PHall | March 26, 2013
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself” (Eleanor Roosevelt). “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results” (Albert Einstein). Apparently Einstein knew the Israelites, but the Israelites did not know Eleanor. There are Biblical stories hard to fathom; so sensational […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 16 – #48 Praying through the Bible – A Prayer for the Hard to Believe
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 21, 2013
I am tired of writing “Praying through the Bible.” This is #47, and I have mostly enjoyed the creative challenge of crafting them and the needed prayer challenges. But the truth is I am getting bored. I am out of ideas here with Israel. They are driving me nuts and drying up my imaginative, wacky, […]
Category: Numbers |
2 Comments »
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 19, 2013
“They (supply name) really push my buttons.” Whether it is intentionally, because of personality conflicts or personal experiences; some people easily annoy us. It’s like we have an “Annoy Me” button on our forehead with their name written on it. And just like a button on machine, we react. Sometimes the reaction is not immediate […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 11:4-23 – Praying through the Bible #45 – A Prayer from Being Pushed
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 14, 2013
Why should we expect God to treat us any better, any differently, if we always treat Him the same shabby way? That question should shock us or shame us into revaluating deeply. Since praying through the Bible, has the level of our prayer life been raised, become more focused, less selfish, with less complaints, and […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 11 – #44 Praying through the Bible – A Prayer Just Like Before
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 12, 2013
The original GPS was actually a JPS, a Jewish Positioning System. Contrary to popular opinion, Israel did not wander around for 40 years because Moses refused to stop and ask for directions. Each move was directed by God using His GPS, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. “The cloud covered […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 9-10 – Praying through the Bible #43 – A Prayer that is a GPS
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 8, 2013
When’s the last time you blessed someone, or received a blessing? Most likely it was after a sneeze. “God bless you” has several uncertain origins: 1) a violent sneeze could thrust your soul from your body; 2) sneezing expelled an evil spirit, blessings protect from its reentering; 3) the heart stops and they pronounced a […]
Category: Numbers |
1 Comment »
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | March 7, 2013
“Take time to be holy” is a song that annoys me. The church sings, “Take time to be holy?” and I annoyingly ask myself, “Aren’t we supposed to be holy all the time? Think people, the name ‘saint’ itself means ‘holy one!’” I always feel superior after a holy rant, how about you? After today’s […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 6 – Praying through the Bible #41 – A Prayer that Separates
Tags: Prayer, Praying through the Bible
PHall | April 6, 2011
The Bible is filled with paradoxes such as God is both transcendent and yet immanent, both far away and yet close. The Tabernacle suggested that with its court, holy place and most holy place. Another way was the Tabernacle’ location. The tribes were “to camp around the tent of meeting at a distance from it” (Num.2.2). God […]
Category: Philosophy, Theology, Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 2:2 – Transcendence and Immanence
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PHall | April 6, 2011
Little things surprise me. For example, all through Leviticus the Israelites are still at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Numbers opens with “on the first day of the second month of the second year after Israel’s departure from the land of Egypt” (1:1). When Israel left Egypt, “God did not lead them along the road to the […]
Category: Numbers |
Comments Off on Numbers 1:1 – Still At Mt. Sinai
Tags: Baptism, New Converts
PHall | March 18, 2011
Grace is written on every page of the Bible. But blood is not. Grace is written in ways that blood does not need. The very breath we take is grace. God’s word breathed out through the Holy Spirit is grace. The breath Jesus exhaled declaring “it is finished” is grace. And God’s waiting breath, waiting […]
Category: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, II Samuel, Hermeneutics |
Comments Off on 2 Samuel 6 – Grace On Every Page
Tags: Article, Grace, Hermeneutics