June 2010 Archives

'May his children be fatherless....'There are difficult psalms - and Psalm 109 is one of them. In it, David praises God: the psalm both opens and closes on that note of praise and worship. Yet, on the surface, the psalm... continue

Peaks and TroughsPsalm 107 celebrates the transforming power of God's redemption in the lives of his people. The refrain throughout the psalm highlights its main theme: 'Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful... continue

Psalm 106 is another of the Psalms which celebrates the history of redemption, and focuses our attention on the experience of Israel, led and kept by God while on pilgrimage to the promised land. One of the reasons such psalms are... continue

Fire and water.  That's what my friend went through when her Philadelphia apartment building was devastated by fire.  First came the fire and the smoke.  Fortunately, even though it happened in the middle of the night, there was enough time... continue

Revelation 12 contains mysterious symbols with seemingly unfathomable meanings.  One is reminded of Ambrose Bierce's famous definition of Revelation as "a famous book in which St John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the... continue

The apostle Paul is well known for writing letters with an indicative/imperative structure--his New Testament epistles.  The indicative comes first, as Paul tells us what God has done for us in Christ.  The imperative comes next.  In this section of... continue

I saw them over the forest: two golden eagles, cavorting in the wind.  When I first spied them they were still low enough to identify, and they flapped from time to time in order to stay aloft.But the eagles were... continue

So far, so good.  At a time of personal desperation, when his life was hanging in the balance, Hezekiah threw himself on the mercy of God and prayed that he would not die, but live.  God heard the king's prayer... continue