Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
The Old Testament Law Talks about Offering Sacrifices to God, but What If He Wants More? King Solomon writes in the book of Ecclesiastes that we need to be careful when approaching God. “Guard your steps,” he says. This is wise advice. Then he adds something more: “Go near to listen.” He even places listening […]
Though God Doesn’t Change, but the Way He Relates to Us Has We divide the Bible in two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament focuses on the relationship of Father God to his people and looks forward to the coming Savior. The New Testament centers on Jesus and the work […]
When Does Eternal Life Begin The phrase eternal life occurs forty-two times in the Bible. But what exactly does this mean? Do you know that eternal life begins now? Some think that it is a synonym for heaven. If we believe in Jesus, we will go to heaven when we die. That is what eternal […]
The Bible Teaches Us Leadership Principles The book of Proverbs overflows with wise advice and thought-provoking sayings. Often these one-liners produce the material for great soundbites or social media memes. Yet some parts require a bit more work before we can find value in their words. Such is the case with Proverbs 14:28. It says, […]
Our Worship verses God’s Work After God finishes with his amazing creation he takes time on the seventh day to rest. He declares the day holy. Later in the Old Testament, God reminds his people to keep the Sabbath holy and to not work. How should this inform our worship of our creator? Yea, a […]
The Bible Overflows With Praise to the Almighty The word praise occurs in more than 360 verses in the Bible. Most of these refer to praising God. They tell of people who praise God and their need to do so. Consider the short, six-verse Psalm 150. It’s filled with praise. The word occurs thirteen times. […]
Jesus Saves Perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16. It says that if we believe in Jesus we will experience life eternal. What could be simpler; we just need to believe. God does the hard part, providing a way for us to live forever with him. How cool is that? The verse […]
A Hopeless Situation Imagine you are going down the side of a 200-foot cliff—with a 100-foot rope. At 99 feet down, you find yourself literally dangling “at the end of your rope.” What an apt metaphor for a hopeless situation. At this juncture, there are but three options—none of them good: Eugene Peterson uses this […]
When We Focus on Other People, We May Lose Sight of Our Own Calling As Jesus wraps up his stint on earth, he spends some time with his disciples, the core group he trained for three years. They will need to carry on without him, and he wants to make sure they’re ready. First, he […]
Expressions of Grief Abound in the Psalms but We’ve Forgotten How to Lament In the churches I have attended throughout my life and visited in the past few years (nearly one hundred) I don’t remember singing songs of lament. We laud God the Father, we express love to Jesus and give thanks for his gift […]