Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Commentary

  • Psalm 119:136 – Crying

    Psalm 119:136 – Crying

    Streams of water flow from my eyes,
    Because people don’t follow your instructions.

    What makes you cry?

    We are often driven to tears by sad events in our lives or in the lives of our loved ones. We can be driven to tears through anger about what someone else does to us. We can be driven to tears by weariness, when life just won’t stop driving us.

    The Psalmist is crying because people are not keeping God’s law or instructions. The word here is Torah, which I have chosen to translate throughout these meditations with the word instruction/instructions. It covers the many categories of instruction that God has provided.

    When Rabbi Hillel the Elder was asked if he could summarize Torah while standing on one foot, he said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary.” That is one of many statements of what we call the golden rule. Jesus gave something very similar, though more than half a century later in Matthew 7:12.

    Jesus also summarized the law in another way. He said that we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:40). I hear this taught frequently, but I wonder how often we really take it seriously. Jesus continued by saying that on these two commands “hang” all the law and the prophets. This sounds very important. I’m looking right now at the NLT, which says, “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” That might clarify things in case we’re having trouble with the word “hang.”

    And please note that the two commands go back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy. They were not a new revelation when Jesus mentioned them. Jesus was quoting scripture.

    One of my practical hermeneutical principles is simply this: If you are interpreting scripture, test your interpretation by seeing if you can make it hang from one of these two laws. In 1 John we get an extension of this when John tells us we should love one another because love is from God (4:7a), everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God (4:7b), the one who does not love does not know God (4:8). Then in verse 20 he asks how someone can say they love God but don’t love their brother. How can you love God, whom you have not seen, but not love your brother, whom you have seen.

    I have drawn in all these verses in order ask this: When we see an absence of love, does that make us cry? Can we say, “Streams of water flow from my eyes, because the people in your church don’t really love one another?” What about “Streams of water flow from my eyes, because the people in the church don’t love the whole world, those who are near and far, those who belong to the church and those who don’t?”

    It’s really nice of me (I pause to pat myself on the back) to state these questions in that polite, unchallenging manner. Here’s the real question: “Do streams of waters flow from my eyes because I am not showing love to everyone God has put in my path?”

    Did I care enough about the elderly man I saw sitting in front of Walmart this afternoon? Sadly, no. I thought about him for a moment or two, and a fleeting thought suggested maybe I should say or do something, but my focus on my own problems took over and I walked right past him. Was that the love of Christ motivating all my actions?

    Jody and I were discussing this and connecting it to the great commission. If we are to make disciples, what will characterize those disciples? Well, Jesus said, “In this way will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). And if you’re wondering about what love is or how Jesus understood love, practiced love, remember that he was on the way to the cross.

    Nope, I can’t say I cared as much for that man in front of Walmart as Jesus has cared for me. And that should make me sad.

    What will make you sad today? More importantly, what can you do to live that great commission to make disciples, disciples characterized by love?

    Let’s turn that around! What act of sharing God’s love will allow you to rejoice at the end of the day?

    (Featured image was generated by Adobe Firefly in Adobe Express using a prompt generated by Gemini AI. Yes, I’m experimenting.)

  • Psalm 119:135 – Shine

    Psalm 119:135 – Shine

    Let your face shine on your servant;
    teach me your statutes.

    I have tended to stick with more formal translation, but the first line here could be translated, “Look on your servant with favor.” Part of that favor includes teaching statutes.

    I’ve said a few times that we don’t really tend to look at rules as a blessing. What’s very interesting is that we will look at stability that favors us as a blessing, while often ignoring the fact that it is a set of rules that provides that stability.

    In church, this frequently comes up when we want the freedom to worship or to accomplish whatever goals. We chafe at rules that prevent us from operating freely and creatively. Then when someone goes too far out of our church’s traditions, we get upset. “They can’t do that in our church,” we say. Then we pull out the rule book and hopefully find a rule that will keep them in line.

    We also tend not to notice when our rules get in the way of other people. This contributes to the widespread complains about Home Owners’ Associations. You can easily find reams of complaints about HOAs online. Yet there are HOAs all over the place. Personally, I suspect I would avoid a neighborhood with an HOA. I don’t like that type of thing.

    But what makes HOAs so common, while also making complaints about them ubiquitous? Well, we each have our own taste in what makes a home look friendly, good, or respectable. The HOA gets together and makes rules that they think will keep property values up and make their neighborhood look attractive. I drive through such neighborhoods and think, “I’d really hate to live here. Everything looks the same.”

    This illustrates how we look at rules. Often we don’t even consider the rules until they get in our way. Then we are suddenly irate about them. But one of the reasons other people were able to make rules that annoy you is that you weren’t paying attention when the rules were made.

    It’s important to know what God’s rules are. This is not just so we know the rules to keep, but also so that we know what are not God’s rules, but rather matters of choice and preference. As Christians, we often have a set of rules that are unwritten, but that “everyone knows.” When someone new comes to church, they learn by experience, often unpleasant experience, what the church requires.

    At the same time many members think their own preferences are the equivalent of Divine rules. Dress and behavior in worship is one area. The line from Paul, “Let everything be done decently and in order” is a scripture that has been applied in many inappropriate ways. People use it to forbid clapping in church (it’s irreverent), or to suggest that the pastor has to carefully follow every word of the bulletin.

    Those are not God’s rules. They’re rules we make and then blame God for. In fact, when we make our own rules, in any case where we are not simply applying a Divine rule, we’re violating God’s rules, claiming God has spoken when God has done no such thing.

    My prayer would be that all believers would take this verse to heart. Let’s aim to know what God’s statutes are, and thus what God’s statutes are not.

    In what ways can you avoid imposing your preferences as rules?

  • Psalm 119:134 – Ransom

    Psalm 119:134 – Ransom

    Ransom me from human oppression,
    and I will keep your precepts.

    Are you oppressed? Do other people have a hold on you that keeps you from being the person God wants you to be?

    This is another verse that I have heard presented as a bargain with God. “Save me from whatever my problem is and in turn I’ll do what you tell me to do.” But I think that’s not the right way to read it. I think the question is whether one can, in fact, do those precepts.

    We tend to think of oppression as a sort of physical restraint or application of force to make us do thinks we don’t want to do, or not do the things we do want to do. Slaves have experienced this over the years. We should always stand for liberating people from that sort of oppression.

    But there are other forms of constraint. For example, there is economic oppression. It connects to the same sort of force, but applied in a more subtle way. A person is forced into an endless, losing struggle by circumstances that prevent them from ever escaping, no matter how hard they try.

    Someone with more freedom will ask why don’t they just break free. But that is not always as easy as it may appear. In fact, we fairly often fail to recognize the kinds of oppression that someone else is suffering due to circumstances beyond their control. In real life, a single mistake can lead to a life of very limited choices.

    There is also psychological oppression. I know someone who became a nurse rather than a doctor, largely because so many people either simply assumed that, as a woman, she would be a nurse, or told her she lacked the academic skills to be a doctor. Now as it was, she became a very good nurse, giving extraordinary service. Her life was by no means wasted. I also don’t consider being a doctor better than being a nurse. It depends on what you are gifted and called to do. But her choice was constrained by a mob of voices telling her, “woman -> nurse.”

    When teaching about spiritual gifts in various churches, I frequently carry out an exercise in which I ask people to name their own gifts. There will inevitably be one or more people who can’t identify any gift that they have. I then ask the members of the group to identify gifts they see in others in the room. Inevitably again, someone will point out a gift that person has that is recognized by others.

    That is a moment of liberation from oppression. A person realizes that they are gifted and called, and they are of value to God and to their community.

    I then call on people to search for and recognize gifts in the people around them and to let people know. Simply thanking a person in a way that lets them know that their gift is of value, and that they themselves are valuable, can go a long way toward liberating someone to carry out the calling God has on their life.

    I work in two areas that people think of as requiring serious brain power: Information Technology and Biblical Languages. It’s amazing what people will think you’re capable of understanding if they know you read Greek. Many times I have gotten on my soapbox and lectured people when they say, “I’m not as smart as you. I don’t read Greek.” It’s probably not helpful when I get irate, but I do. Why? I can’t remember a time when someone spoke to me like that who didn’t have gifts and skills that I can’t imagine doing.

    There’s probably something you do that will amaze other people if they just become aware of it.

    Now I’ve gone far afield. Or have I? There’s another form of oppression, and it’s related. It’s the more generalized chorus of people telling each one of us that we’re less than other people for whatever reason. We’re told that we’re worthless, or useful only for minor, menial occupations. Often those occupations, as we practice them, are part of what keeps us away from God–from all that God has for us in this life. (And note that I don’t believe any occupation is menial by nature. It is only menial if we don’t value it as we should.)

    So how can we be ransomed from a life of failures and regrets? If that “human oppression” is keeping you from getting to the purpose God has for you, God’s precepts as applied in your life, then it is ransoming you need. You need to take your new identify as a child of God, and realize that your horizons are not limited by the thoughts of others, or the limits of your own vision, but by God’s purpose.

    Yes, you can apply the concept of ransom to salvation, and that is appropriate. But I’m talking about God ransoming you from the day to day oppression of an identity as a failure, as someone worth less than you are. You are a child of God. Let that be what sets your goals, and sets, or shatters. your limits.

    What oppression are you going to break today?

    (Featured image credit: chaiyapruek2520 on iStockPhoto.com.)

  • Psalm 119:133 – Mastery

    Psalm 119:133 – Mastery

    Establish my steps in your word.
    Don’t let any evil have mastery over me.

    I like the rendering of the REB for this one, and in fact used the word “mastery” as they do.

    Make my step firm according to your promise,
    and let no wrong have the mastery over me.

    Psalm 119:133 (REB)

    Note that this translation is very different in what it prioritizes to convey than the translation I took from Seeing the Psalter in yesterday’s post. In that book, the emphasis is on the connections in word usage and in Psalm 119 on the acrostic. The REB emphasis is on conveying meaning to a modern audience. This is a legitimate difference in translations, but it is useful to be aware of the translators’ intent when reading.

    I’m very interested in this text, because it relates to a couple of theological concepts I use personally. One of these is the idea of mastery. You will be mastered by something. I’ll look first at a New Testament passage for this:

    When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness…. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.

    Romans 6:20,22 (NRSV)

    This relates also to the two ways concept which is presented in Deuteronomy: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity” (30:15). You’re going to have one or the other.

    In Paul’s case he carries on with this subject in Romans 7 discussing this slavery and the liberation which he then expounds in Romans 8.

    Jesus says something similar in the Sermon on the Mount.

    No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

    Matthew 6:24 (NRSV)

    I’d also add Galatians 5:16-26 were we have the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit contrasted.

    Each of these text shows a binary choice as to where our loyalties will be, or whom we will serve.

    I wrote a note on these textual relationships earlier today. Here I’m bringing together concepts that were not originally intended to work together, nor is there a textual relationship between Deuteronomy 30:15 and Galatians 5:16-26. Yet I would bring them together in talking about this idea of a core approach to life which controls who we are. If you reference my note above regarding textual relationships, these are all in #6 and #7, things I have brought together, and not necessarily relationships I believe the authors would actually have noted.

    All this leads to a basic question: What drives you?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:132 – Be Gracious

    Psalm 119:132 – Be Gracious

    Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    as is your judgment for all who love your name.

    I get the sense here that “judgment” is used to establish that God’s established choice is to be gracious to those who love his name. It’s settled law.

    So if this is already what God does, why is it that the Psalmist makes a request for it?

    I see here a prime example of prayer in action. We often think of prayer as a request list. Then if we remember example prayers, we add some thanksgiving. A little worship, which can be a variety of things. But these are all adjuncts to the body of the prayer, the list of things we want. Usually when somebody says “prayer works,” this is what they mean. “I asked, and God did what I asked.” It sounds like “working”!

    But so many of the prayers of scripture are really like this one. They are about praying for what God has already made established practice. “Be gracious, as you always are.”

    I think it’s a good prayer. I’d like to attain to that prayer. I don’t mean the ability to repeat the words, but the ability to pray with the confidence that comes from knowing that I’m praying in accordance to a judgment God has already made.

    Lord be gracious to each one of us today, as you have promised!

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Psalm 119:131 – Panting

    Psalm 119:131 – Panting

    With open mouth, panting,
    I long for your commands.

    This couplet poses some challenges in producing a readable translation, even though there’s little doubt of the meaning and feel of the verse. Even Mitchell Dahood, usually very creative, translates in a fairly straightforward fashion: “With gaping mouth I panted, / because I longed for your commandments” (Anchor Bible on Psalms, volume II).

    Another good translation is this:

    Parting mouth gaping I sigh heavily
    for to your commandments is my longing

    Bob MacDonald, Seeing the Psalter, p. 386

    Now I haven’t mentioned before that Bob MacDonald translates Psalm 119 as an acrostic in English, which helps give it more of the feel of reading the Hebrew text. Some constructions in Hebrew are shaped by the acrostic form of the whole poem. Hebrew syntax is more friendly to the creation of an acrostic than English, with somewhat more flexible word order, but there is still more common ways of ordering words.

    In this case, a little bit of apparent discomfort is conveyed by the wording, and I think Bob has caught that. The feel of reading the poetry has the sort of discomfort that relates to the state of mind described in the text. Bob notes that: “parting gaping, פער (p`r) gape with desire as a ravenous beast but gape needs help for the acrostic” (p. 389). Yes, it helps the acrostic, but I think it also gives us the feel.

    Translation is interesting. A translator is always presented with the question of just what to transfer in translation into the new language. Bob MacDonald, for example, takes a rare path of transferring the acrostic, which presents a number of challenges, especially in conjunction with other goals he has in conveying the relationship of words in the Psalm. You’ll need to read his book, Seeing the Psalter, to get a full understanding of what he conveys.

    It might help us to understand this process if we consider communicating about an area of specialty to someone who does not share our specialization. I help people with problems on their computers frequently, and most of the people I help don’t share the language or often the concepts I tend to use. In ordering to communicate, I have to try to speak in terms that can be understood not just by the non-specialist, but by someone generally computer-naive, by which I mean they really aren’t sure what a web browser is. They get pretty close to panting, longing to know just how to get something done, or even how to explain to me just what it is that they are seeing.

    Many times I have either followed up a conversation by remote access to the person’s PC or even a visit, and found that what I had imagined the problem to be was not even close. They had a completely different problem than I imagined. I’ve gotten better at this over the years, but the gap still occurs.

    In terms of God’s commands, or just right and appropriate action we can have a similar problem. We have principles in mind. We want to get things right, but our understanding just doesn’t stretch. Applied to our situation, the translation of principle into action can take an amazing amount of effort.

    There is an inherent disconnect in our communion with God. We do not perceive infinity. As Paul says, we see partially, we await what is perfect, we do not have it in our possession. It’s a good idea to recognize this struggle for God’s commands. It’s an appropriate struggle. It’s one of the reasons that we are directed not to judge. We know partially; we judge partially.

    Let’s keep the desire and lose the judgment.

  • Psalm 119:130 – Light

    Psalm 119:130 – Light

    When your Word is revealed, light shines,
    giving understanding to the naive.

    This is a very important verse to me, and I think it is often misunderstood.

    I was raised on Bible-based materials. I studied that way in school. I spent a good deal of time with it in school. I had a disagreement with my mother about when I first read the Bible through. She said it was when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I recall reading it all the way through in my early teens. As an elementary student at a school with a Bible-based curriculum I memorized Bible passages in large quantities, including the chapter I’m writing about, all 176 verses of it.

    When I went to college and determined to study the Bible I majored in Biblical Languages, thinking this was the way to get back to the sources. With the weight I put on the value of scripture, I wanted to be as accurate in my knowledge as I possibly could because knowing the words contained in scripture was, I thought, of great value.

    It took me a very long time to get past the collection of words and data from and about scripture. I used the word “naive” in my translation of this verse, and I was naive in my approach to scripture. It was not only not possible for me to get to a 100% bedrock understanding, based only on my study, it was also not particularly desirable.

    That question drove me away from the church and from fellowship. I still enjoyed the study of and the text of scripture, but it was no longer a driving force as it had been. It was, instead, a bit of a hobby.

    Then I came back to it again. Marcus Borg wrote a book titled Reading the Bible Again for the FIrst Time. While I don’t agree with everything Borg teaches, I enjoyed the book. I empathized with the experience, because by the time I read his book, I had had a similar experience. The reading of the Bible became something very different to me.

    One very important change was that instead of looking for a simple, totally coherent system of beliefs about God, I began to seek to know God. When I began to seek to know God rather than about God I also began to see that the Bible points outside of itself to manifestations of God’s Word. By God’s Word were the heavens made (Psalm 33:6-9). This told me that God’s Word extended everywhere.

    I also saw in the Bible a great deal of diversity. Instead of seeing repetition of “sameness,” I saw God working in multiple ways in the stories of the Bible. I saw even more diversity in the way the stories of the Bible came to be presented as they were. I saw the way in which the Bible pointed to people who heard from God and who spoke for God. I saw a church in the New Testament where hearing from God and sharing were part of worship (1 Corinthians 14, for example).

    “Bible-based” no longer filled the requirement for me. “Based in the Word of God” came much closer, but only when we allow ourselves to understand that for those who are willing to listen, for those who are willing to see, for those who are willing to hear, and for those who are willing to imagine, God’s Word is everywhere.

    God’s word is just waiting for an opportunity to enter, an opportunity to make the naive wise.

    “I can never get away from your presence!” (Psalm 139:7b, NLT). No, for a God who is everywhere, that’s true. The problem is that we’re extremely capable of getting away from an awareness of God’s presence. The entrance of the data does not give light. The entrance of God’s Word creates knowledge and wisdom. It’s waiting for us to perceive the God’s presence.

    I’m amused by our common expression regarding an especially powerful meeting: “God was sure present in our worship service today!” That’s not how it works. God is definitely present. The question is whether the worship service is conducive to helping us perceive that presence.

    Similarly, a daily question, whether I’m in my home or my office, or traveling somewhere in my car, or taking a walk, or whatever I may be doing the question is whether I’m perceiving God’s Word in what I see. If I’m writing prose, poetry, or fantasy fiction, I can be perceiving God.

    Because God’s Word is absolutely everywhere.

    Are you going to perceive it today?

  • Psalm 119:129 – My Soul Keeps Them

    Psalm 119:129 – My Soul Keeps Them

    Your testimonies are wonderful,
    so my soul keeps them.

    The Revised English Bible uses “gladly keep” for “my soul keeps.” The image here is of keeping from inside, from what you are and desire. Non-formal English translations avoid the literal rendering of “my soul” in doing various things, but the idea there is “from the heart” or “from inside.” In this case the NLT uses “No wonder I obey them,” which doesn’t seem to me to quite get the intent of “my soul.”

    It’s interesting, however, that in the magnificat (Luke 1:46), the NLT does use “soul,” with “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.” I think the idea of my soul praising the Lord comes more easily from tongue and pen to a modern writer or translator than the idea of having an inward love of the law.

    There’s another side to this. We tend to feel that it’s somehow more pious and holy to do something just because God said to do it. Similarly, we often praise children for obeying their parents without questioning. A child who hears a command, thinks about it, and then does it because they think it’s a good idea, doesn’t seem all that obedient.

    But ultimately God’s law should work out logically. That doesn’t mean we understand everything about it. It does mean that we should think about the ways in which God’s laws are wonderful. A good exercise is to take a law you accept by faith, for example, a command from your Bible, and work to present it as a good and rational thing to someone who doesn’t share your faith.

    You’re getting somewhere if you can do this without rationalization or special pleading. Ultimately, however, if we believe God’s word created the universe and ordains all those laws which provide order, we should be able to present them as a good thing. They are not just wonderful because we think they are God’s laws. They stand testimony to God by being recognizable as wonderful.

    Try looking at things you do today. Can whatever makes you do these be regarded as wonderful? Or are they a burden?

  • Psalm 119:128 – All

    Psalm 119:128 – All

    Therefore I completely keep all your precepts.
    I hate every false way.

    I think I say something about how many ways one could go in meditating on each of these verses, and I certainly could. Today I’m thinking about this line especially from a Christian perspective.

    I recall a young man coming to my door with his wife and his KJV Bible in hand, intending to convert me. It did not bother him that I was already a Christian. It was his duty to straighten out my theology in a hurry. Among the various things he told me was that the Sermon on the Mount did not apply to Christians in the “church age.” It was for the Jews and for a special transitional stage between the old covenant and the new covenant.

    Our discussion roamed through the New Testament. Passages from Hebrew Scriptures were not of importance to him. I think we spent more than an hour not communicating with one another.

    As he got up to leave he said he was worried about my salvation. “I have given you nothing but Scripture but you haven’t given me any scripture at all.” He paused. “Well, except for Matthew, and Hebrews, and James, and they don’t count.”

    Now when I read the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew, I find sentiments that fit with this passage. Not only is Jesus saying to keep all the law all the time, but he’s asking us to keep the law in our hearts. If one is angry at someone that person is guilty of murder.

    I can see why someone would want to dismiss the whole thing as applying to someone else. Big sigh of relief! It sounds pretty holy, but I don’t have to do any of it.

    We often talk and act as though the big problem with Israel was that they had too many laws or that they were too intent on keeping them. That misses the point that God gave Israel all those laws. God said they should keep all those laws. Leviticus (19:2 and other places) says to “be holy for I (the LORD) am holy.” Matthew 5 doesn’t back off from this, saying that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and then in 5:48 “Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.”

    Old Testament or new, there is nowhere in scripture where God’s plan is not a plan to create a holy people. The thing we need to catch on to, and bluntly, that I think the psalmist has 100% is this: God’s call is for completely keeping all the commandments, while at the same time, he recognizes in many other verses that it is only through God’s power that this is accomplished.

    I’m again going to refer to the last verse, sort of a spoiler! “I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant….” Note that it does not say, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Your laws are too tough, give me an excuse.” He does not say, “I have gone astray, please fix the map so it records that I am on course.

    There is a glorious purpose to which God calls us all, and to which only God can bring us. We can’t attain this, but God can. And God promises to do precisely that.

    Keep your eye on the goal. All * Completely.

  • Psalm 119:127 – Better than Gold

    Psalm 119:127 – Better than Gold

    Thus I love your commandments
    more than gold, than fine gold.

    I once told a group that if they wanted to find out if this is how people feel, leave some gold on the pew beside a Bible, and see which goes first.

    Of course, that misses the point in many ways. Just to start, I own a very large number of Bibles. They are in a variety of languages, including some I can’t read, and in various editions. I have study Bibles from different perspectives. I never have a problem laying hands on a Bible.

    But this doesn’t mean anything about my Bible knowledge or my commitment to my faith. Those Bibles sitting on my shelves may have a monetary value, but it’s not in comparing the book to some measure of currency that you can discover what is of value to me. The vast majority of these Bibles, in fact, represent something I accepted for some currency, a modern version of having some gold.

    And yet my paying for these books doesn’t tell you what value I place on God’s word. You may find God’s word in any of those volumes, but the question is whether, having access to it, and knowing what it is, you value it.

    For example, what amount of money would it take to persuade you, or persuade me, to violate one of the principles we would learn from one of those Bibles? Or, for that matter, one of the principles we might learn from God’s word manifested in the physical world around us.

    The question is rarely going to come in the form of some bars of gold, or a stack of printed currency with an instant choice. Rather, it’s going to come in day to day actions.

    What do you do, for example, if you have a choice of service versus wealth? Would it not be likely that you, or I, would choose the higher paying option and tell ourselves that we will contact the right people in that higher paying job? But supposing instead that the choice is between a higher paying and higher profile job that would let you serve, and because you, or I, don’t like the limelight we choose something a bit less?

    In each case the question is just what is driving us. Too often we take the simple path and assume that someone who is rich has sold out and someone who is not rich must be a true servant of God and others. Or we can take the simple path of assuming the rich person is the blessed person, and the one with less has missed God’s law.

    It is never that simple. The question we need to ask is where God’s commands will lead us. That might be to wealth, and it might be to poverty. On the other hand, wealth might be leading us to perdition, or on the other hand it might be leading us to a place of value in God’s kingdom.

    What values are driving you today?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI and edited with Photoshop.)