Grains of Sand

Pixabay They are referred to, and not always very kindly, as "ambulance-chasers"—you know, the lawyers who offer to get you a big payout when you  feel you have been mistreated, or misrepresented, in some way.  "Sue" is a three-letter word that lights up the eyes of lawyers, raises the hopes of victims, real or imaginary, and is a thorn in the flesh to those on its receiving end. Peter weighs in on victimology, specifically in the case of those who work for others, in 1 Peter 2:18-23. In his day that meant "slaves"—those who were obligated to work without compensation and often under harsh conditions. Many modern-day employees, rightly or wrongly, think of themselves in the same terms as the real slaves of Peter's day would have thought of themselves.—underpaid, overworked, abused, unappreciated, overlooked. For the believers to whom Peter is addressing his letter there might have been another item added to that list—persecuted for the...

Pixabay As is always true, there so many diamonds to dig out of every passage of Scripture. A lifetime is not enough to find them all and expose every one of their glorious facets. We look briefly at a couple from 1 Peter 1:17-19 as we consider our pilgrimage or journey through this death valley of life and we look toward home.  Earlier this morning I was reading through the book of Amos. It's a book of judgment sprinkled with a little hope. But two words stuck out: justice and righteousness. The absence, or perversion, of these two in the lives of God's people, Israel, brought judgment down on their heads. God's judgment fell equally both on the enemies of His people as well as on His people. He will not be mocked by either. Peter alludes to that as he writes: " Since you call on a Father who judges each other's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or...

Pixabay The most recent flurry of debate in the US surrounds the commutation of the sentence of Bradley (a.k.a. Chelsea) Manning, a soldier sentenced to 35 years for passing on military secrets, but who has only served 7 of those years. The argument behind the commutation, I assume, was not that the crime was not serious, but that the sentence was excessive. But to some, 35 years was not enough and Manning’s execution as a traitor would have been even more appropriate. The debate will rage on. But we often wonder if our justice system is indeed just. We can cite all kinds of examples. We wonder if the frail hands into which the meting out of justice is entrusted, are adequate for the task. Justice became the theme for Abraham in the latter part of Genesis 18. “ Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? ” (Genesis 18:25). These were the words of a nervous Abraham when he discovered the Almighty’s intention of bringing judgment down on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. His nephew...

my2ndheartbeat (Google Images) Isaiah 30 is just one of many exposés on the heart. The record we have of Israel’s constant struggle with God reminds us so much of our struggles. God shows us one path and we follow another. The results are inevitably disastrous. The chapter is titled Woe to the Obstinate Nation and contains a litany of complaints on the part of God directed to a people who insisted on finding their courage, strength, help, salvation, in all the wrong places. When we come to verses 15 to 18 we find the summary. This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountai...

“ There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins ” —Ecclesiastes 7:20, NIV. Last night I watched the beginning of a televisions series called The Borgias. Though I haven’t read up on the subject recently and I am certain a lot of fiction has been added to the facts, history doesn’t deny that these leaders of the church in the fifteenth century (or any other century) was unholy men dressed up in holy clothes. Before I began to watch the movie I had been at church facilitating a discussion on evil and suffering.   The movie left me with that age old question prompted by the discussion: Why? Many of the saints of Scripture asked God, Why? Someone commented last night that it was too pat an answer to say that evil and suffering exist because we live in a broken world, and that we need to focus on fact that there is another world, a better world that is to come. It was a good thought. But the inescapable truth is that our world is broken, we broke ...

It's one of those conundrums of Scripture, a contradiction where there shouldn't be one, a crack in God's armour, a flaw in his character. Isn't he the one who is infinite in love, mercy and patience? That being true, then how can the Scriptures say: " …and the Lord was not willing to forgive " —2 Kings 24:4, NIV? I can't remember how many times people have reacted to those early verses in Exodus where the Scriptures tell us that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not repent and allow Israel to leave Egypt. No one likes that idea and there is always push back when it comes to entertaining the notion that God might not be infinite in mercy or patience, a situation which, for some, calls into question whether or not he is infinite in love. In the passage in 2 Kings, Josiah has died. He had been warned, as had Hezekiah, that Jerusalem was going to be overrun and Judah devastated, her people taken into captivity in Babylon. Sparing ...

2 Samuel 13-15 Amnon deceived her, used her, and then threw her away like last week's garbage. Tamar was ruined, raped by her half-brother and condemned to a life of disgrace. Such was the society of King David's day. Even her father did nothing to right the wrong done to her. " When King David heard all this, he was furious " —2 Samuel 13:21. Sorry, David, fury doesn't cut it. But David's reaction, and lack of action, is typical. We often get angry at injustice, but never get beyond the anger to the action, to righting the wrongs. The Scriptures tell us that Tamar's brother, Absalom, finally took matters into his hands and killed Amnon. That wasn't exactly the right solution to the problem and could have been avoided if David had done his duty on behalf of his daughter. So the children with the hollow eyes and the swollen bellies in some faraway land, die. So the homeless freeze to death on the cold, wintery streets of our cities. So we ...