23–29 September 2018. Job 2 (click to read). Human relationships are complicated and fragile. It’s not always easy to keep a relationship going, and they fail so often for many reasons. Sadly, far too many times I have seen people’s marriages fail. It’s gotten so bad that today many young people are even giving up […]
18–24 March 2018. Psalm 44 (click to read). The Bible is not just a book, it’s a library. It’s a collection of many different books written by many different people in different places and different times. Those different authors often have different ways of seeing God and different ways of understanding their experiences with God. […]
29 January – 4 February 2017. Luke 13:1–17 (click to read). One day when I was walking in Taipei, I saw a church group on the street calling out to people, saying “Become a Christian, and all your troubles will disappear!” As I heard this, it made me really uncomfortable – because that’s not true at […]
29 May – 4 June 2016. Judges 16 (click to read). From beginning to end, Samson’s story is like a train wreck. We see the disaster coming, but just can’t look away! What was Samson thinking? He is supposed to be a Nazarite, a man living a life dedicated to God, but instead he’s a […]
25–31 October 2015. Job 42 (click to read). The ending to the Book of Job is one that causes us a lot of frustration. We have just struggled through 40 chapters of discussion on the problem of suffering, trying to understand why God allows suffering to exist. Job wanted to take God to court to […]
18–24 October 2015. Job 37 (click to read). Job’s three friends constantly told him that he was an unrighteous person who deserved God’s punishment. But Job knew that he was innocent. This is why he dreams of taking God to court and proving that God is unjust. The young and foolish Elihu had taken it […]
11–17 October 2015. Job 33:1–11 (click to read). Job’s three friends have given up arguing with Job, unable to answer his questions about suffering and God’s justice. Then all of a sudden we find a fourth person there: Elihu. Our Old Testament scholars tell us that Elihu wasn’t originally part of the story, but that […]
4–10 October 2015. Job 27 (click to read). At the start of chapter 27, we see Job do something shocking, something that many of us would never be brave enough to do. Not only does Job continue to proclaim his innocence and his righteousness before God and his friends, he also forcefully attacks God and […]
27 September – 3 October 2015. Job 21:1–21 (click to read). In chapter 20, Job’s friend Zophar tries a second time to explain why suffering exists. His views are very similar to Job’s other friend, Eliphaz. For Zophar, the law of God is simple: God will always punish the wicked, and he will always reward […]
20–26 September 2015. Job 15:1–16 (click to read). When Job’s friends see his great pain, at first they say nothing. But soon they feel like they should explain to Job why he is suffering so much. They offer a lot of poor arguments, none of which satisfy us today – and none of which satisfied […]