Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
PHall | April 19, 2014
How often do we utter our utter exasperation about who we worship to any who will listen? Complaining about God is as old as Satan’s serpent. David moving the Ark of the Covenant and the sin of Uzzah is a story that is easy not to like. David doesn’t. David’s goal is good, the motive […]
PHall | April 15, 2014
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: “’It might have been!’” (Wittier). These are haunting words of dreams unfulfilled; not only of love for another, but for desire of a different life. Love turns to memories, memories turn to sorrow, sorrow turns to regret. Unfulfilled promises, unfinished potential, are […]
PHall | April 12, 2014
The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel? Ever hear of them? All kinds of theories, but this serves as an example of how people ignore the Bible in order to create theories to find followers. Plus, mysteries are always more intriguing than boring realities. So let’s make the 10 tribes disappear. Supposedly all the Northern Tribes […]
PHall | April 10, 2014
Another genealogy. Another spiritually beneficial interruption (see PTTB #123) (1 Chronicles 5.18-22). I wouldn’t be surprised if such interjections were purposely done so as to break the monotony. I wonder if such can be a life lesson: Can monotony hurt us spiritually, so that we don’t think of needing God, because we are numb by […]
PHall | April 2, 2014
Genealogies are boring, but if we approach genealogies…wait, are you still reading this…if we approach genealogies expecting nothing but mind-numbing names, we will miss unexpected jewels. Halfway through Judah’s descendants, God surprises us: 1 Chronicles 4.9-10 – (9) Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez and said, “I gave birth […]
PHall | March 27, 2014
Everyone knows someone with cancer. Hearing the word “cancer” makes us fear the worst. Survival rates vary from the almost hopeless (pancreatic, 6%) to the almost guaranteed (prostate, 99%). Very possibly, many died undiagnosed in darker times, simply wasting away. Modern medicine is making amazing progress. Cancer no longer is an automatic death sentence. Hezekiah […]
PHall | March 22, 2014
Incentives or motivation for righteousness in the OT was very personal, even “base” by New Covenant standards. And yet, sometimes what sin “costs” us can and should be motivating; it can cost us relationships, self-respect, all more important than money, and yet…. Imagine the personal financial cost of offering sacrifices in bygone years. You sinned, […]
PHall | March 19, 2014
Prayer is humbling. If it isn’t, we aren’t doing it right. After giving up on his own false solutions and defenses, Hezekiah turns to God in prayer. First, he asks Isaiah to pray (2 Kings 19.1-4). Isaiah responds with God’s answer of salvation (19.5-6). Then Hezekiah kneels before God Himself and prays (19.14-19). God’s answer […]
PHall | March 13, 2014
Augustine advised, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” A Chimney Corner Scripture advises, “God helps those who help themselves.” After good and bad works, after praising God, plundering the temple, paying off Sennacherib, seeking an alliance with Egypt, rebuilding the wall, building a water tunnel, asking Isaiah […]
PHall | March 6, 2014
How amazing is God’s love? How many friends would we have lost; how many jobs would we have been fired from; how many people would have slapped or punched us; how many times would our spouse have been angry with us…if anyone and everyone could read our minds and know all our thoughts? And yet […]