If God Is Against You …

Posted on 2013/11/26 by Shawn Thomas

In I Samuel 28:16 “Samuel said, ‘Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and has become your adversary?'”
The background to that unusual verse is that Saul had sought God in :6 of this chapter, but He would not answer him. He had disobeyed and compromised and oppressed God’s servant David for too long. There was now nothing that God was going to do for him but judge him. Saul, seeking some word about his impending fortune (as if he didn’t know!) consulted Samuel through a medium. In a very unusual instance — which does NOT commend the occult to us, by the way, as this incident only led to Saul’s defeat and death — God allowed Samuel to share this bad news: “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and has become your adversary?”

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You Yourself Have Taught Me

Posted on 2013/11/25 by Shawn Thomas

In :102 of Psalm 119, the writer recalls: “I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me.” We observe in this verse the intimate connection between God and His word. To the Psalmist, “Your ordinances” equate to “You Yourself” teaching. He considered God’s word as personal instruction from God Himself. You can sense in his expression, “You Yourself have taught me” what a privilege he considered this to be.

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The Benefits of Delight

Posted on 2013/11/24 by Shawn Thomas

In Psalm 119:98, the Psalmist was overjoyed with the word of God, exclaiming: “Oh how I love Your Law; it is my meditation all the day.” We saw here how this “meditation” is not merely a “discipline”, but a heartfelt delight in scripture. Verses 98-100 of Psalm 119 go on to describe the amazing BENEFITS of meditating on God’s word:

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God’s Word: Discipline or Delight?

Posted on 2013/11/23 by Shawn Thomas

In Psalm 119:97 the writer exclaims: “Oh how I love Your Law; it is my meditation all the day.” How do we know that he really loved the word of God? The second part of the verse explains it:

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A Dead Giveaway!

Posted on 2013/11/22 by Shawn Thomas

In I Samuel 28, King Saul could not get an answer from the Lord for his request (because of Saul’s disobedience and inconsistency) and so he decided to take another course: he sought out a medium at En-dor. Verse 8 says: “Saul disguised himself by putting on other clothes, and went, he and two other men with him, and they came to the woman by night.” It is interesting that Saul “disguised himself.” It is obvious that he was ashamed of what he was doing. Continue reading →

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Glorious Saints

Posted on 2013/11/21 by Shawn Thomas

In I Samuel 28, the medium at En-dor brings Samuel up from the dead for Saul. Verse 12 says she cried out with a loud voice, and Saul asks her what she saw. She responds: “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.” In Hebrew, “divine being” is literally “a god.” Was the woman exaggerating? I think not. We have evidence from scripture that God’s people will be endowed with great glory in heaven.

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So Easily Entangled

Posted on 2013/11/20 by Shawn Thomas

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” It is instructive to us that the verse calls it: “the sin which SO EASILY entangles us”! The Bible indicates that it is not difficult to become entangled in sin; in fact it tells us here that it is “easy”! You don’t have to go out looking for it — it is coming after you! Continue reading →

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“The Little Condo on the Prairie” (11-19-13)

Posted on 2013/11/19 by Shawn Thomas

FFB WOES
Monday night, Cheryl and our daughter-in-law Ashley were virtually tied in their fantasy football matchup for the week, and each had a couple of players left in the game that evening. But Cheryl’s hopes vanished when her quarterback, Green Bay’s Aaron Rogers, went down early in the game with an injury. Then her other player, a wide receiver, left with an injury later and it was all over but the crying.
As they hauled her player off the field, I turned to Cheryl and sympathized: “Some people get all the breaks — and some get all the, well … BREAKS!”

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Just A Number of Days

Posted on 2013/11/19 by Shawn Thomas

I Samuel 27:7 says: “The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.” The chapter begins with David thinking that Saul would eventually kill him if he stayed in Israel, so he fled to Philistia, to live with Israel’s enemies. Verse 7 then tells us that the number of days he stayed there was only a year and four months. At the time it must have been very difficult, to live among the very enemies of God’s people, and he must have wondered how long it would last. Continue reading →

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Book Review: THINK: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper

Posted on 2013/11/18 by Shawn Thomas

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In the introduction to John Piper’s Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, Piper writes that his book is a plea not to be “either/or” regarding thinking and feeling, that we need them both. And he asserts: “thinking is one of the ways we put the fuel of knowledge … on the fires of worship.” The former is surely an appropriate admonition, and the latter is one of the salient points made in his book. Thinking is NOT intended to be fuel to “puff us up” (which in reality it too often does!) but fuel for us to appreciate God more specifically for Who He is and what He has done. I believe that although Piper was inconsistent (and sometimes frustrating to this reader) in places, that he achieved his main goal for the book, which was to encourage people to better love God through the discipline of thinking. Continue reading →

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