Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 29:10 (New Living Translation) For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries. God the Creator is punishing the chosen people for their disobedience. The punishment? Deep sleep. Those who are supposed to see, hear, and envision are…well, their minds […]

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Isaiah 3:5 (New Living Translation) Young people will insult their elders, and vulgar people will sneer at the honorable. The is part of a passage about God judging and punishing the people. It is a long list including the scarcity of food and water—necessities for life. And here we have another punishing: youth disrespecting those […]

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Proverbs 15:29 (New Living Translation) The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. What a curse. Does God hear the prayers of the wicked? Does God only hear the prayers of the righteous? I believe God hears the prayers of all who call on the name of the […]

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Proverbs 17:9 Holman Christian Standard Bible Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends. How do I react when someone offends me or offends another in front of me or simply makes a bad mistake that affects me?  (I can go on quite a while here, but this will suffice) […]

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Psalm 37:1 (New Living Translation) Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. Look at those people. Look at what they are doing. Can you imagine anyone would do those things? And look at the cars they drive, the clothes they wear, the places they go, the houses the own…all the material […]

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Proverbs 17:8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) A bribe seems like a magic stone to its owner; wherever he turns, he succeeds. Magic stones. I want some magic stones. When I was in graduate school, I often wished for an extra day between Monday and Tuesday. Just like magic I would be able to sleep, eat, […]

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Proverbs 7:2a (New Living Translation) Obey my commands and live! We Americans in the post-post-whatever-modern world don’t like COMMANDS. Don’t tell us what to do. We know what to do. We are our own commanders of our own fate, so stop this commands even those that come from God. Let’s step back for a moment, […]

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Nehemiah 6:16 (New Living Translation) When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God. God’s people had finished rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. This task—given the puny resources applied to it—was not possible. The enemies of […]

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Proverbs 6a, 13 (New Living Translation) Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. I hate negative preaching (that doesn’t make sense, but let’s go on). Nevertheless, there are times when I need to […]

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Ezekiel 22:30a (New Living Translation) I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. There is a wall of righteousness—a wall that separates right from wrong. That wall guards a land and safeguards a people. It appears that the wall of righteousness can be built and maintained; it can […]

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