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The  Lord  is my  rock and my  fortress and my deliverer ... Psalm 18.2 How about, Rock, Fortress, Deliverer? These descriptives are used by musician David in Psalm 18 to depict Jehovah. We have read them any number of times in our annual Bible readings. However, stopping just now to ponder them I wonder about their significance. Rock - Think, Gibraltar, Stone Mountain or Sugar Loaf. Think, Ayers Rock, El Capitan or Everest. Rocks don't move. They are ever stable, steady and strong. They are always there. Stuff comes, happens and goes but rocks don't. Jehovah is Rocklike. He is more rocklike than Everest because He has always been and will always be. Jehovah is my Rock! Fortress - A fortress can be a constructed or natural hiding place. It can be in a city, desert, mountain or cave. A fortress is a place of safety. It defends. It stymies the enemy. One can run to it and rest in hiding. God as Fortress is impervious. Jehovah is my Fortress. Deliverer - Unlike a rock...

And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land. And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died.... Exodus 9. 5,6 God’s timetable is often a mystery. Then sometimes it isn't. For instance, you know that tomorrow, early, the sun is going to rise. You also know that in regular succession the moon will show its full face, that spring is going to happen and winter will also reappear. These events demonstrate God’s precision. They are so precise that we use them to tell time. Yet in other ways God's timing seems a mystery. When will I die? How long before I find my mate? When should I retire? These questions all have a timely answer but they are not as easily determined as tomorrow’s sunrise. I may want to desperately know each answer; in fact they might consume me. But they are withheld from me. In the above passage from Exodus chapter nine, Moses goes with God's answer to Pharaoh. It was set. It would h...

The battle for the planet took place over 3000 years ago in Egypt. What is going on there these days is nothing in comparison. Just a skirmish. That battle was between god's. It was epic. Rarely to be repeated. The battle of the gods was over a bunch of slaves. This slaves were in a very bad situation. They had been in slavery for four hundred years. They had been slaves 171 years longer than the United States has existed! What was the big deal? Why were these slaves so important? These weren’t just any old slaves. These were the descendants of Abraham. So what! Again I ask why did the gods have to war over a bunch of seemingly worthless slaves? They warred because one of the gods had made a promise. Abraham’s God had promised him a land, seed and an eternal blessing that would affect humanity. That promise had not been fulfilled. Thus, the war. These slaves were destined to form a nation. Actually it wasn't much of a war on one side of the proverbial coin. It was Pharaoh again...

“Stop your quarreling RIGHT NOW!” When is the last time you heard your mother say that? If you are a teen it might have been just a few minutes ago. If you are my age it has been awhile. As adults, we use the phrase but we are rarely on the receiving end of it. It is not that adults don't quarrel it is just that we are seldom rebuked for it. It is called arguing, fighting or maybe even bickering, but almost never quarreling. The scene in Genesis 45 is a conversation among a group of middle aged men. These guys are between forty and fifty years old. They have families. They have been working for years. They ARE family. As mentioned in another article, theirs has been a rather dysfunctional family but they have managed to stick together. In a bizarre way. But they are together. Their younger brother, Joseph, whom they had sold into slavery some ten years earlier is now ruler of Egypt and these brothers have fulfilled their worst nightmare by throwing themselves down...

Pastor, this kid's mom is a lesbian whose “husband” is doing crack and whose dad is the drug lord! What kind of life is the kid going to have?! Good question.  [Just after prayer meeting ] Dawn! I just saw a dead woman in the vacant lot across the street! She is totally white and green! I can't believe it! It was SO scary!! I’m still shaking! Wanna go and see her? NO. My friend was suffering a panic attack. So, I laid her head on my chest and began to stroke her hair. After a few minutes of doing that I reached for her hand and got shocked! It was as if I had touched a 110 hot wire! Pastor, how would you explain this? Don't know... static electricity? Demon? Billy's (of course not his real name, to protect the "innocent") brother went fishing and fell into the river during the hard rain. He hasn't been seen in hours. He couldn't swim and Billy thinks that he has drowned. [Two days later] They found Billy’s brother in the river along with 15 ot...

If you are reading your Bible through again this year you might be where I am, in Genesis 38. Every time I come to this chapter I scratch my head and say...”strange!” Judah means “Praise” but I don't find a lot of praising going on here. Read it and you will understand what I mean. In chapter 37 Moses starts the story of Joseph. He continues it in chapter 39. His story is in all of the Flannel-Graph Bible story kits. I don't think that one of those kits has the stories related in Genesis 38. The narrative includes, intermarriage with strange women, seed spilling, betrayal and prostitution. All in good, clean, healthy fun of course. The tale is about Judah. You know, Judah, Jacob’s son. The same Judah who would hear the following blessing from his dying dad in just a few years. I’ve included some highlights of that blessing recorded in chapter 49: 8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; ... your father’s sons shall bow down before you ... 10 The scepter shall not depar...

That was not a misspelling, even though my spellchecker asked if I meant, “Harry”. Esau, may mean hairy according to my Bible notes, and he became a prince of sorts later in his life. So, what is it with this guy that makes him the Darth Vader, the evil one, the black hat? We first hear of Esau as an answer to his dad’s prayer. Rebekah was sterile so Isaac prayed for God's intervention and God responded. Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But it seemed that there was foreboding trouble from the start. It was indicated by a belly ache. There is a tussle in the womb. Rebekah was so distressed that she asked God what was going on. As far as I can remember this the first time a woman asks God about a coming birth. The news she heard came in mystic, poetic language: "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." It seems that Esau came disadvantaged e...