Scripture – Page 2 – Shalom Talk

Do not be Hasty!

Published on July 10, 2025July 8, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

It has been my observation while reading Solomon’s thoughtful epistle Ecclesiastes, he recommends we guard our steps when we enter the house of God to worship. Being near to each other in corporate worship helps us to draw from the common expression of adoration towards Elohim by the community of God. On Sunday morning we move about with quiet expectation, we allow the lion within us to sing, but also to listen, we avoid haste and lack of self-control in our heart, guarding and measuring our thoughts before we utter anything to God. Please understand, He is close, not because we are in the House of God, but because He is close 24/7. He hears our thoughts even before we think them, he surrounds us with his presence; Under his protection, we rest and lean into his shelter. We are wise to let him envelop our worship, and then, in that framework, offer up a respectful sacrifice of praise, embracing and expressing the fear of God (massive respect for the formidable nature of God) in our worship.

Solomon writes — Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:1-3).

Solomon’s focus is to guide us away from the world, by showing us the vanity of human-ness, we find the path to God and to our calling, that we may not walk in the way of the world, but by God’s will, nor depend upon the wealth of the world, but focus on prayer, praise, worship and doing the will of God for others. This is why we linger with the community of God; this is why we listen more and talk less.

Consider the fact that Solomon is nudging us towards the House of God; our place of public worship, created by men and women – at God’s direction. Notice in Ecclesiastes that Solomon reflects with regret on much of his life activities (implied in Ecclesiastes 2:4) claiming they were meaningless. I do not recall Solomon regretting creating God’s House, rather he indirectly reflected on God’s House with pleasure, completing the task his father David had assigned years earlier. This observation is not openly discussed in Solomon’s epistle lest it appear to be a point of pride. I think he did find quiet pleasure in building this focal point for the community to gather and worship the one true living God. Some things do not need to be spoken about in detail to be clear.

When David was anxious or confused, he went into the sanctuary of God. David wrote — If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood (Psalms 73:15-17).

We read in Proverbs – Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way (Proverbs 19:2). We should render our approach to the one true living God with a quiet pause, take time to compose our heart, avoiding carelessness and haste with our feet. During worship preparation we should harness our thoughts from roving and wandering from the task; for when we worship the one true living God – our sacrifice should be an all-encompassing effort. Some think this level of worship embodies the request from God for Moses and Joshua to put off their shoes (Exodus 3:2-6, Joshua 5:13-15) as a sign of subjection and reverence. I suggest you keep your feet clean (Exodus 30:17-21).

The Deeper Truth is — our sacrifice should not be the sacrifice of fools, that we bring our passive attention, lame thoughts, and careless words (implied Proverbs 15:7-9). We should not bring second best to the table, we should not revel in the sign, ceremony, and performance, without embracing the sense and full meaning of it, for that would be the sacrifice of fools not the sacrifice of praise.

You all know I am a musician; I have spent considerable time on worship teams; I have struggled with this. But, in the end, God accepts our meager offerings. He knows we are broken people who bring a ‘less than perfect worship’ to his alter. If our heart is in the right place, God’s mercy washes over all our failure and brings the true worship to surface. We are blessed to have permission to enter into the temple. Embrace it. Humble yourself and worship the one true living God…

I choose Jesus.

Rebellion is their Name

Published on July 8, 2025July 8, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

It was my observation after reading Ezekiel chapter 1 and then progressing to chapter 2 that we are given a detailed image of the throne. Why did God show this to Ezekiel? Consider the message that Paul heard on the Damascus Road. Paul was clearly chosen by God, things happened around hi to be sure he got the message. There was no question in his mind what had happened. Now in the case of Ezekiel we see something similar. His nickname appears in this chapter – Son of Man. I suspect God applied this phrase to Ezekiel as an affectionate nickname; as a term of endearment. The Hebrew term for Son of Man is Ben-Adam. We see something similar in Daniel 7:17, we find the term Son of Adam, Son of the earth. I think this means he was called to be a representative of God on earth.

In the passage we are about to read, Ezekiel is told — Get up. Get off the ground, I want to talk to you. I think that God did not want to talk to the back of Ezekiel’s head. He stood Ezekiel up so Ezekiel was looking at the glory before him – this reveals the affection God has for people who walk with God. As much as we could imagine, within the confines of extreme holiness and the translucent shroud that protected us, they were looking at each other. Ezekiel’s instinct is to get prostrate, God says to him, not today. I am affirming your commission. Right here, right now. Face to Face.

Ezekiel 2:1-5 says — He said to me, Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you. As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. He said: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, This is what the Sovereign Lord says. And whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are a rebellious people, they will know that a prophet has been among them. [NIV]

The short version of this passage is simple – Get up. You are my prophet to Isreal. They will not like you, but they will know one thing for sure – A prophet has been called to walk among them. They will know that I am the Lord their God and I am not Silent. This tells us something about how God thinks. He is immensely pleased to work with us. He delights in our willingness to serve. When we show a tiny bit of interest, he is all over it. He brings power and strength. He fills us with himself and then works from within us to accomplish his tasks. If you ponder this for a bit, you will realize how truly amazing this situation is. The one true living God choosing to work through us, training us in his way. He does not need help, but he has decided to partner with us to implement his plan. Goodness. We are loved.

Matthew Henry said — Thus, in a similar case, Daniel was strengthened by a divine touch (Daniel 10:18) and John was raised by the right hand of Christ laid upon him (Revelation 1:17). The Spirit set him upon his feet, made him willing and forward to do as he was bidden, and then he heard him that spoke to him. He heard the voice before, but now he heard it more distinctly and clearly, heard it and submitted to it. The Spirit sets us upon our feet by inclining our will to our duty, and thereby disposes the understanding to receive the knowledge of it.

We find the conclusion of this passage, Ezekiel is being called, prepared, strengthened and sent to deliver a message to a rabble. A rebellious group of people who have been pushed off the island, the land of the promise to the land of Babylon. Ezekiel knew what this was all about. He knew it would not be an easy life. But he had a calling and purpose. His people were in captivity for rebellion against Gods law. He hoped God would be gracious, but his resolve to serve was clear. We do the same. I choose Jesus.bellion is their Name

This is the Path

Published on June 17, 2025May 30, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

It was my observation while reading the Book of Psalms that the message in Psalm 119:105 is much more useful than first meets the eye. Consider the message in this verse – ‘My word is a lamp unto your feet’. From this verse, build a visual of an angel right in front of you, holding a lamp in the evening hours, so you can see the ground in front of you. That light gives us the direction that we need to walk safely and stay close to Elohim. Of course, we know the Lamp at our feet is God’s Word. But consider an actual lamp before our feet. Scripture paints the path we are to walk just as an actual lamp paints a path for us to follow. But how do we understand what God is telling us? For example, when The Spirit of God says, ‘I am your righteousness’, what does that word ‘righteousness’ actually mean? What does this word tell us about the one true living God? When Jesus says, ‘I am the truth’, do we focus on the word ‘truth’ or the phrase ‘I am’?

Verses matter. Phrases matter. Vocabulary matters. If you are going to meditate on a verse, having a vocabulary of biblical terms is immensely helpful. Otherwise, how do you know what to think about the verse? How do you ask proper questions? When the answer comes to you, how do you know what the answer even means? That is what vocabulary’s all about.

It is one thing to memorize a verse. It is another thing to understand the meaning of that verse. And it is yet another thing to understand how the words that are used to construct that verse relate to other verses and shape the meaning of the other verses. I know this is very intense, but this is what mining the Word of God is all about.

Furthermore, this is the essence and purpose of meditation. Taking a look at a verse, identifying the words that are important to you for today, and then really drilling down into what the verse means (unpacking), how does it affect me, what does God want me to know about this subject that he has put in front of me today. You want to know what Elohim’s plan is, But how? I suggest when you drill down into the Word, you will start to discover things. Then, his plan begins to unfold in front of you. Elohim gets excited when you show interest — incredibly excited. He shows up with lots of help!

The Spirit of God works diligently to help you get the message if your heart is ready to receive. That is part of the meditation process, getting your heart in the right place to receive. None of this is easy, it is much easier for me to write about it than it is to actually do it. I struggle with this just like you struggle with it — we all struggle with it. But I can assure you that understanding scripture over time does get easier as your biblical vocabulary becomes broader.

Take your time, try to learn one or two things a day. Get a notebook, try to express the definition for the new words you may have learned. And you will be amazed at the end of the month if you are able to achieve that daily goal — you will have 20 or 30 new words added to your vocabulary. Stay with it and at the end of the year you have added 300-400 new words to your biblical vocabulary. Scripture will be considerably easier to understand at that point.

What does it all mean? It all starts with a remarkably simple task — try and figure out the message — one verse, one term at a time. You want to know God; this is the path. You want to walk with God, this is the path. You want to feel his presence when you are mired in trouble, this is the path. You want to help your children; this is the path. You want to help your wife or your husband; this is the path. You want to know what to do on the job, this is the path. I can think of no finer way to spend your life. This is the path.

I choose Jesus.

Do Not Be Hasty

Published on June 12, 2025May 30, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

I choose Jesus.

Rebellion Is Their Name

Published on June 10, 2025May 30, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

Learning God-Speak is Important

Published on March 13, 2025March 9, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

It has been my observation that Deuteronomy 30:14 can be approached from two different viewpoints. Let us look at this interesting passage. Moses said — The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it (Deuteronomy 30:14).

Viewpoint One — Moses is telling us the Word of God (scripture) is close to our heart, we should speak scripture all through the day when we interact with others, and we need to yield to the wisdom of scripture.

Viewpoint Two — builds on an alternate meaning of the term ‘the word’. We could view ‘the word’ as a veiled reference to Jesus. With this alternate view, Moses is telling is that God is extremely near us and God speaks through us and controls our actions.

I think there are elements of truth in both viewpoints. Within the historical context of the verse, the first viewpoint is the right choice. The viewpoints are remarkably similar but not identical. It is here that I begin this essay. Our understanding of scripture is directly related to our understanding of scriptural terms. The more we learn about the individual words and phrases used in the bible to build verses, the easier it is for us to learn the meaning of a verse.

We start with individual words, we progress to verses, we expand to passages (multiple adjacent verses) and then we learn the message in a chapter and how the chapter fits into a book. Finally, we look at how the message in the book or letter fits into the new covenant.

We learn to read by learning how to talk in conversations. Talking with others helps us learn the varied meaning of each word we speak. Then we learn how sentences work. Finally, we learn how to recognize the words we speak on a printed page. Similarly, we can view scripture as a collection of books, then a collection of chapters, then verses, and a verse as a collection of words, with each word rich in meaning.

We go to a Bible study, such as our men’s group on Saturday morning, and we listen, we talk, and we share ideas. Someone brings up a subject or comments on an experience they have had through the week. Others bring God’s word into focus on that subject. We call this iron sharpening iron. But the question is — if the person who is offering advice uses the language that no one understands, how can we expect that the person who is hearing the message to understand anything that was said?

This is where vocabulary plays a role. It is necessary for a person who is an expert in economics to learn the vocabulary of the economist so they can communicate with other economists. It is not that economics is a particularly challenging science, it is not. However, the ‘economic vocabulary’ presents a considerable wall to climb if we want to comfortably communicate with an economist. The same is true in the medical field, they have a very precise vocabulary used to communicate succinctly when they are dealing with colleagues. To communicate with a doctor and the hospital staff — it is necessary to overcome the language barrier and the technology barrier. Once you get over these two walls, you can properly converse with nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals.

Scripture is the same way. There is a language wall you are asked to climb, a vocabulary of biblical terms. Learning the meaning of the terms in scripture matters. When it comes to studying scripture, our technology wall is built from things like a Bible dictionary, reference Bible, concordance, and commentary. Recently, electronic search tools for the web have entered the fray. Studying God’s Word is a form of prayer, but rest assured, it is interactive. You think about stuff, you ruminate on the word, you do some homework, you talk with others, you ponder how to apply the word. The Holy Spirit guides this effort, He writes the word on your heart. We learn by doing. Our craftsman friends say –Measure twice, cut once. You are wise to read a lot, take your time, and then gradually develop your viewpoints. Learning ‘God Speak’ helps the learning process go a little easier.

I choose Jesus.

Find your Deliberate Dance

Published on March 6, 2025March 9, 2025 by DanLeave a comment

It has been my observation when searching for how the Holy Spirit empowers us (as defined in scripture) that we owe everything to the superior strategy and planning of God the Father, including the amazing purchase of our soul by the Son (redemption), and the transformative power and implementation of God’s Plan in us by the Holy Spirit (infilling).

We read in Romans 8:9 — Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. All believers have the Holy Spirit. Continuing, we read in Ephesians 5:18 — Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. This suggests we are not continually filled, but we are filled for a purpose, a season, then there is rest. Consider the plight of a Gas engine with a nitro injection system. We do not always use the nitro system, just when power is required. We are told to seek the infilling; seek all the fullness we can garner; and, at the same, we are cautioned to avoid quenching the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and to avoid grieving the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). This is a deliberate dance.

Let us look at four overlapping ideas that lead to the infilling of the Spirit. First, we are told to meditate on Scripture. There is a life-giving connection between the Spirit of God and his Word. Jesus said — It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. (John 6:63). Paul says — Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. (Ephesians 5:18–19). Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16).

Second, we are told to believe what we read in the Word. Paul asked (Galatians 3:5), “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” I think it is clear the Holy Spirit is supplied to us and works powerfully in us as we hear the word with faith — as we believe it – as we put it into practice. Stephen and Barnabas were men of faith and full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:5, Acts 11:24). I think we are wise to not trivialize the relationship between faith and the infilling of the Spirit. It is by meditation and faith we experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. This leads to belief in what we read in scripture.

Third, we to be obedient to scripture. One of the disciples asked Jesus — Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world (John 14:22)? Jesus answered — “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). When you keep his word, he draws close – really close.

Fourth is the thirst, the desire to know God. The glue that brings together meditation, belief, and obedience is desire. We are told to thirst for Him. Our dance with God is to be Deliberate. Jesus says — If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink … Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive (John 7:37-39). The Psalms says — Drink from the river of [his] delights” (Psalms 36:8). As a deer pants for flowing streams, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God for the living God. (Psalms 42:1–2). O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalms 63:1).

Embrace meditation on scripture, believe what you read in scripture, become obedient to the guidelines in scripture, and thirst for God. You do this and the Spirit of glory will rest upon you (1 Peter 4:14). Do not hold back. Implement the plan. Seek his presence. Seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Find the ‘deliberate dance’ in your life.

I choose Jesus.