The people of Israel heard these words of Isaiah quite literally, and with deep yearning. They needed to be ransomed from their bondage in Babylon and brought back to Jerusalem. The verb translated...
L.L. here. Thinking about Thanksgiving. Remembering a book I just had to read. Because my cousin-in-law (is there such a thing?) did...
Isaiah 50 begins with God’s word to the prophet. He responds by saying, “The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened.” This captures the meaning of the original Hebrew, which...
I’m falling, plunging headlong into salt water. I surface sputtering and grabbing for my surfboard before it clobbers me on the head. As I hoist onto the board for the long paddle back...
Jesus had a way with words. He spoke with authority and the "crowds were amazed" (Matt. 7:28-29). He talked a lot about himself, his mission, and God's kingdom, offering challenging, quotable...
This verse from Isaiah is doubly shocking.
Through his Word and by the Spirit, God teaches us what is right and what is wrong. Thus we learn to live our lives in a way that honors him. But when God...
My three children are now moving beyond childhood. My oldest is in college and the middle one in high school. I don't see much of them. Even the youngest one is in middle...
When life is easy, we tend to get caught up in trivialities: worrying about our appearance or passing on the latest gossip...
The bulk of Isaiah 47 consists of God’s taunting condemnation of Babylon. But verse 4 is an interjection by the prophet, speaking on behalf of Israel: “Our Redeemer,” he says, “whose name is the...
Red Letter Believers has a collection of High Calling blog posts about Sabbath. This is worth a read. Sabbath is so counter-cultural that the Church in America ignores it even though it is...
Throughout the Bible, God’s people are called to remembrance. We are to bring to mind God’s wondrous works in the past so that our faith might be renewed in the present. For the...
The last half of the twentieth century marked a shift in the way people think about leadership. Prior to the 1980s, leadership...
There is a story I have told many times about four men, raised to serve God. At a young age, they are...
Throughout Isaiah 45, the Lord has proclaimed his uniqueness: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” The God who revealed...
In the book of Daniel, four men are taken from homes where they have been taught to worship God and transplanted to...
Sam Van Eman has a very funny post online about Christian merchandise that clearly steals its ideas from popular cultural images and products. ...
Yesterday I began reflecting upon Isaiah 45:9, noting how tempting it is for us to become the “arguing clay” when God isn’t acting in ways we understand or appreciate. Today I want to...
Several times throughout Isaiah 45, the Lord asserts that he alone is God, and that there is no other. The false gods of the nations, the idols they have made with their own...
As we read along in Isaiah, the last verse of chapter 44 surprises us by mentioning Cyrus, the king of Persia. In 44:28, God refers to Cyrus as “my shepherd.” Then, in the next verse (45:1), Cyrus...
