God regrets things. But it doesn’t mean He’d been wrong or made a mistake. When your raw materials are sinful men, the process is ugly, but the final result will be worth it. God anoints Saul. He rejects Saul. All part of the process. “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has […]
A Promised Land means nothing if the Israelites move in and pollute it by sinning instead of displaying behavior becoming of Chosen People. So God issues Ten Commandments beginning with Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land […]
What does it take for you to believe something? Just reading it in print, or someone you regard saying that it’s so? Maybe having it pass the “fact-checker” test or someone on Twitter telling you that it’s true? Or sometimes, do you need to know it by someone showing you…in order to see it with […]
The most grievous and powerful plague upon Egypt was also the most important Divine Intervention for the ancient Hebrews. It’s a pattern of salvation and one set apart for remembrance through the ages: the plague against the firstborn in Egypt. Jews and Christians alike celebrate it as Passover, even today thousands of years later, because […]
Today, I’m going somewhat controversial on you. I was trained in the tradition of a “pre-Tribulation Rapture”. Whoa, whoa, whoa! you say. Too confusing. I don’t understand it. Don’t go there, you say. Watch me. (grinning) There’s a reason I hold timing of “The Rapture” loosely, the Rapture, of course, being that moment of the […]
Exodus 2:23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God hadn’t forgotten. Remembering with […]
At this point in Biblical history, Pharaohs come and go. God’s plan still rules. God even has a sense of humor about it. Human power structures are only tools that God can use for His own purposes whenever He wants. Look at the rich irony in today’s reflection. Pharaoh was ticked off about the Hebrew […]
When we love and serve a God who is all-seeing, all-knowing, and ever-present, we need to understand that Divine Interventions happen on His time schedule, not ours. In His ways, not ours. And often with a convoluted path leading to surprising outcomes. Such was the case with Pharaoh who didn’t know God at all. In […]
Pop-tests were always the worst, in my experience. Catching us off-guard. Seeing how truly prepared and attentive we are at any given moment. Testing our nerves, our resolve, and our knowledge. Showing us who we are when we’re not expecting anything to happen. Abraham had a pop-test to beat all pop-tests. He wasn’t expecting it. […]
Do you ever find it interesting that the genealogies of Jesus of Nazareth–our Lord and Savior, the Messiah, the Christ–are different in Matthew’s and Luke’s versions? Luke’s goes all the way back to Adam to display the foundational level is humanity’s dire need for salvation since the Garden of Eden and the consequence of sin. […]
