Tag: expectations
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When God Has Had Enough
6The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him. 7So the anger of the LORD was…
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Pain and Sovereignty
46How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?How long will your wrath burn like fire?47Remember how short my time is!For what vanity you have created all the children of man!48What man can live and never see death?Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah 49Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,which by…
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Lead Me Higher!
1Hear my cry, O God,listen to my prayer;2from the end of the earth I call to youwhen my heart is faint.Lead me to the rockthat is higher than I,3for you have been my refuge,a strong tower against the enemy.–Psalm 61 Here is another psalm where David was overwhelmed. And in his depression, anxiety and fear…
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Two Basic Things
23The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”–Psalm 50 This was an angry psalm of rebuke. And God landed the plane with a little bit of hope and direction. We who study the Bible cling to those things. Here are…
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A Mom’s Joy
1Clap your hands, all peoples!Shout to God with loud songs of joy!–Psalm 47 One of my earliest memories of my mother is her teaching me to clap my hands and singing a song of praise to God. I also have treasured memories of my wife doing the same thing with each of our children. There’s…
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Be Acceptable
14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heartbe acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.–Psalm 19 My wife once cooked me a fantastic birthday dinner. And I remember that rather than gushing with thanksgiving, I decided to play a little joke on her. When she asked me how…
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Alone in His Category
31For who is God, but the LORD?And who is a rock, except our God?–Psalm 18 Recent drama notwithstanding, there are people who enjoy the Oscars. And the most important moments are the big awards at the end. Best Director, Actor, Actress, and Best Picture. These are the ones that watchers wait for. And they perfectly illustrate…
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Purposeful Declaration
10And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12Assemble the people, men, women,…
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The (c)Harem
16But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded, 18that they may not teach you to…
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Convenient Worship
1“You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.–Deuteronomy 17 Put yourself right now in the story of the ancient Israelite. You have this animal that has a defect. You have treated it special, hoping the…
Joel M Bradshaw 