3–9 September 2017. 1 Samuel 19–20 (click to read). In 1 Samuel 20:1 David turns to his friend Jonathan, King Saul’s son, and in despair he asks: “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?” In ch. 19, Jonathan had managed […]
27 August – 2 September 2017. 1 Samuel 5–6 (click to read). In the Bible days, it was common for people to think that each country had their own gods. Israel had a god, but so did the Philistines and the Egyptians and all of their other neighbours too. When countries went to war, people […]
20–26 August 2017. 2 Corinthians 12 (click to read). For years Paul had been suffering. He doesn’t tell us what his problem was, only that it was a “thorn in the flesh”, something that hurt him deeply and brought him great pain. In v. 8 Paul tells us that he prayed earnestly to God three […]
13–19 August 2017. 2 Corinthians 4 (click to read). We have a saying in English: “No good deed goes unpunished.” We go to so much effort to be nice to others and treat them well, and the only thing we get back from them is meanness and aggression! We try our hardest to help people, […]
6–12 August 2017. Psalm 38 (click to read). It’s very easy for us to see other people’s sins, but we often don’t see our own sins at all. We look at ourselves in the mirror but we don’t see our failings. Instead our eyes and our minds trick us into thinking that we are better […]
30 July – 5 August 2017. Psalm 32 (click to read). One thing that surprised me when I first started teaching in Taiwan was just how quiet the students are. In class it’s always difficult to get students to share their ideas or even ask questions. When I spoke to another professor about this, he told […]
23–29 July 2017. Psalm 23 (click to read). In the Old Testament, it was common to describe both God and kings as shepherds. This was a good reminder that God was the one who guided all Israel, and the one who cared for the whole nation. The king also took on this role as shepherd, […]
16–22 July 2017. Psalm 17 (click to read). When people hurt us and say mean things about us, it’s only natural for us to want revenge. Straight away we start to think of things we can do or words we can say to hurt them even more than they hurt us. In Psalm 17, the […]
9–15 July 2017. Psalm 11 (click to read). Every day it seems like tabloid newspapers are declaring the end of the world. Every day there’s some new enemy and some new reason for people to live in fear. One day it’s evil immigrants and foreigners taking over the country, another day it’s gay people destroying […]
2–8 July 2017. Psalm 4 (click to read). Most of us like to think that we don’t care what other people say about us. But that’s rarely true. When people speak badly about us, when they lie or gossip about us, we do care and it really hurts. Often evil words hurt us much more […]