
Proverb – this proverb reminds me of something my dad told my brothers. He said his grandmother Florence Hackney told him this.
“A bad woman can shovel more out the back door with a teaspoon than a good man can shovel in the front door with a coal shovel”. You have been properly warned, young men.
Keep reading! You are doing so great.
The word that we translate hypocrite is from the Greek word ‘hupokrites” meaning stage actor. So, a hypocrite is someone who does not ‘act’ as he truly believes or is. Look at vs. 18. ‘Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said “you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” Why, indeed?
What risk was Jesus to them? Let’s remember who the Pharisees were. They were the ones that did all the synagogue teaching. They were the ‘true’ interpreters of the Torah. They told the people how to act, when to act, and what to wear when they were acting. There is that word again. ACT.
I think Jesus’ main problem with the Pharisees is that they were acting. Just like Beth didn’t want the cleaning lady to know she might have ear wax, the Pharisees didn’t want anyone to know what was in their heart. It wasn’t that they didn’t love God, it was that they put more faith in the ‘act’ rather than the heart.
So, go back to the risk part. How was having Jesus in their midst a cause for concern? If they were so perfect in their ‘act’ why would they care if some bozo who doesn’t do all the handwashing, appears to drink too much and eats the wrong thing on the wrong day, and gets himself unclean by touching yucky people shows up in their midst? Why were they afraid of him? Why try to bring him down? Show him up? Trap him? Don’t tell they didn’t have other weirdos running around Jerusalem and Israel. There are ALWAYS weirdos.
But Jesus appeared to be different. The crowds liked him except at home. There was that whole cloak and palm branch thing. He had a bunch of followers and some of them, well, some of them ‘smelled’. As in not ‘the right kind of people’ smell.
So, continuing from yesterday – who in your life are you a hypocrite to? How can you fix it and how, in Beth’s words can you ‘cut the bull’.
Psalm – Theses two stanzas of Psalm 27 are in the typical Hebrew contrast style. Vs 1-3 is stanza 1 and it is all about fear. Vs. 4-6 is about serenity and calmness which appears when the writer is ‘dwelling in the house of the Lord’. Even though he professes that the Lord is his salvation, clearly he is assailed on all sides and with people bent on destroying or ‘devouring’ him. It is only in the safe place of the Lord that he feels secure. “he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle”.
Proverb – this proverb reminds me of something my dad told my brothers. He said his grandmother Florence Hackney told him this.
“A bad woman can shovel more out the back door with a teaspoon than a good man can shovel in the front door with a coal shovel”. You have been properly warned, young men.
Keep reading! You are doing so great.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)