Lying vs telling the truth. Talking more than listening. Speaking hurtful words instead of healing words.

There’s a lot going on in this passage, but it all relates to our speech. Words matter, Solomon tells us, and so much so that “we are rewarded or punished for what we say and do” (v 14).

Maybe lying is your problem. It comes naturally to some, especially for those who don’t like confrontations.

J. R. R. Tolkien coined the word “eucatastrophe” to describe the reversal that takes place when a tremendous victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. A eucatastrophe occurs when darkness, despair, and defeat gives way to light, hope, and glory. The greatest eucatastrophe of all, according to Tolkien, was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

People will go to great lengths to avoid the truth. The truth may be personal, as when someone points out a character flaw in us and we invent a score of reasons as to why the issue we have been confronted with is not valid. Perhaps it is a criticism of one of our children and we are incensed at what has been said even though deep down we know there is some truth in the evaluation.

Do you struggle with doubt? If so, you’re in good company. Even more importantly, it doesn’t seem to bother Jesus. He can handle it.

The reality of doubt surfaces in two of the Gospel stories about Jesus. Both John and Matthew include the record of doubting disciples as they set down the story of Jesus and his disciples.

Moses had to make everything just so with the furnishings of the tabernacle and with Aaron and his sons who would be the priests. Everything had a particular purpose, everything had a particular place. There had to be anointing and consecration of the items in the tabernacle and there had to be anointing and consecration of the priests who would serve in the tabernacle. When all was as it should be, and only then, the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, a cloud by day, and a cloud burning with fire by night.

We are all familiar with the connections to Jesus that have been made for 2000 years – a male without defect, blood is spilled, atonement is made for sin. Jesus is the sacrifice lamb, the one offered up for the sins of the people, just as animals were offered up in the days of Moses and right until Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 A.D. Jesus is the sacrifice that replaces all other sacrifices including the burnt offerings.

Do you believe in prophecy?

Psalm 22 is the most graphic description of Christ’s crucifixion found anywhere in the Bible. Yet here it is, tucked away among the Psalms, written 900 years before the birth of Christ.

How could this be? During David’s time, crucifixion as a form of execution had not yet been invented.