There are plenty of churches and church bodies today that have narrowed their doctrinal basis for membership or fellowship down to just a few basics, and have said or implied that we can agree to disagree about anything beyond that. Is that a Christian attitude? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
In Romans 13 Paul says that God has established all governing authorities. To where can we trace that divine establishment? And within that establishment, is the death penalty acceptable, or is it inherently evil and un-Christian? Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
The psalmist says he loves God’s commands even more than pure gold. Is he just trying to avoid the threat of God’s punishment by flattering him? Or is God’s word actually that valuable and lovable? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
In explicitly giving “all that lives and moves” to humans for food, God makes two exceptions. The first we covered last week. We now begin covering the second, that human life should not be taken for food, or for any reason, except as punishment for the taking of another human life. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
How and when can we tell the Lord that it is time for him to act? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Genesis 4:2–4 seems to strongly suggest that humans were already eating meat from animals before the Flood. So why does God specifically sanction the human eating of meat after the Flood? And why does he only give one restriction here, when he gives many more later? Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
As Americans, we don’t like the idea of being someone else’s servant or slave. But the psalmist freely confesses that he is God’s servant. In this devotion we consider what being God’s servant means for us. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Why do animals that could easily overpower and kill humans run away from them? Why do bugs and critters and fish fly and scurry and swim away as humans approach? Moses gives us the answer as he continues to record God’s promises to Noah and his family after the Flood. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
In Psalm 119:124, the psalmist asks God to deal with him according to his mercy. What is mercy, as opposed to other love words that are used of God? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Think of the load of responsibility on the shoulders of Noah and his sons as they look out over the vast and empty earth and realize that the future of mankind depends on them. Except God graciously makes sure it doesn’t. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
In Psalm 119:123, the psalmist literally says his eyes are languishing for the saying or utterance of God’s righteousness. Sometimes “of righteousness” can just be a fancy way of saying that the subject under discussion is righteous (e.g., an act of righteousness is a righteous act). But is that what the psalmist means here? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Many fear tactics, like the threat of global flooding due to the melting polar ice caps, are used today in an effort to persuade humans to take better care of the earth. We *should* be good stewards of the earth, but God’s promise in Genesis 8:22 makes it clear that such fear tactics are completely invalid. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
In Psalm 119:122, the psalmist pictures himself going with the Lord to the bank, only instead of going to obtain a loan for money, they are going to obtain the psalmist’s well-being, with the Lord serving as the guarantor. In this devotion we explore the Messianic overtones of this picture. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
After Noah and his family left the ark, he killed animals and then put each entire animal on an altar and burned the whole thing to the Lord. Why was this a soothing smell to the Lord, and why did it prompt him to add more promises to his existing promises? Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
The psalmist begins the sixteenth stanza of Psalm 119 with the statement, “I have done what is just and right”—a bold claim, especially after having just talked about his dread of God’s judgments at the end of the previous stanza. How can he make this claim? Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Can you imagine all the thoughts, concerns, and questions that Noah would have had on his mind after disembarking from the ark (after more than a year) onto a completely new and reshaped earth? Yet one thing was on his mind above all, and it was the right thing. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
No one has higher standards, no one is more strict, no one issues worse punishments than God. If we don’t come to grips with this truth, we will never truly come to grips with God’s grace. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
Many of us have experienced how, when humans given more power than usual over other humans in a vulnerable position, they are typically very reluctant to give it back up. They like have despotic control. Not God. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).
Dross is undesirable material or junk that floats to the top when you are melting metal. The psalmist says that God discards all the wicked of the earth as dross, and that is why he loves God’s testimonies. In this episode we consider what he means by that. Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4
By the time God finally commanded Noah and his family to come out of the ark, they had been on the ark together, along with the animals, for a year and ten days. We can only imagine what an eternity that must have seemed like. But as always, God’s timing was the right timing. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).