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  Bible reading for weekend Oct 29 -- 31 Oct 29 -- Hosea 2 and Psalm 119:97-120 Oct 30 -- Hosea 3-4 and Psalm 119:121-144 Oct 31 -- Hosea 5-6 and Psalm 119:145-176 ================   "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6) ISRAEL'S ADULTERY (ch 2). Marital infidelity, along with sexual promiscuity, is no laughing matter. Hosea experienced this pain first hand. Human sexuality is a gift from God meant to be a dimension of a life-long covenant relationship between and man and a woman. Israel's idolatry -- which often included sexual activity in pagan worship -- was a breach of trust between God's people and himself. They took the blessings God gave them (crops, wealth, and prosperity) and offered it to foreign gods. Israel "...did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal" (v 8). This is true of a...

Bible reading for May 3 --4 May 3 -- Song of Solomon 8 and Hebrews 8 May 4 -- Isaiah 1 and Hebrews 9  ================    "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD." (Song of Solomon 8:6)  FINAL CHAPTER (ch 8). The couple's love continues to grow and mature. For a good summary of this concluding chapter see Constable's notes here . One note on the "little sister" (6:8-10)... This a poetic expression of the Shulammite's older brothers protecting their sister's purity in her earlier years. The Bible teaches the primacy of the family in guarding the purity and sexuality of the children. It is not the place of the schools or government or media to override parents in their role of teaching children about God's design for human sexuality. Our culture is seriously perverted in this regard.   THE POWER OF LOVE. Wh...

Bible reading for weekend April 30 -- May 2 If you are receiving these posts by email through Feedburner -- the Google app on this website, soon to be deactivated -- this will be your last emailed post. If you wish to continue receiving these posts by email you will need to subscribe to my Buttondown newsletter listed here .   Apr 30 -- Song of Solomon 5 and Hebrews 5 May 1 -- Song of Solomon 6 and Hebrews 6 May 2 -- Song of Solomon 7 and Hebrews 7 ================    "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." (Song of Solomon 7:10)  DIFFICULTIES (ch 5). The couple has moved from courtship (1:2-3:5) to the wedding night (3:6-5:1) and on to maturity (5:2-8:14). There's a time in every marriage when one or the other partner lacks energy or passion to overcome the obstacles to continued love. Marriage partners must rise above their selfishness to keep pursuing their beloved. The Shulammite finally rouses herself to pursue her lover. She searches and is beaten ...

Bible reading for April 28 -- 29 NOTE: the FeedBurner app sending emails from this site will be deactivated at the end of this week. To continue receiving these posts by email you must subscribe via Buttondown .  Apr 28 -- Song of Solomon 3 and Hebrews 3 Apr 29 -- Song of Solomon 4 and Hebrews 4 ================    "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." (Song of Solomon 4:7)  THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE. You may have noticed, there is a wedding theme running throughout Scripture. It begins with Adam's words, "...this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh..." (Gen 2:23) and culminates in the wedding feast when "...the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready..." (Rev 19:7)(see also Psalm 45; John 2; Eph 5).  I've officiated quite a few weddings over the years ( 75 at last count ), and I can't remember a single ceremony where the bride wasn't beautiful! A lot of time, effort, and exp...

Bible reading for April 26 -- 27 Apr 26 -- Song of Solomon 1 and Hebrews 1 Apr 27 -- Song of Solomon 2 and Hebrews 2 ================    "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." (Song of Solomon 2:4)  THE GREAT ROMANCE. Biblical wisdom contemplates the great mysteries of life. Job dealt with pain, and now Solomon deals with pleasure. Proverbs warns against sexual sin, and Ecclesiastes tells us to enjoy our family life, and here is a book dedicated to extolling the beauty of courtship, romance, marriage, and sexuality. It's a book filled with sensual (in a good sense) imagery and metaphors drawn from nature. Marriage in all of its dimensions, including sexual relations, is good. Josh McDowell used to say, "Sex is God's idea. He even created the plumbing!" The Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) is about our marriages and also about our relationship with the Lord. Everything beautiful in love and marriage -- its co...

Bible reading for March 17 -- 18 Mar 17 -- Proverbs 4 and Galatians 3 Mar 18 -- Proverbs 5 and Galatians 4 "When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.'" (Proverbs 4:3-4)  GET WISDOM (ch 4). Four sections follow, each introduced directly to "my son" or "sons" (4:1, 10, 20; 5:1). Some scholars suggest Proverbs was written as a training manual for Solomon's sons, as future princes needing to learn about righteous leadership. Be that as it may, Proverbs is applicable for all the sons and daughters of the eternal King, our Lord Jesus. One thing highlighted in these chapters is the inter-generational, mentoring relationship between parents and children (cf Deut 6:4-9; Eph 6:4). God created the family, along with the church, to be the primary conduit of passing truth on to succeeding generations (Mal 2:14-16). As you ...

Bible reading for February 17 -- 18 Feb 17 -- Job 16-17 and 1 Corinthians 4 Feb 18 -- Job 18 and 1 Corinthians 5 "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor." (Job 16:19-21)  CAN I GET A WITNESS?  (ch 16-17) Job's friends are insisting on a simple and straightforward explanation for his suffering. Job does not buy it. But he is perplexed by what seems to him to be a serious contradiction.  His life circumstances testify (give witness) to Job's being under severe judgment from God (16:8). But he is also confident that God is his witness and the only one who can testify to Job's upright walk (16:19).  At heart, Job believes that God is just. But he wonders who could mediate between a man and God in a human, neighborly way? Hint: only God will be able to do that (1 Tim 2:5).    BILDAD...

Bible reading for October 28.  2 Kings 9. "And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD." (2 Kings 9:7)  IS IT PEACE?   Two kings and one queen will die in this chapter. "Is it peace?" is asked twice (vv 22, 31). Jehu answers, "What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?" (v 22) It's a brutal and grisly ending to their reigns. The irony is that Jezebel, hearing that Jehu was on his way, had just finished putting on her make-up (v 30) when she is thrown down and eaten by dogs. Jezebel has become a symbol of seduction, immorality, and idolatry (Rev 2:20). She is a kind of foreshadowing of the great prostitute in Revelation 17. She apparently used her beauty (and influence) to manipulate, deceive, and lead a nation astray. She murdered God's prophets, and led Ahab (a...

Bible reading for October 8.  1 Kings 11. "For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father." (1 Kings 11:4)  FALLING APART. To say that Solomon had a problem with women is an understatement. How could he even remember the names of 1000 women he had been intimate with? The foreign women, especially, posed a difficult problem. Such marriages were a common way to make alliances with nearby nations, but these wives -- not converts to Yahweh worship -- would want to preserve their own culture and make Jerusalem feel more culturally comfortable. This, of course, brought pressure on Solomon to build worship sites to accommodate them. One compromise led to another, and so, Solomon, who loved these women, introduced pagan worship into God's land. Judgment comes in the form of adversaries, one of whom, Jeroboam, will actually take away ten of the tribes (northern ...

Bible reading for September 17.  2 Samuel 13. "But Absalom fled and went to Talmai the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son day after day." (2 Samuel 13:37)  FAMILY SINS. This event likely took place some years later but is recorded here, following the events of chapter 12, to show the fulfillment of God's words to David through the prophet Nathan: "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife" (12:10). We read of Amnon's sexual assault upon his half-sister. Then nothing is done about this. Two years later Absalom conspires to murder Amnon, does so, and flees the territory. Again, it appears that David is passive. Surely, this is something of a replay of Genesis 3-4, with temptation presented (with shrewdness), an appeal to sight and pleasure, the passivity of male leadership, and resulting family violence (see also James 4:1-3; ...

Bible reading for September 15.  2 Samuel 11. "It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful." (2 Samuel 11:2) SEX AND POWER. Most Christian men know the story of David and Bathsheba better than the story of David and Goliath. This story is especially relevant to men... the pitfall which comes with idleness, a beautiful and forbidden woman, opportunity, and lack of accountability. David should have been doing something productive rather than sleeping in the afternoon and channel surfing the rooftops. David, like many near-eastern kings, felt entitled to the extra pleasure that came with power and authority.  How many leaders down through history (and today) have fallen through affairs, pornography, or some other sexual sin. The evil mounts up: sight is followed by the deed, then there is deception and cover-up. Others are involve...

Bible reading for Sep 2.  I Samuel 26. "Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD's anointed and be guiltless?" (1 Samuel 26:9) SAUL SPARED AGAIN. David again refrains from killing Saul. Many of his day would say that he was being foolish and neglecting a good chance to remove a wicked king. Yet, David is ordering his life and behavior before the Lord in reverence. God placed Saul as king ("anointed"), and David was trusting that God would remove him in time.     ORDAINED BY GOD. What does it mean when we say a ruling authority has been ordained by God, especially if it is an evil ruler?  First, it does not mean that God approves of evil. God has made his moral will clear to us in the teachings of the Bible. But God also has a will of decree, meaning that he approves that certain things come to pass. God's decree -- what he wills or ordains to come to pass -- takes into account, and uses, free human agency. When somethin...