Why must Jonah ‘die’? (Jonah 1:10-16)
Jonah 1:10-16 A Christian I know made a disastrous marriage that ended in divorce. Saddened by what had happened to her, she struggled with the thought that God did not warn her. Why did she have to go through all…
What happens when we resist God’s will? (Jonah 1:1-9)
Jonah 1:1-9 There is no question that responding to God’s call and doing His will are demanding. I well remember my trepidation at the thought of teaching and the sense of diminishment I felt after every time I spoke. A…
Introduction to Jonah
The story of Jonah is part of the Minor Prophets (minor indicates the short length of these books, not their importance). Although other prophetic books contain descriptions of events around a prophetic figure (e.g. Amos 7:10-17, Jer 26:7-24) alongside their…
An inside look at evil (Nahum 3)
Nahum 3:1-19 The years leading up to the 1956 uprising in Hungary were filled with terror for many. Some were taken off the street for questioning and torture, condemned in mock trials and sent off to a hard labour camp,…
Why should we care about Nineveh’s fall? (Nahum 2:3-13)
Nahum 2:3-13 Reading today the chapter-long description of how Nineveh fell seems rather tedious. Why should we care about it? To give a modern parallel, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was, though peaceful, a likewise momentous event.…
Is judgment necessary? Can’t God just forgive? (Nahum 1:9-2:2)
Nahum 1:9-15; 2:1-2 The question of God’s judgment is often raised today. Shouldn’t God just forgive if He is the God of love? The discomfort with judgment has no doubt complex reasons, but modern secular society’s definition of love and…
Is God angry and vengeful? (Nahum 1:1-8)
Nahum 1:1-8 The little book of Nahum is not much read, I expect, even among Christians and little is known of the circumstances in which it arose (see footnote).[1] Its message of a ‘jealous and avenging God’ (Nahum 1:2) is…
What if God had not been on our side? (Psalm 124)
Ps 124:1-8 In my early twenties, I was going to a friend’s wedding in Budapest. Having just returned from a trip to the UK, I got used to looking right when crossing the road. I was in an unfamiliar part…
How to take hold of the transforming power of grace (Genesis 50)
Gen 50:1-26 The late American preacher, Tim Keller, told the story of a teenage Christian girl who knew she was saved by grace, forgiven and that one day she would be with Jesus after her death, yet she felt depressed.…
Where do we see our future lie? (Gen 49:8-33)
Gen 49:8-33 Reading through Jacob’s deathbed speech and finding significance in it for us is, I must admit, difficult. For one thing, many of the sayings are obscure and hard to relate to particular events in Israel’s future. For another,…