Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Consider How the Bible Teaches Us to Treat One Another The Bible gives us many “one another” commands that instruct us how to treat one another. Things to Do Love one another (John 13:34, John 13:35, Romans 13:8, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 3:11, 1 John 3:23, 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:11, 1 John […]
May Our Actions Show Our Righteousness We discussed the faith of Abraham demonstrated through his willingness to act. This is understandable; we uphold Abraham as a great example of faith. Yet after James talks about Abraham’s great faith in action (James 2:25), he immediately adds Rahab as another example. Rahab, you may recall, was a […]
We Must Take Care of the Poor Among Us As we read through the law of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, we come across a command that says that we are to “give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart” (Deuteronomy 15:10). We might have the inclination to dismiss this command […]
Be Sure to Follow Through on What You Promise to Do Have you ever promised God that you’d do something for him? Sometimes these occur from the Holy Spirit’s stirring within our souls. Yet other times, these come at a traumatic moment in a person’s life when they’re in the middle of a crisis. They […]
Understanding the Background behind the Death of Uzzah The book of Numbers contains details that are easy to gloss over or dismiss as irrelevant, even boring. Yet they’re in the Bible for a reason, and we can learn something from each one of these verses, no matter how trivial they may seem. Such is the […]
Leviticus Warns Against Everything Unclean, but Jesus Has a Different Response I’ve never met anyone who likes the book of Leviticus, and many admit to skimming it when it comes up in their Bible reading plan, yet a thoughtful read of this often-tedious book reveals startling insights. Today’s section talks about the unclean: unclean people, […]
Sunday Should Not Be a Day of Restriction but a Day of Freedom and Celebration In the book of Exodus, God and Moses have a face-to-face meeting. That is significant. How cool would it be to have a direct conversation with the Almighty? Certainly, we’d remember what he told us and be careful to follow […]
For Forty Years the Israelites Had Two Signs from God to Guide Them After spending four-hundred years in Egypt, the repressed children of God finally get a chance to leave. This comes under the leadership of Moses. We know of Moses’s meetings with Pharaoh to negotiate the Israelites’ release, of ten plagues, and the people’s […]
God Reveals the Meaning of Dreams to Joseph Joseph (son of Jacob, in the Old Testament) is in a world of hurt. His life has spiraled downward. The favorite son of his father, his jealous brothers stoop to selling him as a slave to some passing traders. Joseph ends up in Egypt, a slave to […]
Lot Is Blessed When Abraham Is Near When Abram went to the land God promised him, he took Lot with him even though he wasn’t supposed to. Abram had to deal with the consequences of his decision. Consider the rise and fall of Lot. For Lot, there were consequences too. When he traveled with Abram, […]