The testimony of God in the world (1 Sam 17:31-58)
1 Sam 17:31-58) When as a teenager I started going to a Bible study group, I was amazed at the stories I heard from others there. At prayer time, many shared personal experiences of what God was doing in their…
How to understand the sign of Jonah (Matt 12:38-42)
Matt 12:38-42 Knowing that I believed in God, a classmate in school challenged me, ‘Tell God to appear to me and I will believe in Him’. God, however, is not at our beck-and-call to come running, as if we were…
The challenge to see God’s perspective (1 Sam 17:1-30)
1 Sam 17:1-30 On the night before the comprehensive exams at the end of my secondary school education, I was terrified. Although I was generally a conscientious student, I was also in the first few years of being a Christian…
How God works out His plans (1 Sam 16:13-23)
1 Sam 16:13-23 Finishing my undergraduate studies in theology in the UK, I was wondering where God was leading me in the future. It occurred to me that lecturing may be a possibility since I had an affinity towards teaching,…
How to develop godly discernment (1 Sam 16:1-13)
1 Sam 16:1-13 In my gap year I worked as a volunteer in a hostel in Israel, and one of the guests we got to know started to come along to church with us. To our delight, he also came…
What happens when we exclude God from our life?
Psalm 53:1-6 In the early days of their marriage, a dear friend’s husband went off to a two-day conference to another city without telling his wife. He had been a bachelor for so long that he simply forgot he was…
How we really learn from God (Jonah 4)
Jonah 4:3-11 When I came to faith at the end of a summer church retreat, I finally admitted that I did not have a relationship with God but desired it. However, could I make that commitment to follow Him wholeheartedly?…
What is so offensive about grace? (Jonah 4:1-2)
Jonah 4:1-2 Reading commentaries or sermons on Jonah can be dismaying. Interpreters are inclined to ridicule Jonah so much that no one in their right mind could identify with his complaint. Discussions are often framed in such a way that…
God gives a second chance (Jonah 3)
Jonah 3:1-10 When I was a teenager, our godparents, who left Hungary to live in the US shortly after I was born, invited my brother and me to spend a summer month with them in Miami. I can imagine that…
Jonah and Historicity III – The Fish, Literary Features, and the NT
In my previous two posts, I dealt with some preliminaries (Jonah and Historicity I) and the historical issues proper (Jonah and Historicity II). In this final post, I want to address some remaining questions such as the fish that swallowed…