Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Not Everything That’s Spiritual is Good Here’s the situation. The prophet Samuel is dead. God has abandoned King Saul, and the once-promising ruler is losing his grip on power. Saul prays, but God doesn’t respond. None of the ways Saul has heard from God in the past are working now. In desperation, he seeks a […]
Malachi Questions God and He Responds In the short book of Malachi, there is a reoccurring phrase “but you ask” (along with a few of variations thereof). This turns into a Question and Answer monologue, with God voicing the people’s unspoken questions and then responding. It’s like having a Q and A with God. Malachi […]
End Times Prophecy The book of Zechariah contains prophecy given by God to the prophet Zechariah about future events. A few centuries later the apostle John also had a revelation from God in the form of a dream, which he recorded in the book of Revelation. Consider the similarities between the books of Zechariah and […]
We Must Put God First Before Worrying about Ourselves In the short book of Haggai, the prophet has a message for the people and an application for us today. God, through Haggai, chastises his people. They live in nice homes, while God’s home—the temple—sits in shambles. It isn’t that God wants us to build great […]
Discover Why We Need to Help the Poor and Needy Even if you’ve not read the Bible, you have likely heard about Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities God destroyed for their extreme wickedness. The account of this is found in Genesis, chapters 18 and 19. In this text, the sexual depravity of the men of […]
Pursue the Right Priorities In the post about the effects of priority we saw that wrong priorities produces wrong outcomes, whereas right priorities results in God’s blessings. It is, however, worth it to consider the timing of these two events. The prophecy is given on the first day of the sixth month. The people respond […]
Discover More About Haggai In the short book of Haggai, the central theme is that God’s house (the temple) needs to be rebuilt. It lay in ruins. But the people have not done so because they are focused on their own houses and comfort. As far as God is concerned, their priorities are wrong. They’re […]
Discover More about Zephaniah A quick read of the beginning of the book of Zephaniah sounds a lot like Noah and the flood: “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and […]
Discover More about Zephaniah The short Old Testament book of Zephaniah opens with an apocalyptic prophecy. Amid the forth telling of doom and gloom is the reminder that “neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them.” The Message Bible, puts it more directly: “Don’t plan on buying your way out. Your […]
Discover More about Gideon Another familiar character in the book of Judges is Gideon. There are three whole chapters devoted to him. He is a fearful man who is at first cautious of God’s call. But eventually he does fully obey what God says to do. There are three initial things that God tells him, […]