The Attributes of God:

When God Shouts for Joy Zephaniah 1-3 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (3:12).                   Reading through the prophets is often difficult because it seems the prophets continually beat the drum of God's judgment. One of the greatest mistakes people make is believing that God will not judge us or condemn our sin. However, through the prophets, God makes it clear that there will come a day of judgment when God condemns sin and those who practice it.                   However, as dark as the prophetic messages may seem, there is also interwoven throughout the prophets another message. It is a message of hope and affirmation for those who seek him. God never judge...

Where is God when We Cry in Sorrow? Habakkuk 1-3 “Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.”                     Habakkuk begins with a cry of despair and ends with a song of praise.  What happened, what changed his perspective from hopelessness to praise? How do we likewise find the voice of praise when we cry out in despair?                   Habakkuk cries out with a plea we also offer when we are going through times of trial and when we see the injustice in the world, where sin seems to be winning the day. “How long, O Lord, will I cry for help and you will not hear?” The words seem shocking coming from the lips of a prophet, yet they are the v...

Nahum 1-3 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.”                   The book of Jonah (written around 798 b.c.) ended with Nineveh repenting of their sins and Jonah frustrated that God would forgive even the worst of sinners. However, as is often the case, when the threat of judgment is abated, people quickly forget God and return to their sin. Such was the case with Nineveh. When Nahum came upon the scene in 662-627 b.c., Nineveh was again facing God's judgment for their wickedness, including their cruel treatment of the people they captured in war. As a result, God again pronounced the coming judgment upon the nation. However, this time there would be no repentance, and they would face complete destruction.                   Nahum opens with a pictur...

The Song of Victory Micah 7 “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my Salvation.  My God will hear me.  Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fill I will rise, Though I ddwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.” (7:7-8).                   Having proclaimed a series of judgments in the first part of the book, Micah now ends with a song of praise and thanksgiving for God’s victory. Like Micah, we live in a world that seems broken and divided. Every day we read the news and are confronted by a number of ominous headlines. But even more troubling is that, in our own lives, we often face struggles that seem overwhelming. We seem to have no victory in our struggle with sin. Every day we are confronted with the reality that our world is broken. Cancer strikes and destroys indiscriminately. We struggle with relationships with other...

The Coming of God: A Time of Judgment or a Time of Peace? Micah 1-4 “For Behold, the Lord is coming forth from His high place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.  The mountains will melt under Him and the Valleys will be split, Like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place.”                   Throughout the Bible, we find the theme of God’s return to the earth woven throughout its message. A central message of the Bible is that the times and events of the world are not cyclical but linear. It is often stated that history repeats itself. But it is also true that history is not just a series of arbitrary events that happen to particular people. History is directed by God and moving toward the conclusion that he has established. History began with the creation of humanity and their placement in the Garden. It concludes in the book of Revelation with...

Judgement and Grace Obadiah and Jonah “I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and one who relents concerning calamity.” Jonah 4:2                   One reason people do not like to read the Old Testament, especially the prophetic books, is that they seem so dark and foreboding. The continual pronouncement of coming judgment becomes unrelenting. From the prophetic passages, people conclude that the wrath and severity of judgment conflict with Christ's message that God is gracious and abounding in mercy. However, we often miss one very important truth. All the judgments pronounced in the prophets came  before  the events rather than after them. Such is the case with the pronouncement of Obadiah of God’s impending judgment upon the nation of Edom for their violence and spiritual arrogance. Rather than follow ...

Seeing our nation through the lens of God. Amos 1-5 “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (5:15).                   In a politically divided world, it is easy to see the faults of the other political party but remain ignorant of the sins of our own party.  We tend to look at our nation through the lens of the party with which we affiliate. However, political lenses are always distorted.  We condemn the other party while overlooking the sins that are perpetrated by the party we affirm. This was the fault of Israel.  They were quick to judge and condemn the governments and people around them while justifying their own actions.                     The book of Amos begins with the condemn...

When Famine Strikes Amos 6-9 “Behold, days are coming declares,” the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord.”                   In an age of the internet, podcasts, and social influencers, it is easy to find people who say what we want to hear and affirm what we want to believe. The vast amount of information available online has ushered in a new phase, “confirmation bias.” Confirmation bias is when we seek out information that affirms what we want to believe and reject or ignore information that challenges what we believe. But confirmation bias is not new; it has plagued people since the beginning of time and afflicted the people of Israel during the time of Amos. When Amos warned the people of God’s judgment because of sin, instead of listening to him, they accused him of promoting insurrection a...

Seeing our nation through the lens of God. Amos 1-5 “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (5:15).                   In a politically divided world, it is easy to see the faults of the other political party but remain ignorant of the sins of our own party.  We tend to look at our nation through the lens of the party with which we affiliate. However, political lenses are always distorted.  We condemn the other party while overlooking the sins that are perpetrated by the party we affirm. This was the fault of Israel.  They were quick to judge and condemn the governments and people around them while justifying their own actions.                     The book of Amos begins with the condemn...

The Grace and Justice of God Joel 1-3 “The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and earth tremble.  But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel.  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” 3:16-17.                   The Day of the Lord has always posed a challenge for the student of the Bible. It speaks of a time when God will pour out the devastation of His judgment, as well as a time of salvation for His people. It is a day of terror and a day of hope. The Day of the Lord encompasses events in the past as well as those still to come. Joel begins with the pronouncement of God’s coming judgment upon the nation of Israel. In 1:1-2:17, the message is similar to that of the other prophets, a pronouncement of coming judgment upon the nation for its sins. Throughout the prophets, we find warnings of God’s i...

The Longing of God Hosea 11-14 “I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love.”                   We often view God as distant and impersonal.  We see Him as one who is in heaven, detached from our lives and the affairs of the world.  However, as we read through the prophets, a different picture emerges.  Although God brings judgment upon sin because of His holiness, he is still a compassionate God who longs to have a personal relationship with us.  Throughout the book of Hosea, the themes of Judgment and grace are interwoven to present us a picture of God.  God is not in heaven detached from His creation and from us.  The more Israel rebelled, the more He sent the prophets to call them back (Hosea 11:2).  Despite their sin, He still has compassion for His people in 11:3-4. Looking back at the Exodus, God reminds them that H...

Our Greatest Spiritual Threat Hosea 6-10 “Strangers devour his strength, yet he does not know it; Gray hairs also are sprinkled on him, yet he does not know it.  Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought Him, for all this.” (7:9-10).                   The people of Israel must have been shocked when they heard Hosea’s message condemning them for their sin. They were doing all the right things. They were going to the temple to make their sacrifices and observe all the feasts. They were confident that they were doing all the right things and fulfilling God’s commands. However, for all their outward observances of the law, they forgot one important truth, that the heart is deceitful above all things and that external acts of worship do not necessarily reveal the genuine condition of the heart.    ...

Devastating Judgment and Outrageous Grace  Hosea 1-5 “I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face: In their affliction, they will earnestly seek Me.” (Hosea 5:15)                   Hosea ministered during a time when the northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah were beginning to become entrenched in their worship of Baal, the chief god of the Canaanites. It was a time when Assyria was rising to power and starting to pose a genuine threat to Israel. As a result, they faced the threat of war and uncertainty. We see the same thing in our country today. There is growing apprehension and fear that our nation is on the brink of disaster. We fear the uncertainty of our geopolitical world. Even though our economy is doing well, there is apprehension that economic disaster is just around the corner. We see an increase in natural disasters ...

Examining our Lives in Light of the Certainty of God’s Word. Daniel 9-12 “Therefore, the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.” Chapters 9-12 of Daniel are remarkable for several reasons. First, Daniel is given a prophecy that accurately describes the history from his day to the arrival of the Messiah. In chapter 9, Daniel describes 70 prophetic weeks that will come. The first 69 weeks (each consisting of a 7-year period) point us to the arrival of the Messiah. Determining the exact starting point of the 69 weeks has led to two views. The first is that the 69 weeks begin with the decree of Nehemiah in 450 BC. If this date is correct, then the 483 years predicted by the prophecy culminate in the triumphant entry of Christ into the city of Jerusalem. The 2 nd  view is that the 69 weeks begin with Ezra in 457 BC. In this case, the first 7 weeks would...

Hope when times become Dark Daniel 6-8 “And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him.”                   When Nebuchadnezzar was restored to power after God humbled him, it was a time of blessing and prosperity for the people of Israel.  While we do not know for certain, Nebuchadnezzar’s confession in 4:34-35 would seem to indicate that he became a genuine follower of the God of Israel.  With his proclamation, the worship of the God of Israel was elevated to the high level of blessing and approval.  With the proclamation, the Jews must have rejoiced, for it seems as if their misfortune of the exile was turning around.  However, after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, Belshazzar took power. Rather than affirming the worship of the God of Israel, he openly mocked God.  It was a t...