Psalm 156 from Beyond Psalm 150 With the people poised to take the promised land, Moses recaps their forty-year history in the desert and reviews the instructions God gave them. At one point Moses leads the people in a liturgy of blessings (for obedience) and curses (for disobedience). In this the Levites make a statement […]
Psalm 154 from Beyond Psalm 150 As the people of Israel travel about in the desert, water is scarce. They reach the city of Beer. God instructs Moses to gather the people, and he will provide water to quench their thirst. The people respond collectively, praising God in song. Though this seems like a poem […]
Psalm 152 from Beyond Psalm 150 Psalm 90 is the oldest chapter in the book of Psalms. Moses wrote it. Though it’s his only entry in the Psalms, Moses penned other songs as well, but we need to search for them. We encounter one in the book of Exodus, we’ll call it the song of […]
On Pentecost God Gives Us the Holy Spirit as Our Guide to Replace the Law Pentecost occurs fifty days after Resurrection Sunday (Easter). It’s a significant event in the early church. That’s when the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus’s followers in an extraordinary way. The Holy Spirit empowers team Jesus to share his good news […]
Even One Sin Is Enough to Disqualify Us from Attaining God’s Perfect Standard; Jesus Bridges the Gap The book of Deuteronomy concludes with the death of Moses. Moses faithfully leads God’s people as they wander in the desert for forty years, brings them to the border of the land God had promised to give to […]
Moses Explained the Three Key Elements of Worship and We Still Follow Them Our churches today function in much the same way as outlined in the Old Testament. We follow the Old Testament model for church. We pursue these same three key elements. We meet in a building, hire paid staff to represent God to […]
After Their Situation Changes, David Gives Them New Jobs The book of Numbers is so named because it starts and ends with a census—a numbering of the people. These take place forty years apart. Moses orchestrates both counts, at God’s command. For the third part of the first census, Moses counts all men who can […]
Will We Follow Through When the Pressure’s Off? God’s chosen people toil as slaves in Egypt. He tasks Moses with getting them out. So far things aren’t going so well. God has sent seven plagues to get the Pharaoh’s attention, without achieving the people’s release. Plague number eight is on its way: Locusts. An army […]
God Does What It Takes to Get People’s Attention God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and gives him a prophecy against Ammon, against Moab, against Philistia, and against Tyre. The prophecy against Tyre is the longest and most devastating, but all four carry the same rationale. God will inflict them with punishment for their past […]
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 […]