These past months have been tough. Not just a little bit tough—but really tough. Trying to live up to others’ expectations of who I should be or what I should be doing. Tough enough for me to cry out to God for help at a deeper level than I have ever cried out before. “Enough already, God! Enough!”, I shout out.
Read More mercy, hope, waitingSuddenly, the focus of this next psalm changes from blasting oppressors with “Go, get ‘em God!” to a deep heart cry for mercy. What an amazing about-turn!
It is as if the psalmist has been caught by surprise and out of the depths there is a wrenching plea: Hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy.
Read More mercy, hope, forgiveness
Pharaoh refused to release Israel, God’s firstborn son, and now God will take his firstborn son (Exodus 4:22-23). This tenth plague will not be reversed by Pharaoh’s insincere confession of sin—there is a price to pay. It dealt a final blow to the Egyptian false gods and undermined Osiris, the Egyptian giver of life. The stroke on the firstborn meant the entire community was being judged from the lowest to the highest. The death of Pharaoh’s firstborn wiped out the future divine king over the land.
Read More mercy, justice, Pharoah
In this passage the justice of God rings loud. God hates cheaters, it says. Does he really hate them? We know from the Gospels that God loves everyone so this statement should be read more as a human expression of how God views injustice. The Old Testament prophets talked more about justice issues in their own day than about what was going to happen in the “end times.”
Read More mercy, justice, honesty
It was 1791 when in one his sermons John Wesley said “Slovenliness is no part of religion. And cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.”
It’s the first recorded use of the proverb as we phrase it today, but the “cleanliness is next to godliness” theme is actually an ancient Hebrew one that integrates personal hygiene with spiritual health to acknowledge a God who is interested in us as holistic beings.
Read More mercy, justice, cleansingThis psalm is different. It’s unique among the 150 psalms in the Bible because it presents us with various vignettes of redemption—brief stories or scenes where the Lord rains down his mercy and rescues the wayward and downtrodden.
In verse two the psalmist declares, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”
Read More mercy, redemptionYears of aimless wandering are drawing to a close and now the Israelites move toward taking the Promised Land. They learn quickly that they will not enter without opposition. The King of Arad attacks a generation of Israelites with little to no experience in warfare, taking some hostage. The Israelites must have been so afraid! Yet they do well: they ask God to help them defeat the Canaanites and promise to completely destroy their towns.
Read More mercy, reversal, intercessionSince the death of John the Baptist, Jesus has been seeking a place of solitude and rest. Meanwhile, ministry needs have prevailed, to the point where the Twelve don’t even have time to eat (Mark 6:31). This passage opens with Jesus stealing away to a house by the Mediterranean, but even here he’s recognized. A Syrophoenician woman finds him and begs him to heal her daughter.
On first reading, Jesus’ response to the woman seems harsh.
Read More mercy, priorities, balanceCertain days change and mark our families forever, sometimes tragically, or sometimes because on that day a new beginning was made. Even if not everything worked out as was hoped, nevertheless nothing was ever the same after it. Sometimes such days of new beginning are days of physical moving, from one city or even from one country to another. When that happens there are also moments that for one reason or another are never forgotten.
Read More mercy, memorial, new beginning