Sermons on God
“I Am With You”: God’s Unwavering Presence
I think most of us probably engage in some sort of reflection as we end one year and start another. There’s the inevitable “I can’t believe another year has passed” thought, as well as the sometimes fretful or perhaps hopeful anticipation of flipping the calendar to another year. This year I’ll lose the weight and keep it off. This year I’ll start an exercise program that I’ll stick to. This year I’ll get my finances in order. This year I’ll…
Baptized in Egypt
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Exodus from Egypt via the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea in some ways is the most important single story of the Old Testament. From that point on it became for Israel the paradigmatic example of God’s protection of and provision for his people. Even before it happened, it was foreshadowed in other Genesis stories (e.g., Gen 3, 6-9, 12). But even more importantly, it points toward the overarching narrative of the…
How Long?
I guess most of God’s sons and daughters have at some point cried out, as Habakkuk did, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” It could be some personal calamity–a child’s rebellious ways, the sickness of someone we love–or perhaps more of a national or universal one–economic uncertainty or declining interest in spiritual things in the society surrounding us. Habakkuk’s words are pretty strong; in fact, Hebrew scholars suggest that our English translations…
Waiting on God
Most of us don’t enjoy waiting, but it’s interesting how God seems to think it’s an important part of the walk of faith. How long did Abraham and Sarah wait for Isaac? Jacob waited for Rachel. Joseph waited for years in Egypt, and of course the Hebrews waited in slavery for 400 years. Throughout centuries of struggle, Israel longed for the anticipated Messiah. And we wait as well. In the text above, Paul says that “in this tent we groan,” and…
The Cities We Build
In our text the people decided to build a city and a tower, but that wasn’t the problem. There’s nothing wrong with building, per se . . . the problems come from the reasons we build. The end of chapter 10 tells us that the “nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood,” but then immediately we’re told that the people decided to settle down in one place. It seems they wanted to maintain linguistic, cultural, and ethnic homogeneity…
God’s Bow in the Clouds
What kind of deity is Yahweh? In so many ways, that’s the question of the early chapters of Genesis. Is he angry? Is he harsh? Is he implacable? Does he care about his creation? It comes to a head in the Flood story of Genesis 6-9, and it’s interesting to compare the biblical account to other ancient near Eastern flood narratives. One of the most interesting is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic Mesopotamian poem that predates the…