Most people have heard the beginning of this Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd…”, but the real greatness of this comes from the end:

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23:4

What is interesting here is that the masses start believing in eternal life after Jesus had risen from the dead, yet it was talked about in the Old Testament. It is all over the place in this great Book. His love for us is amazing even though we do so much not to deserve it. Thanks. Read on…

Popularity: 62% [?]

So unlike Esther where God is not present in the story, He is all over this one with a visit from Satan who challenges Him to test one of his faithful servants, Job. We are all tested everyday, but Job sums it up:

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be stripped of everything when
I die.
The Lord gave me everything I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”
Job 1:20

I could go on and try to analyze this read more, but this is pretty much it. It’s going to get hard in our lives, but it all comes from God. In fact, the harder it is, the more we need God and he is calling us to him.

We spoke about this in small group today in our study of James, but I didn’t have the chance to share this: This is just a boot camp for our eternal life. Sure, we are going to face some challenges, but we have something really wonderful to look forward to. Read on…

Popularity: 9% [?]

Alright, so this is technically a two day read and yes, I am skipping a week of the read, but I have to get back on pace. If anybody wants to discuss something that I went past or you just want to give me a hard time, feel free to email.

The following takes place between 461 B.C. and 460 B.C. beeeeppppp….

So here we are with Esther. I did have to consult the footnotes a bit. I understand that Esther and her older cousin Mordecai help to save the Jewish people from the rogues in the King’s court. In fact, I loved this book as it was like an episode of 24 with Mordecai as Jack Bauer and Esther on the inside. But I was really trying to pull a lesson from this.

And then, there it is in the footnotes of the Every Man’s Bible. Just because we aren’t hearing about God directly, he is at work. Do you think that Esther got in with the king by coincidence? As a friend once said to me, there are no coincidences. She was there for a reason and it was to use her female ways to help save her people. God gives us power to do great things. Esther and Mordecai were all about it. We may not have Jews to save, but we can do great things when he is working through us. Read on…

Popularity: 18% [?]

I had to get to this post because it became the conversation in comments by Randy and Eddie and they do a better job of exploring it than I can. You can read it here.

Balaam thinks he knows it all, even better than God. But God uses a donkey to prove him wrong! A donkey! How is that for a demonstration that He is in control? God leads us down many different paths and we should see the signs. Although I don’t think that we’ll encounter the talking donkey anytime soon…

Read on!

NEXT: Joshua 5:13-6:27

Popularity: unranked [?]

The Ten Commandments. We know them, and if somebody doesn’t, they can look them up. So why do we need them?

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses said, “for God has come in this way to show you his awesome power. From now on, let your fear of him keep you from sinning!” Exodus 20:20

Is it not interesting that when one finds themselves disobeying one of these, things seem to go sideways? What more proof do we need that God is with us everyday, even now? ‘Nuff said. Read on…

NEXT: Numbers 22:21-41

Popularity: 18% [?]

As always, I am up on the reading, but not on the posting. With that being said:

It’s the parting of the Red Sea. Like myself, you may get the vision of Charleston Heston as Moses, but I digress. The great thing about passages like this in the Old Testament are God’s extreme examples of how faith in him pays off. In this case, Moses and the Israelites must keep the faith when God tells them to camp between the wilderness and the water. God has great demonstrations of His power and it only takes one man to lead. Just when the Israelites are getting nervous and not having the faith:

But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense. Exodus 14:13-14

Cue Charleston! You know the story, Moses raises his staff, the Red Sea parts and the Israelites move to safety, while the Egyptians are devoured by the water. Even when things seem bad, with faith, we will find dry land. He can do wonderful things if you believe. Read on…

NEXT: Exodus 20:3-17 

Popularity: 9% [?]

And you thought your boss was bad? Try being Abraham and having God ask you to sacrifice your son! Fortunately, Abraham passed:

“Lay down your knife,” the angel said. “Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me.” Genesis 22:12

Abraham finds a ram to sacrifice and we find that even in the hardest of times, with faith, God will provide for us:

Abraham named the place “The Lord Will Provide.” This name has now become a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14
This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly. Genesis 22:16-17

Thanks to Abraham, we know that God will provide for us when we give ourselves to him. Who can argue with that? Even in the most difficult times (and really, will we ever have it as bad as this example?) we can know that God will make sure that we survive. Read on…

NEXT: Exodus 13:17-14:31

Popularity: 62% [?]

Things get out of control with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, so God decides to destroy the cities. Abraham asks for God’s mercy on the innocent people and we see his great mercy:

And the Lord replied, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.” Genesis 18:26

But there is only four, Job and his family. God’s two angels get him out of harm’s way and he is safe, showing that he will spare those of faith:

But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain. Genesis 19:29

Because his wife looked back, she became a pillar of salt. Total faith was needed and she hesitated. Wild stuff. Now that is a powerful God. Read on…

NEXT: Genesis 22:1-19 

Popularity: 9% [?]

The Tower of Babel. I have to be honest here, lately I have been skipping the footnotes of the Every Man’s Bible because I want to have my own interpretation of the read, but I had to check in with them this time. So, my thanks to the editors for their assistance on this post.

The humans land in a new place and begin planning a great tower as a testament to their own power, not to the power of God. In seeing this, God gives them different languages to confuse them and the project does not take off. As the footnotes say, this type of pride is always destructive.

But, while I see the lesson here, I also see God’s master plan. He created us all to be different and unique. Plus, the earth is huge place for humans and different languages are needed for different types of people and the geography in which they live. We would never match the great power of God, even if we did speak one language. So why not make people ready for all the places there would go next? Just another thought about the passage. Read on…

NEXT: Genesis 18:16-19:29 

Popularity: 9% [?]

If you have been to this site before, you might notice that it has a new look. I still have some tweaking to do, but I like the full page layout. Check back shortly for more.

Also, I have been reading a lot, but not posting. I am about 4 or 5 posts behind, but I hope to get them up shortly. In the meantime, I am still reading and will get caught up shortly.

Finally, I hope that you are enjoying the Palm Valley Church 50 Day Read. I have been moved to step it up recently and this is really cool because I know that others are joining in. I hope that they might stop by and share as well. As always, thanks to you and thanks to our Lord for the Good News.

Popularity: unranked [?]