(REFLECTIONS ON Nehemiah 6:15-19, Nehemiah 7:1-3 ) The wall had been rebuilt. Now everyone can breathe a sigh of relief, right? No, now it was time for them to put the wall, the gates, and the doors to use. Everyone now needed to be even more diligent in protecting themselves and the city to make sure […]
(REFLECTIONS ON EZEKIEL 28:1-26) Previously, we saw the Lord’s judgment against Tyre as a nation. In today’s Scripture, we see the Lord’s judgment against the king of Tyre. 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘In […]
16–22 June 2019. Proverbs 31 (click to read). In the ancient world, Proverbs was often the first textbook that young Jewish boys would have encountered. The wisdom of Proverbs was simple and easy to understand, and it was focused on the practical challenges of daily life. And so the first step in the education of […]
9–15 June 2019. Proverbs 24 (click to read). Proverbs 24 opens with the simple words: “Don’t envy evil people.” This plea is then repeated again in verse 19: “don’t envy the wicked”. At first it sounds like strange advice. Why would we ever envy evil and wicked people? But sadly this temptation is very common, very […]
2–8 June 2019. Proverbs 16 (click to read). In the church we spend a lot of time talking about right behaviour. We all want people to do what is right, and to avoid doing wrong. In principle, that’s fine. It’s good that we have high expectations of ourselves and of others; it’s good that we want […]
11–17 March 2018. Proverbs 11 (click to read). One of the big questions we have to face in life is: How should we live? What is the principle that should guide our lives and guide our behaviour? As parents we want to make sure that our children are following the right path; but these questions […]
4–10 March 2018. Proverbs 4 (click to read). It’s so frustrating when people don’t listen to us. Husbands complain that their wives don’t listen, wives complain their husbands don’t listen; parents complain their children don’t listen, and children complain that no one listens to them at all! How many times have we shouted out in […]
26 June – 2 July 2016. 1 Samuel 26 (click to read). When people do horrible things to us, straightaway we start to think how we can get back at them. How can we make them suffer for hurting us so badly? Sometimes people even think that taking revenge is what God wants them to […]
26 July – 1 August 2015. Proverbs 28 (click to read). In Taiwan, the election season is approaching again. The KMT and DPP are starting to put forward their candidates for president, and the newspapers seem full of stories every day about who has more popular support, who is most likely to be elected, and […]
19–25 July 2015. Proverbs 22 (click to read). In past centuries, people in the West had some very strange ideas about mission. Some churches thought that God lived in Europe and America, and that we Christians needed to pack God into our backpacks and carry him into the rest of the world. Today we know […]