Contemplative Bible Reading

This contemplation is a little different. I have a friend who reads a lot of novels. Sometimes he reads one novel a day. One of the things he does to read so much is that he only reads where the characters are talking. He skips all the description of events that are not conversations. Here […]

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Jonah 1:7-16 (New International Version) 7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do […]

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Jonah 4:5-11 (New International Version) 5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to […]

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Jonah 1:3 (New International Version) But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Another verse from one of my favorite histories in […]

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Jonah 2:8 (New International Version) “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Wow, can you imagine forfeiting the grace of God. And all for the ability to cling to a worthless idol. Something fashioned by man. Well, maybe this is more understandable in the short term when I expand […]

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Jonah 2:5 (New International Version) The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. This verse is from Jonah’s prayer as was trapped in the stomach of a great fish. The last line of this verse struck me. Seaweed was wrapped around my head. In one sense this is […]

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