Archive for March, 2008
Bible in a Year… Day 54 (Isaiah 40-44)
March 27th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Bible in a Year
It’s Thursday, so that means we’re back in Biblical prophecy again… Isaiah 40-44.
I love how God gives comfort to His people in today’s reading:
We have descriptions of God’s power and majesty…
Isaiah 40:12 (NIV)
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
Isaiah 40:26 (NIV)
26Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
We have descriptions of God’s love and care…
Isaiah 40:11 (NIV)
11He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
And we have encouragement…
Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV)
29He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.30Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;31but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Good stuff.
Bible in a Year… Day 53 (Job 15-16)
March 26th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Bible in a Year
Back in Job today.
Job 16:1-5 (NIV)
1Then Job replied:2“I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!3Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?4I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.5But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
Job’s friends have continually brought accusation after accusation against him… encouraging him to turn to God and confess whatever sins he has committed. While wise counsel… IF TRUE… their words merely rub salt in an open wound to Job.
Here he is… innocent of sin against God… suffering because God chose to allow it to demonstrate to Satan the depth of Job’s faithfulness to Him… standing continually accused by his friends.
I wonder if we often do the same thing with our friends. In an effort to comfort, do we often bring pain instead? When we should perhaps simply be a listening ear, a comforting shoulder, or the like… do we often ramble on trying to find words to say to help? Words that, in all reality, simply twist the knife a bit deeper?
Are we miserable comforters?
I hope not.
Bible in a Year… Day 52 (Psalm 21-23)
March 25th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Bible in a Year
Psalm Tuesday again. Since today we include in our reading Psalm 23, I think I’ll just post a video of this Psalm recited.
I know you’ll enjoy it (whether you’ve seen it before or not).
Keep Praying for Us…
March 24th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » My Life / Family, Prayer Requests
Please keep praying for the Stickley family… all of us. Jeffrey, Jenna, Allison, Nancy and me.
You see, between the five of us, we’ve battled more than our fair share of illnesses in the last week… pneumonia (Allison and me), flu / sinus infections (Jeffrey, Jenna, and me), and now strep throat (Nancy). The end doesn’t appear to be in sight just yet, and we’re absolutely SICK of being sick.
Anyway, pray not only for our healing, but for endurance. Neither Nancy nor I have had a good night’s sleep in a week, and we’re simply worn out!
Bible in a Year… Day 51 (Judges 12-16)
March 24th, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Bible in a Year
More from Judges today. Notes follow from chapters 12-16:
The account of Sampson found in Judges 12-16 fascinates me. Here’s a man given immense strength by God, with one way to be made weak like normal men… having his head shaved. Funny how that’s not really his ultimate downfall though…
Check out the following verses, and see the theme:
Judges 13:12-13 (NIV)
12“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.””Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
Judges 13:15-17 (NIV)
15On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”16Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
”I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
Judges 16:15:19 (NIV)
15Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.17So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Did you catch the theme? Sampson’s downfall isn’t necessarily losing his strength, but lack of wisdom in allowing himself to be deceived by nagging women.
I’m thinking the application here could get me in trouble… 
Just kidding.
Wisdom. How do we know when to be truthful, and when to withhold details? Are we walking the razor’s edge of lying when we only tell half the truth? Are there any instances in which it’s Biblically okay to NOT tell the complete truth?
I’m sure we can all think up some hypothetical scenarios where truthfulness could be harmful… do you think it is ever acceptable to lie, given that Scripture makes clear the imperative to avoid false testimony?
What do you think?
Amazing how such a straightforward issue of faith can be so complex, huh?
Blog Madness at SBC Voices…
March 23rd, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Just For Fun..., My Life / Family
I can’t resist sharing this here. It’s “Blog Madness” time at SBC Voices… time to find out who the real voices of influence are in the Southern Baptist Convention.
Somehow, Tony Kummer (the man behind SBC Voices) decided I was worthy, so I’m in… I made the dance as a #16 seed in the West region. Woohoo for the underdog!
I’d tell all of you to go and vote for me, but that would defeat Tony’s current opinion of my as a very humble individual. 
So how ’bout this? Go and vote for your favorite SBC blogger who rarely focuses on anything SBC-related anymore.
Have fun!
Bible in a Year… Day 50 (Genesis 28-31)
March 23rd, 2008 | Comments Off | Posted in » Bible in a Year
Week eight begins in Genesis again… chapters 28-31.
Notes follow:
In chapters 29 and 30 of Genesis, we get the sordid tale of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. It sure seems fit for the Springer Show, if you ask me.
First we find Jacob asking for the right to marry Rachel, and finding that her father will require seven years of work from him for the privilege. When the wedding day comes, somehow, Rachel’s sister, Leah, jumps into her place through her father’s deception of Jacob… and Jacob doesn’t find out until the next morning. Hello?
Then we find Jacob asking for the right to marry Rachel again… and getting it in exchange for another seven years work. So now he has two wives.
Next? Children. A bunch of them. Borne by Leah, Rachel’s maidservant (with Rachel’s permission), Leah’s maidservant (with Leah’s permission), and finally Rachel herself.
What is up with all of this? I know God hasn’t given Israel the Law yet, but still… isn’t God the same throughout all time? How then can He choose to bless any of this?
It’s things like this that confuse me in the Old Testament.
What about you?