Grains of Sand

Google Images Second Samuel 11 and 12 records a sad episode in the life of David. I remember that whenever I mentioned David as an example of someone with whom God was pleased one of the ladies in my study group in Caracas would immediately remind me of these sordid events. Yes, David wasn’t perfect—far from it—as these chapters prove. David should have been out leading his troops (2 Samuel 11:1). He did not look away when he should have (11:2). He yielded to the temptation to exercise his power wrongly and took what wasn’t his to take (11:3, 4). Knowing his actions would soon be discovered, he orchestrated the death of an innocent man, one of his faithful servants and soldiers (11:6-15). And the Scriptures say “ …the thing David had done displeased the Lord ” (11:27). In chapter 12 we read about how God’s servant, Nathan, confronted David about his sin and the king repented (12:13), recognizing that ultimately that what he had done was an offense against God. But the damage was do...

Google Images Since I haven’t posted for a week you might notice that I have jumped from Romans to 2 Corinthians. Even though I didn’t post I was still reading and this morning landed me at 2 Corinthians 2. The verses that stuck out this morning probably did so because of the series on Forgiveness that our small group is doing on Wednesday evenings. We often say that forgiving helps the forgiver heal even if it doesn’t have any effect on the one being forgiven. The hope is that healing will happen for both and that reconciliation will take place. But sometimes what we hope for doesn’t become a reality. But it is true that to be able to move on the offended person needs to forgive. But Paul gives us another reason to forgive in verses 10 and 11 of 2 Corinthians 2. He writes, “ Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive — I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not una...

Living by Grace is a FACEBOOK community for those who enjoy digging into, and discussing, the Scriptures. Check it out. I'm there on Thursdays. Reading: Hosea 7-14 I vaguely remember a movie, probably of the “B” category, where the villain had discovered a way to control the weather. Of course, he tried to use his discovery for evil purposes and had to be predictably subdued by the gallant hero and his beautiful sidekick. Controlling weather is not entirely fiction. Experiments with cloud seeding have been going on for many years. I read a detailed explanation online (most of which I didn’t understand) complete with diagrams detailing how various substances were dumped from planes into clouds in order to manufacture what nature seemed resistant to produce on on its own. The jury is still out as to whether or not any of these experiments ever really accomplished anything that wouldn’t have happen anyway. But there is one kind of “cloud seeding” that we are really good at...

Reading: Isaiah 28-31 “ Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine, stagger, but not from beer. The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers). For you the whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, ‘Read this, please,’ he will answer, ‘I can’t; it is sealed.’ Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he will answer, ‘I don’t know how to read. ’” (Isaiah 29:9-12, NIV). Paul paraphrases these words in Romans 11:7-10, NIV, when he writes: “ What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear to this very day.’ As David says: ‘May their table become a snare and a trap, a s...

Reading: Isaiah 22-24, Titus 2 These Old and New Testament passages aren’t intended to combine in any particular way, but once in a while one seems to mesh quite nicely with the other. Today is one of those times. Let me give you the background. Chapter 22 of Isaiah recounts the story of God’s dealings with Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city knew they were in trouble. They had offended God and had subsequently been warned that He was not going to let them away with their rebellion any longer. The truth was that they were defeated long before the enemy arrived at their front gate. From verses 8 to 11 we see them frantically looking for a solution to their problem. They saw the weaknesses in their physical defenses and began to make what they thought were adequate repairs. Their mistake was not asking the One whose walls these were what HE saw. “ You did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago, ” writes Isaiah in verse 11. If they...

As summer wends its way toward fall, we anticipate the fruits of a harvest kissed by rain, and warmed by the sun. We watch our gardens for ripening fruit and vegetables, tasting the joy almost before it becomes reality. Ripe is good—or so I thought until this morning's devotional. Amos is having a vision. God shows him a basket of ripe fruit. But there is nothing sweet here. The Lord says: " The time is ripe for my people, Israel; I will spare them no longer " —Amos 8:2, NIV. He then goes on to describe the depths to which He will drive his people because of their persistent rebellion. It's not the kind of harvest anyone eagerly waits for. But there is worse to come. "' The days are coming,' declares the Sovereign Lord, 'when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of ...

Joanne Sher over at An Open Book , assigned 1 Peter 2:16 for today's MONDAY MANNA. Here are my thoughts. Check out the links on Joanne's blog for more. *********** Did that title get your attention? The original meaning of "libertine" is derived from the Latin libertinus , or freedman specifically, a freed slave or the son of a freed slave. Christians are the embodiment of this original definition—we are slaves liberated by Christ Jesus from our bondage to sin, from servitude to the sin master, and from the ultimate consequences of that bondage. I guess the early Christians (and we later ones) don't understand the Latin too well. Somehow "libertinus" quickly degraded into today's definition of freedom: "the power or right to act, speak, or to think as one wants without hindrance or restraint." Someone should have added: "without regard to the consequences" because there are ALWAYS consequences to the exercise of our freedom, whic...