Musing: The Bible Jeremiah 6

10 To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed and they are stubborn and refuse to listen. Behold, they scorn the Word of the Lord, it is an offensive reproach to them. They have no delight in it; they laugh at what You tell me to say.

13 For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain. And from the prophet even to the priest, they are all frauds. Everyone deals falsely, practices deceit, and cheats the people.

14 They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, Peace,’ but there is no peace.

15 Were they ashamed because of the loathsome disgusting abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all.

16 Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand at the crossroads and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.”’

19 Hear O earth; Behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they refuse to listen to Me; they have rejected My Words.

Musing: The Bible Isaiah 42

18

Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.

19

Is anyone more blind than My servant,

Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?

Who is so blind like the one committed to Me,

Or so bind as the servant of the Lord?

20

You have seen many things, but you refuse to act on them;

Your ears are open, but you hear nothing.

21

The Lord was pleased for His righteousness sake

To exalt the Law and make it glorious.

22

But His own people have been robbed and plundered;

All of them are enslaved in caves, or hidden away in prisons;

They have become a prey with none to deliver them,

And a spoil, with none to say, ‘Give them back!’

23

Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will give heed and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?

24

Who gave Jacob up for plunder, and Israel to robbers?

It was the Lord Himself against whom we have sinned.

For they were not willing to walk in His ways,

Nor were they obedient to His Law.

25

Therefore He poured out on him the heat of His anger

And the fierceness of battle.

It has set him aflame all around,

Yet they still refused to understand;

And it burned them, but they did not take it to heart;

We learned nothing at all from it.

Musing: Galatians 5

1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be entangled again in a yoke of bondage slavery.

4 You have been alienated, estranged, and reduced to inactivity from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

16 Walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the lust of the flesh.

24 Now those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Musing: Famous Protests in the Bible

I will ascend; I will raise my throne; I will be like the Most High! Behold a great red dragon and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Nevertheless, you will be thrown down to hell, to the sides of the pit – Isaiah 14 – Revelation 12.

Your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods. She took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Dust you are and to dust you shall return – Genesis 2 & 3.

The men of the city of Sodom surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every end. Bring out the men who came to you tonight that we might have sex with them. Then the Lord rained on Sodom brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven – Genesis 19.

250 leaders, men of renown, rose up against Moses and said, “Why do you exalt yourselves; would you lord it over us?” The ground that was under them split open so that they went down alive to hell – Numbers 16.

All the men along with all the women, a large assembly, and all the people said, “As for the Word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! Bur rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths! Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am watching over them for harm and not for good; all will be finished by sword and by famine till they come to an end –Jeremiah 44.

Soon the whole city was in an uproar and they rushed together, dragging off Paul’s companions. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together – Acts 19.

When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations, to gather them together for the war. And they came up and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire, and will be tormented day and night forever and ever – Revelation 20.

Behold, the dwelling of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people; and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said: ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said: “Write, for these Words are faithful and true!’ – Revelation 21.

 

 

Musing: The Bible Ezekiel 33

30 Son of man, your people talk about you in their houses, saying, ‘Come on, let’s go hear the Word that has come from the Lord.’

31 They come to you and sit before you as My people pretending to be sincere as they hear your Words, but they do not do them. Their mouths are full of lustful words and their hearts seek only after money.

32 Indeed you are to them nothing more than an entertainer who sings sensual songs and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your Words, but do not obey a single one of them.

33 But when all your Words come true – and they certainly will – then they will know that a prophet has been among them!

 

 

 

Musing: The Bible Ezekiel 9

1 Then the Lord thundered: “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand!”

3,4 The Lord called to the man clothed in linen, “Go throughout the city and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep/grieve/sigh/groan and cry/lament over all the abominations/ disgusting detestable hateful things which are being committed in their city.”

5 But to the others He said, “Follow him and strike/kill. Spare no one; show no mercy; have no pity!”

6 “Utterly kill them all: old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women. But do not touch anyone on whom is the mark. Start at My sanctuary. So they began with the elders/leaders who were before the house.”

8 As they were striking/killing/slaying, I cried out: “Ah, Lord God, are You destroying the whole remnant by pouring out Your fury?”

9 Then He said to me, “The sins of the people are very, very great. The entire land is full of bloodshed and perversion/injustice/crime. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land/their country/the earth and the Lord does not see!”

10 “So I will not spare nor have pity. I will bring their deeds upon their head: fully repay them for what they have done.”

 

Musing: The Bible 1 Kings 8

37 When their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities,

38 whatever prayer is made by anyone or by all Your people, when each one knows the plague of his own heart,

39 then hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and give to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all,

40 that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land.

 

Musing Poem: Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace

“Speak not of gloom to me

While sparrow sings,

The sun sends beams,

And breezes blow light and fair.”

 

“For all is well; I feel ‘tis so.

Besides, to speak of this disturbs my bliss

And casts doubt where I think I know.”

 

“So please, be gone, you morbid man

And take your woe away.

This idle talk of fancied doom

Is rot on such a day.”

 

I left, and came sometime hence

And found the sparrow – broken, torn,

Cold – against wood fence.

 

And dimly did I, through howling hail and blowing blast,

Perceive a figure crouching at horror’s door:

‘Twas she who bade me leave before.

 

While drawing near she gasped her last

As lightning flash consumed the flesh

And turned her bones to lime.

I wept and shuddered and cried aloud,

“Why will you not discern these times?”