Be Stirred, Not Shaken

"We ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled..." ~ II Thes. 2:2 *** "But stir up the gift of God that is within you by the laying on of hands..." ~ II Tim. 1:6

Walking Through The Fall Feasts: A 22-Day Devotional In The Psalms of Ascent

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On September 12, 2026

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Old Testament, The Writings, Verse Studies

Psalms 120–134 are the Shir HaMaalot—the “Songs of Ascent”.  Every year in ancient Israel, the males (and sometimes the full family) headed toward Jerusalem three times for God’s feasts.  These fifteen short psalms were sung by the pilgrims while literally climbing the road up to Jerusalem, a journey that typically took seven to ten days.

The Psalms of Ascent have themes that map beautifully onto each of God’s holy day seasons, and this study focuses on how they can prepare us for, and walk us through, the fall feasts.

We begin with the Feast of Trumpets, then the eight days leading toward the Day of Atonement, four days catching our breath and anticipating, then seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles built entirely around the idea of God dwelling with His people—capped by the Eighth Day picturing a new eternal beginning.  This study will go slightly out of order on some of the psalms, focusing more on the themes and how they prepare us for, or connect us to, the day.

We recommend the S.O.A.P. approach for this devotional study series.

  • Scripture: Read the passage first in your own bible.
  • Observation: Consider what jumps out to you as you read, what themes you notice, or how it connects to your life.  This will be different for each person.
  • Application: Read the devotional notes and prompt questions, and actually answer them (out loud or on paper) to consider how to apply them in your life.
  • Prayer: Conclude with prayer, asking God to embed these words and the application in your heart and mind, and meditate on them through the day.

PHASE 1 — THE WAKE-UP CALL

Trumpets opens the fall holy days with a blast designed to wake us up—an alarm and call to war.

Day 1 (Feast of Trumpets):  Psalm 120, the wake-up call

“In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me.” (Psalm 120:1)

The shofar is a call to attention, not comfort. Psalm 120 starts the ascent with a cry from someone living among “a people of unclean lips,” aching to get out of the turmoil and violence of their current circumstances.

The Feast of Trumpets is a wake-up call and a warning—yes, to the world announcing Jesus Christ’s return as the conquering King, but also to each of us eagerly waiting for it today.  Jesus asks a question that we should not gloss over as rhetorical:  “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

I have to ask myself, have I gotten too comfortable in this world?  Does does my heart cry out to God in the way the psalmist shows us, or does the evil, pain, and suffering of the world no longer affect me in the say way?

This day commands God’s people to take stock of where we are before we start climbing…our distress and failings, our fears and where we may be drifting from God.  But at the start of this pilgrimage we must not only look at where we’re coming out of, but also have a clear vision of where we’re going—to dwell with God.

We, too, are pilgrims and sojourners in this physical life, and this psalm is a farewell to worldly strife and trouble as we (re-)commit our feet to the path that leads toward a place of eternal peace and safety with God.

But this psalm is not only a wake-up call.  It also carries a promise for us that we can call on today and every day.  The NLT renders Psalm 120:1 as, “I took my troubles to the Lord, I cried out to Him and He answered my prayer”.  Whether it’s pre-holy day trials or the regular distresses of life, God promises that He is present, that He is listening, and that He is faithful to answer our prayers.

Reflect:

→ What is God trying to wake you up to, specifically?  About your heart, your thoughts, or where you’ve gotten too comfortable in this world?

→ What’s the place you’ve settled into—a habit, a relationship, a way of thinking—that is at odds with the character and fruits God wants to build in you?

→ Where am I chasing my own solutions and desires, instead of taking my troubles to the Lord and trusting Him to handle them?

PHASE 2 — THE EXAMINED ROAD

Eight ordinary days between Trumpets and Atonement. No holy day lands anywhere in here, no big inflection point.  This is the road, the journey through the wilderness.

Day 2:  Psalm 121, where do I look for help?

“My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot slip—your Guardian is not asleep” (Ps. 121:2-3, CJB)

You know that feeling when you’re hiking on a steep downhill, and you hit a patch of loose dirt or rocks?  You start to slip and slide downward in a freefall, your heart jumps into your throat, not sure where or how you’ll land.  You flail about for a branch, and try to catch your feet on something firm.  But you realize in that moment that you have little control over how things end.

What is your immediate reaction when “the ground” in life starts crumbling and sliding under your feet?  Do you start flailing wildly about, desperately trying to catch hold of something on your own?  Or do you look to our Savior, who called this world into existence with His words, walked through a physical life without sinning, and now sits at the Father’s right hand advocating for you?

In this psalm, God promises that He’s not asleep.  He never loses focus or gets distracted.  And He’s right there to catch our hand and steady us whenever the ground starts to crumble under us…in losses and temptations, in fiery trials and spiritual wilderness.  If we are looking to Him for help (v. 1-2).

In the Complete Jewish Bible translation, the language used throughout this psalm is that of a guardian.  He is the bodyguard at our side as we traverse the wilderness, scanning for danger, ensuring our safety and peace, providing shade and sustenance, and protecting us from attack in the dark of night.  But it requires that we trust Him in that role.

Psalm 121 ends by promising us “The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever” (Ps. 121:7-8, NLT).

Reflect:

→ Where have you been tempted to look for help recently, rather than God?

→ Name one specific thing you need Him to “keep” right now where you feel your feet are slipping or stumbling.  How can you grab your Father’s hand and allow Him to steady you?

→ Is there somewhere in your life—if you’re truly honest with yourself—that you feel God has been “asleep” or not paying attention?  Talk to Him about it in prayer and ask Him to show you how He’s been guarding and guiding you.

Day 3 —Psalm 122 — Rejoicing in godly community

“I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1)

Where Psalm 121 kept your eyes locked on God alone, Psalm 122 opens the lens wider and points us outward—toward the community we’re about to gather with.

It’s an important reminder in the early stages of “ascending” to keep the fall feasts:  they were never meant to be a private retreat.  There’s real joy and comfort in being surrounded by other believers wrestling through similar challenges, walking toward the same place you are.

Anticipation isn’t the finish line here; it’s supposed to turn into intercession for the people you’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with. “For my brothers and companions’ sake, I will say, ‘Peace be within you!'” (v.8)…the joy of arriving isn’t just for you alone; it’s meant to be spoken as a blessing over everyone else there too.

Paul exhorted the Ephesians to “Pray…at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Eph. 6:18).  There is gladness in the gathering itself, in journeying together, and a shared responsibility and joy in praying for the peace and safety of the brethren rather than just showing up and enjoying it.

→ Does going to the Feast still make you glad, or has it become routine? Be honest.

→ Verses 6–9 say to pray for the peace and prosperity of the gathering. Who around you this season actually needs that prayer?

→ Hebrews 10:24–25 says not to neglect gathering together, but to use it to “stir up one another to love and good works.” Who’s one person you can specifically encourage at this Feast, rather than just enjoy being near?

 

The remaining days’ studies will be added as we go…

What We Consume: Avoiding the Unclean & Hungering For the Food That Endures (Leviticus Themes)

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On May 30, 2026

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Topic Studies, Verse Studies

This is part of our “Leviticus for the Modern Reader” series, focusing on themes that God’s people today can take away from what is typically seen as a dry and perplexing book.  You can read the previous ones on burnt offerings, spiritual nakedness and clothing, and spiritual leprosy here.

If you’ve ever read Leviticus, you know that in chapter 11 God gives Moses a long and detailed accounting of what animals are allowed to be eaten or touched, and which are not.  He calls the prohibited animals “unclean”, and says they are an abomination.  He also prohibits eating the blood and fat of an animal being sacrificed.  These food-focused scriptures are where we’ll focus today.

Even for people who love reading their bible, Leviticus can be a tough book to connect to.  It’s effectively a comprehensive instruction manual for Israel’s priesthood, filled with blueprints, detailed societal rules, the process for various sacrifices, and purification rituals.

It’s logical to wonder why it was included in the bible, or to chalk it up to a dry-but-interesting historical record and move on, thinking “Welp, glad it doesn’t apply to me today!”  While those are understandable reactions, we know that everything in the bible is there for a reason, and that all scripture is God-breathed and given to us for our education, inspiration, and growth (II Tim. 3:16).

So what should we make of these seemingly-random dietary laws in Leviticus?

If we pull back and look take a 30,000-foot view, Leviticus is ultimately a book about holiness and sanctification—what it means to be set apart by God for a purpose.  God was showing His newly-established nation what it means to worship a holy God, for Him to dwell with them, and be in relationship with Him.  He continually tells them, “You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).

In previous posts we examined what Christians today can learn from the burnt offerings and rules about clothing and nakedness.  In this study we’ll dive into what Leviticus says about what we put IN our bodies—what God prohibits us from consuming, and what the bible tells us about our spiritual diet.

This focuses on one of the passages in Leviticus that I believe does have literal application to our lives today, and we’ll start there.  First we’ll look at what Leviticus commands about what we eat and whether it is still a command for modern Christians.  But stick with me, we’ll then dive more into what the bible tells us about our spiritual food and drink, and why what we put into our body (spiritually) matters.

“They are unclean to you…”

Let’s start in Leviticus 11:2.  It’s a long chapter so we’ll skim through and hit some high points.  God tells Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth…”  Here are the cliff notes:

  • God tells the Israelites that they CAN eat animals that chew the cud and have divided hooves, fish that have fins and scales, a couple insects (locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers), and then prohibits a whole list of very specific birds (with the implication that anything outside that list is okay).
  • In each section about the unclean animals, he specifies some version of “their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you” (Lev. 11:8).
  • A few verses later when speaking of sea creatures, He reiterates, “But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales…they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination” (Lev. 11:10-11).
  • He uses similar language as He goes through birds and winged insects, as well as later in the chapter referring to creeping things (reptiles, for instance).

The Israelites are warned that if they ate any of these unclean animals, or if the dead bodies came into contact with them or their belongings, it made them unclean (Lev. 11:24-28, among other verses).  Why does God spend almost fifty verses on this topic?

“You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.  For I am the Lord your God.  You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy.

Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God.  You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.  This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature…to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten” (Lev. 11:41-47)

The easiest answer to why this is commanded is, “because God said so”.  In terms of why those specific animals are forbidden, there are a number of schools of thought—including health reasons, as well as animals that were frequently worshipped and eaten by the pagan societies around them.  (I do believe there is a strong case to be made for both of those, for what it’s worth.)  Ultimately, we can’t be sure what specific reason God had for making the distinction beyond it being His choice, but that’s all that matters.

Leviticus is packed with rules about what makes someone or something “unclean”.  This designation is generally a ritual impurity rather than a sin, and requires temporary separation from God’s tabernacle and rituals (usually washing) to come back into contact with holy spaces.  Most of the “unclean” rules were part of daily life, such as having sex, childbirth, a woman’s period, or certain diseases.

There are, however, two things that make the dietary laws in Leviticus largely unique—and they should make us sit up and take notice. 

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“He Bears Our Burdens”:  The Deeper Meaning of Psalm 68:19

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On October 10, 2025

In Old Testament, Verse Studies

When you read the verse, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits”, what is your first thought?  If you’re anything like me, you might assume that it is about physical and spiritual blessings, with God piling new ones on us each day.

But…it turns out this verse (Psalms 68:19) doesn’t really mean that at all.  I typically consider the New King James Version bible (NKJV) my “default” translation, the most reliable and straightforward.  I’ll definitely consult other versions, but it’s my go-to.

However, there are occasionally times when the NKJV just doesn’t quite get it right.  This verse in Psalm 68 is definitely one of those cases, and if we only read the NKJV then we’ll miss out on something special about our relationship with God and His role in our daily lives.

What does Psalm 68:19 mean?

It’s always important when studying one specific verse to first get the context of what comes before it. Psalm 68 is a psalm of David, in which he proclaims the many ways that God cares for His children.

Early in the psalm David notes that He’s a father to the fatherless, defender of widows, and “places the lonely in families” (relationships).  It goes on to speak to how God gives us abundant rain and provides for the needy (resources), and scatters His enemies and defeats those who rise against Him (protection).

This all builds to verse 19, where he cries, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!” (Ps. 68:19).  But “with benefits” is not in the text at all, and this translation doesn’t really capture either the literal translation or the intended meaning well.    It’s a rare case of the NKJV translation falling short.

It’s not surprising that the translators went astray, because almost every time that word translated “loads us” (amas, H6006) is used in the Old Testament, it’s in the context of heavy loads, burdens, and even putting on a heavy yoke.  To me, it feels like they didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Overall, more contemporary translations seem to do a much better job of capturing the essence of this verse…

  • ESV “bears us up”
  • NIV “daily bears our burdens”
  • NLT “for each day He carries us in his arms”
  • CJB (verse 20) “every day He bears our burden”

So we see that rather than the positive abundance vibes that the New King James was giving off, the lens of most translations is instead around God’s care and support for us in our daily struggles.

Our load-bearing pillar

In the NIV translation, David exclaims, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.  Selah.  Our God is a God who saves”.  The “selah” that David adds tells us to pause and meditate on what we’ve just sung.

The bible translations that speak of God bearing our burdens or bearing us up seem to be the closest to what’s intended.  Adam Clarke’s commentary notes that some other good ways to think about this turn of phrase are, “our prop day by day”, “He supports us day by day” and he also agreed that “He bears our burdens” or “bears us up” work well too.

We’re meant to picture God underneath us, behind us, and around us, bearing our weight and making sure we don’t wobble, fall, or crumble.  In a different psalm, David commands:

“Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you.  He will not permit the godly to slip and fall” (Ps. 55:22, NLT)

You know that sigh of relief you give when you’ve been struggling to carry a heavy load, you’re weighed down and straining and can barely keep from dropping it—and then you finally get to set it down?  That’s how we can picture giving our burdens to our Father.  We roll it off our shoulders and onto His, able to breathe again now that we don’t have to carry it ourselves anymore.

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Did You Burn the Ships?  Reflections Coming Out of the Spring Holy Days

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On May 17, 2025

In Christian Living, Holy Days, Topic Studies

There’s a famous story about the conquistador Hernán Cortés who, upon landing in Mexico, ordered all his ships to be burned, to ensure his troops would have no other option but to conquer or perish.

It’s given rise to the phrase “burn the ships” (or “burn the boats”), signaling an irreversible commitment to a course of action—by eliminating the possibility of retreat.

You’ll often hear it in the business world to describe making a decisive choice, leaving no safety net or Plan B, but it is just as relevant in many aspects of life.

This idea has been on my mind as we’ve come out of the Passover season and headed toward Pentecost.  We’ve been purged of leaven (sin), we took in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (picturing Jesus Christ) for seven days, we’re a new lump.

But did you burn the ships?

We often read the story of Israel’s deliverance from Pharaoh’s bondage and the exodus out of Egypt during the spring holy days.  God worked amazing miracles and we’re told that the Israelites, loaded down with the gold and silver of Egypt, “went out with boldness” (Ex. 14:8).

Yet as soon as they saw Pharaoh pursuing them—faced their first trial—they panicked and regretted that they’d started along this path (Ex. 14:10).  This pattern repeated over and over throughout their desert journey.  No water?  Let’s go back to Egypt.  No meat?  We had plenty to eat in Egypt.  God provides the same food every day?  Boy, wasn’t the food in Egypt great?!

They were always looking back, trying to turn back.  Spiritually, they’d moored their boats along the coast just in case they needed to make a quick escape back to their old life if this “God’s chosen people” thing didn’t pan out.

I don’t know about you, but I tend to look at the Israelites and be like…”Seriously?!  You had piles of miracles, a pillar of fire leading you, God parted the sea to deliver you.  How are you not getting the message??”  But the fact is, we’re often not much better.

What does it mean to burn the ships, spiritually speaking?

To spiritually burn the ships symbolizes our forceful and decisive commitment to our chosen path, leaving no room for doubt or hesitation.  It means giving ourselves COMPLETELY to God—without reservations, without holding anything back.

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The Long, Dark Night (Passover Study)

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On April 6, 2025

In Holy Days, New Testament

When it comes to bible study around the holy days, I usually love delving into different themes, connections, and the infinitely-rich meanings that we can glean from God’s word and His plan for mankind.  The holy days are like a cut gemstone, with dozens of facets that reflect light differently as you examine them.

As the Passover approached this year, however, I was led in a slightly different direction.  For whatever reason, I found myself meditating on Jesus’s actual experience in the hours leading up to His crucifixion.  It became visceral and REAL to me in a way it hadn’t been before.

Have you ever really considered what it was like, knowing what awaited Him in terms of the torture, humiliation, pain, and abandonment?  What if you knew something like that was awaiting you?  Would that make it easier to bear, or harder?  Personally, I think it would be much harder.

I’ve never watched “The Passion of the Christ”, Mel Gibson’s movie about Jesus’s crucifixion.  Honestly, I know I don’t have the stomach for it.  But after spending some time really sitting with it, I thought I’d share with you a more personal, intimate, raw consideration of Jesus’s experience in His last hours before dying for our sins.

I think we often don’t really grasp what it meant in this moment for Jesus to be a physical man.  Even though we know “the Word became flesh”, we tend to focus on Him as our perfect, sin-less Savior, who could see the heart of a person and always reacted in a Godly way.

The gospel accounts are fairly dry, so it’s easy to keep an emotional remove from what we’re reading.  Artistic renderings tend to show His face as serene and mournful, peaceful and accepting of His role.  And while He was not only accepting but lovingly offered Himself for us, that doesn’t diminish what He actually was experiencing as a human being.

In the garden of Gethsemane, He told His closest friends how sorrowful and weighed down He was feeling, and asked them to watch with Him.  But they failed Him, and later deserted Him.  These men that he’d spent practically every moment with for years ran at the first sign of trouble.  He was abandoned and alone.

Though a full moon illuminated the landscape, this was, for Jesus, the darkest night.  As He knelt for hours and prayed to the Father, asking for courage and strength and comfort—likely marveling that this moment They had envisioned for thousands of years had finally come—He contemplated what He was about to go through.  I can’t begin to imagine what was running through His mind.

Do you think He was scared?  I do.  Not bone-deep mental fear, because He was still connected to the Father and knew what would happen to Him and why.  But the human body can’t help it.  It reacts physically even when our brains try to tell it otherwise.  The heart jackrabbits until it feels like it will come out of our chest.  Our adrenaline floods with the “fight or flight” instinct, muddying our thoughts.  Our hands tremble and our breath comes in gasps.

He fell on His face before the Father multiple times, praying fervently that if there were any other way for Their plan to be accomplished, He would not have to go through with it.  When we really think about this, it’s astonishing, and gives us a tiny glimpse of how truly horrific Jesus knew the coming hours would be—if our perfect Savior would go so far as to ask if there was even a miniscule chance that there might be another way?

Luke tells us that Jesus’s prayers were full of agony and struggle, and He was pouring sweat that fell to the ground like huge drops of blood.  God even sent an angel to comfort and minister to Jesus at this time, to help strengthen Him for what was to come.

We know but rarely truly comprehend that He was ENTIRELY human, as far as His body is concerned.  His flesh and brain and nerve endings and bones were completely physical, just as frail as yours and mine.  He bled from dozens of raw wounds.  He almost certainly cried.  He poured sweat, His breathing was labored.  He was dizzy from being struck on the head repeatedly.

And while He knew WHY He was doing it—He had waited eternity as a spirit being and then 30+ human years in a physical body to be able to offer Himself in the place of YOU, to pay the ultimate price for MY sins—He also knew that there would be a moment when He would be completely cut off from the Father for the first time ever, and He dreaded that moment.

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Spiritual Nakedness, Clothed in Righteousness, & Eternal Priestly Garments (Leviticus Themes)

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On February 8, 2025

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Topic Studies

What Are You Wearing?  The State of Our Spiritual Clothing

This is part of our “Leviticus for the Modern Reader” series, focusing on themes that God’s people today can take away from what is typically a dry and perplexing book.  You can read the other ones on burnt offerings, the food laws and spiritual food, and spiritual leprosy here.

The book of Leviticus is challenging to a modern audience.  On the surface it’s the equivalent of an extraordinarily detailed technical manual for Israel’s priesthood, filled with exacting blueprints, animal sacrifice instructions, and purification rituals.

It’s tempting for God’s people today to file Leviticus under “dry historical record; glad it was preserved” and decide it doesn’t have anything to say to us right now.  While that would be understandable, we know that everything in the bible is there for a reason, and that all scripture is God-breathed and given to us for our education, inspiration, and growth (II Tim. 3:16).

But I believe that Leviticus matters to modern-day Christians in more immediate, tangible ways.  If we pull out of a verse-by-verse reading and look at it in totality, Leviticus is ultimately a book about holiness, sanctification, and sacrifice—being set apart for God’s purpose.  God used these instructions to show His newly-established nation how to worship, serve, and obey a holy God—“You shall be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2).  And He is showing us the same thing today.

In a previous post we examined what Christians today can learn from the burnt offerings, particularly how God wants us to view and worship Him.  In this study we’ll dive into what Leviticus says about clothing and how it connects to our spiritual state.

What does Leviticus cover in terms of clothing?

There are three primary themes in how Leviticus addresses this topic:

  • A person’s nakedness (symbolic of sexual sins)
  • What type of garments we wear, and vigilance in caring for them
  • Instructions for special priestly garments

Just like with the burnt offerings, we’ll see that there are clear spiritual parallels for us today as we look at each theme more closely.

You might also like:  “Come Out of Her My People”: Lessons from Rahab’s Faith

“And they knew they were naked…”

How comfortable are you with being naked?  Most people have an instinctive, visceral aversion to being naked in public, baked into our DNA since Adam and Eve.

After they had sinned and their eyes were opened, the first consequence we’re told of was that “they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings” (Gen. 3:7).  Previously, they both were naked and were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25).

The two words translated as “naked” in these verses are actually different.  In Genesis 2, they were “unclothed” and not ashamed, innocent and pure.  In Genesis 3, the word still means without clothes, but carries the additional idea of being exposed, guilty, and vulnerable.

This “knowing” doesn’t simply mean that they suddenly realized they had no clothes on.  Something changed for them in that moment—in their thinking, their actions, and how they perceived themselves and God.  And their first instinct was to hide from God and to try and solve this problem by themselves.

Whether in the story of Adam and Eve, the vague but unsettling story of Noah and Ham (Gen. 9:21), or the way God talks about rebellious Israel and Judah in the prophetic books (e.g. Is. 47:2, Ezek. 16:36, Lam. 1:8), the concept of nakedness is associated with shame and sin from the very first pages of the bible.

There are times in the bible where being naked is exactly what it means (literally having no clothes on, like in Acts 19:16), but many more times when it’s used to signify impurity, being apart from God’s protection, shame, and as a symbol of sexual sins (e.g. Ezek. 22:10).

(As an important aside, many people read verses like these and wonder, “Is there something wrong with being naked, does God hate nakedness and sex?”  Of course not!  God CREATED them…Adam and Eve were naked before their sin and “it was good”.  We shouldn’t take this type of symbolism or analogy out of context, but should also remember that He intended nakedness and sex to exist wonderfully and privately within the bounds of marriage and nowhere else…this is the context that an analogy of spiritual nakedness sets itself against.)

Okay, aside over…this brings us to Leviticus, which hones in on nakedness as a proxy for sexual misconduct.  In Leviticus 18, the Lord tells Moses to command the Israelites not to observe and mimic the local Canaanite people.  Instead He tells them, “You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them; I am the Lord”—again, instructing us on what it looks like to worship a holy God (Lev. 18:5).

He then goes on to list, in excruciating detail, all sorts of messed up sexual sins that Israel was prohibited from.  From “uncovering the nakedness of” (a.k.a. being sexually involved with) various parents, siblings, step-family member, aunts, uncles, and more, to not committing adultery with your neighbor’s wife, to not having sex with a woman during her period, Moses pulls no punches.  Leviticus 20 continues on in the same vein.

And again, as a modern audience, most normal people read through these passages in Leviticus with a slightly nauseated, cringing expression, and think, “Ugh, who were these people?!” and then move on.  Because clearly this doesn’t have anything to do with us.  So what should we glean from Leviticus on nakedness?

First, there’s no question that our modern society is absolutely immersed in sexual sins.  They look a bit different than the pagan worship sexual rituals of the Canaanites that God was warning against, but from the pervasiveness of pornography, sex before marriage, unfaithfulness, explicit content in our entertainment, and more, we don’t have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to being judgy toward the Israelites and their neighbors.  It is imperative to our spiritual state that we honestly examine whether we are violating God’s laws and “uncovering” our own nakedness.

But beyond the specific sexual sins, the bible has a lot to say about being spiritually naked—the causes, and the solutions.  We’ll jump to the very end of the bible, where Jesus Christ in His letter to the church in Laodicea writes:

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see…As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:17-19)

The church at Laodicea thought that they were doing pretty good.  If you looked at them from the outside, it probably looked like they were doing all the “right” things…gathering together every sabbath, singing hymns, giving offerings, abstaining from major sins.

But like the fabled emperor who believes he’s wearing a luxurious suit and parading through town, Jesus instead tells Laodicea that they are covered by nothing, and they have nothing.  They were blind and naked, exposed and vulnerable…and they didn’t even know it.

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What the Fall Holy Days Teach Us About Impermanence

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On October 16, 2024

In Holy Days, Prophecy

“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (II Cor. 4:18)

The fall holy day season is rich with themes to meditate on…God’s final judgment, bringing both wrath and mercy.  Humility, reconciliation, and redemption.

But there’s another theme that God clearly wants us to dwell on during this time, one that’s kind of “baked” into many of the other topics we talk about, but doesn’t often get the focus it deserves—the idea of impermanence, of the transitory and temporary status of EVERYTHING in our current frame of reference.

Now, I can hear some of you muttering, “But of course we talk about impermanence!  It’s in the Feast of Trumpets when Jesus returns to earth, in Atonement when Satan is bound, and in the Feast of Tabernacles in the idea of temporary dwellings!”  And you’d be right.  So let me explain what I mean a bit more.

A lot of what we focus on during this time is the absolute destruction that will be inflicted on a rebellious and sinful world at the end of the age, during the time when Jesus Christ will return to take back dominion of the world.

As we meditate on the seals, the trumpet plagues, and the bowl plagues in Revelation, on the statue of Daniel, and other prophetic passages that give us a shrouded glimpse of what’s to come, it’s hard not to dwell on the devastation that must occur before God’s kingdom is set up.  It’s easy to equate the theme of impermanence with this physical and societal destruction.

But what I’ve been meditating on this fall holy day season goes beyond that.  Specifically, the fall holy days help us start to understand that this is about the impermanence of ANYTHING that is not directed by—and toward—God.  It goes so far beyond just “who’s in charge”.

And in focusing on the physical downfall of the nations, we may be missing some of the deeper, lasting implications…ones that renew our hope and excitement for the eternal kingdom God has planned for us.

We’re told that even though God has “planted eternity in our hearts”, He also designed it so that we “cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Eccl. 3:11).  But we yearn, and we study, and we imagine.

As we walk through the fall holy day season this year, I’m meditating on the impermanence of this world—not in the abstract, but on how fully God and Jesus Christ will tear down everything that keeps us from being at one with Them.

So here are some of the temporary things that will be utterly destroyed…

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What Does It Mean To “Guard Your Heart”? (A Meditation on Proverbs 4:23)

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On August 24, 2024

In Christian Living, Old Testament, Verse Studies

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23, NKJV)

This verse has always felt like a bit of an enigma.

When I was a teenager growing up in church and going to church summer camps, this verse was referred to frequently in bible studies as an admonition to not rush into romantic relationships, and to be careful who we gave our heart to.

The primary message was to guard against getting emotionally entangled too soon.  And don’t get me wrong, that’s good advice for teenagers.  It’s a bit oversimplistic, however, and I later realized that my subconscious takeaway from this verse was one of putting a barrier up, being guarded and not overly vulnerable.

To be honest, I hadn’t given this particular verse a ton of thought as I passed into adulthood, but it caught my attention recently during my morning bible reading.

I’ve spent some time meditating on it, and I’ve come to the realization that it’s SO much more than that.  We often look at Proverbs through a more practical “life advice” lens.  While this verse can be applied very practically as well, it contains a deep, foundational spiritual truth that we ignore at our own peril.

What does it mean to “guard your heart”?

Part of why it can be tough to understand this concept is because the New King James translation (NKJV, my typical go-to) doesn’t do us any favors.

It’s helpful to see how some other translations have rendered Proverbs 4:23:

“Above all else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences” (CJB)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV)

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (ESV)

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (NLT)

In the bible, when it talks about the “heart”, it’s not simply the physical organ that pumps our blood, or even our “feelings place”.

It’s much more than that…the heart means our mind, our will, the “inner man”.  It is the seat of who we TRULY are.

The heart drives our actions and influences our thinking and behavior.  It’s critical that we are aware of what we say and do, because over time, our thoughts and actions will shape and mold our hearts—often without us even realizing it.

So that’s what we are to guard, but how exactly do we do that?  It’s helpful to dig a bit into the word translated “guard” or “keep”.  That’s natsar (H5341), and it means to protect, maintain, or keep safe, as well as to preserve and to observe carefully.

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“Abba, Father” & An Eternal Inheritance:  Adoption Into the Family of God (Pentecost Study)

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On June 16, 2024

In Holy Days, Topic Studies

God’s holy days are a beautiful annual reminder of His plan for mankind, detailing the steps He is taking to bring all of humanity into His family.  And perhaps nowhere is that more explicit than in the Feast of Weeks, or Day of Pentecost.

Let’s quickly rehearse what we know about the Feast of Weeks, to set the stage.  Most of these references are from Leviticus 23, and this study on the wave sheaf and wave loaves may be helpful if this is new ground for you.

  • It was the conclusion of the spring harvest season, which began during the Days of Unleavened Bread with the wave sheaf offering.
  • To get to Pentecost, we count 50 days from when the “wave sheaf” was offered, picturing the resurrected Jesus Christ ascending to the Father to be accepted.
  • It was on Pentecost in 31 AD, 50 days after the resurrected Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted, that the holy spirit was given to the church (Acts. 2:1-4; John 20:17, 27).
  • Two leavened loaves were offered and elevated on Pentecost, comprised of grain gathered throughout the harvest. They are “firstfruits to the Lord” and are “holy to the Lord for the (High) Priest”.

Most of the messages I’ve heard about Pentecost tend to focus on the historical event of the church receiving the holy spirit, the founding of the church, and how we can use the holy spirit in our lives.

That’s all great and important.  However, I believe that the bible very clearly outlines a much greater future fulfillment that brings the spring (firstfruits) harvest season to a close—when the saints are resurrected, changed to immortal spirit beings, and brought before God’s throne for the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In other words, the two “wave loaves” being elevated before God, holy and acceptable.

With the holy day calendar being very late this year (2024), the Feast of Weeks very unusually falls on Father’s Day.  This coincidence provides a perfect opportunity to explore one of the themes of the holy day perfectly—the time when our Father in heaven will bring many sons and daughters to glory.

In our society today, there are two ways you can become a legal family member if you’re not born into that specific family—adoption and marriage.  I believe the Feast of Pentecost pictures both of these for God’s elect (including the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19).

But I want to focus in this study on our heavenly Father’s plan to bring us into His family as sons and daughters.  With the giving of the holy spirit, we celebrate the promise of being adopted into the family of God and receiving our future inheritance…and it’s worth exploring what that really means.

The holy spirit is the “down payment” on our inheritance

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper…the spirit of truth…I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:16-18).

Just over seven weeks later, on the Day of Pentecost, a small group of disciples gathered in Jerusalem as He had instructed them, and they received the promised holy spirit (Acts 1:4).  Paul begins to deepen our understanding of this event:

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:11-14).

Adoption confers a number of legal benefits, including a right to inheritance.  Paul says that God gave us the holy spirit as a promise—like a down payment or promissory note that will be redeemed for our future inheritance.  In other words, when the adoption “goes through”.

Who does this apply to?  Paul tells the Galatians that “we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…and if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26, 29).

And this is that promise:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible [imperishable] and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Pet. 1:3-5)

Just what does it mean to be a son or daughter in the God family—what, exactly, is that inheritance?

Related study:  The Year of Jubilee & Pentecost — Inheritance & Freedom

What it means to be adopted by our heavenly Father

In our society, when someone is legally adopted they gain the exact same rights as any biological child would have, including the family’s name, a home, and inheritance rights.  They are seen under the law as exactly the same and equal with a family’s natural-born children.

There is also great emotional significance when a child is adopted.  It means that they are being fully and eternally accepted into someone else’s family.  There’s a security and trust that comes with that complete belonging—any foster child who has been adopted could tell you that there’s a world of difference between living with a family and actually becoming part of it.

And these same benefits apply to us as future adopted children in the God family.  A father’s job is to provide for his family’s physical and emotional needs.  To love his children, teach them, and sometimes discipline them.

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Jesus As The “Author & Finisher” of Our Faith: What Does This Mean?

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On May 18, 2024

In Christian Living, New Testament, Verse Studies

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2)

Sometimes in my bible study, I bump into a phrase that I’ve read a million times, but suddenly consider it in a different way.  I’ve always loved the phrase above—“author and finisher”—but until recently, never went beyond the surface to meditate on what it should mean to me.

But when we spend some time with the words that Paul (at least we think it’s him) used, it really illuminates Jesus Christ’s role even further, and the blessings we receive as a result.

This one small phrase is an interesting illustration of how different translations can decide to lean into individual nuances of a Greek or Hebrew word, because many of our English words are much more narrow in scope.  Let’s look at a few of my favorite bible translations:

  • “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (NKJV)
  • “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (NLT)
  • “…looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua” (CJB)
  • “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (ESV)
  • “…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (NIV)

I like to think of each of these two main Greek words we’ll look at today like a diamond…having many facets so that when you turn it this way and that, you see the light and color and sparkle a bit differently.

So let’s briefly explore some of these facets…

The Initiator of our faith, blazing a trail for us to follow

The word that the NKJV translates as “author” is G747, archegos, and here are some of the ways we can understand it.

First inventor of a thing, initiator, founder, pioneer

Jesus is the trailblazer, the one who went first to “go boldly where no man has gone before”, as the famous Star Trek line posits.  He was the firstborn from the dead (the first to be resurrected to ETERNAL spiritual life), and the first to ascend to heaven to be with God (Col. 1:15, John 3:13).

And, because HE has gone boldly before us and wiped clean the death penalty we’d earned, WE are also able to come boldly before the very throne of God in heaven and bask in God’s grace and mercy (Heb. 4:16).

Jesus Christ was the forerunner, like a scout sent out in advance to see what lies ahead and set up camp.  He told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for us, so that He can come back to get us (Heb. 6:20, John 1:2 and 14:1-4).

He (along with the Father) initiated the process.  No one else could be Mediator of a better covenant, one founded upon the sacrifice of our sinless Messiah as High Priest (Heb. 9).  He was the first.

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