Earth Is Crammed With Heaven-Live Barefoot!

Today my prayer journaling took me to Isaiah 43 and as is always my form of study has me looking into the original language and definitions.  Isaiah 43 :10 &12 the Lord says to Israel "You are my witnesses." In Hebrew thought a word's first occurrence carries that idea forward throughout the rest of Scripture. The first time we see the word for "witness" is in Gen 31:44 Jacob and Laban at Gilead: "Come now, let us cut a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness ('ed*) between me and you."* They erect a heap of stones — Gal'ed — and Jacob says (31:52), "This heap is a witness."  This made me immediately think of Jesus at the triumphal entry whenever we read in Luke 19 "But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!” “I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.” And now you might have a deeper understanding of how it was these men faced persecution an...

 "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." Psalm 94:19 ERV "When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul." Psalm 94:19 ESV In the wake of Patrick's death, I've told Jared I feel like I have Niagara Falls inside of me and all the talking in the world can't let out all that's trapped inside. The memories, the ache I can't find words for, the questions of wondering which was the first misstep that led us here. How long, LORD? How long until I can be reunited? What now, LORD? Why are hearts so stubborn and hard? Why do the thorns, the barbs, like briars keep us trapped in old patterns? Why my son? What didn't he get to survive? In Hebrew the word translated as "multitude" is rob (רֹב). It's first used in Genesis 16:10 when the LORD tells Abraham his offspring will be too many to count . Accurate. The thoughts, the questions, the quick succession of emotions and memories that r...

  Abstract This article argues that the Book of Ruth intentionally echoes the ritual logic and symbolic vocabulary of the Sotah ordeal in Numbers 5. Through motifs of straying, bitterness, barrenness, testing, and public vindication, Naomi’s narrative functions as a literary transformation of the Sotah pattern. The move to Moab becomes a narrative analogue to satah (“to go astray”), Naomi’s self‑designation as Mara (“bitter”) parallels the “bitter water” of the ordeal, and the birth of Obed functions as a communal declaration of innocence and restored fertility. This intertextual reading illuminates the theological architecture of Ruth and reframes Naomi’s suffering as a ritual‑shaped journey from suspected deviation to covenantal restoration. 1. Introduction The Book of Ruth is often read as a pastoral narrative of loyalty and redemption. Yet beneath its gentle surface lies a sophisticated engagement with Israel’s legal and ritual traditions. This study proposes that Ruth delibe...

 Today's Thankful in All Things   verse is Psalm 119:71  "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes." ESV Earlier today as I scrolled Facebook while waiting for my doctor to log onto my Telehealth appointment, there was a post that caught my attention by Ben Bennet  that used several slides to point out the different types of people often mentioned in Proverbs, and how by categorizing people by these three characteristics, we will know how to engage.  But what if we also took a look at ourselves and assessed how often we fall into these same categories.  The three descriptors he used are: the wise, the foolish and the wicked. It was the verse from his slide on the foolish person that I thought of alongside my verse in Psalm 119 today.   This led me to go back to the book of Proverbs and look at some definitions I had written in the margins for the three different people listed in the beginning of the 1:21 says,...

  Today's "Thankful in all things" (pinned on my page) verse is Job 1:20-22 "Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing." This is what Job proclaimed right after losing all the things he had spent his life working to achieve. The culmination of his life's ambition, goals, and even his future legacy, in the death of all his children. All that remained was his home, his unbelieving wife, and a handful of servants. Job is one of my favorite books. I comprehend it best whenever reading it in the NLT or even the NiRV. After losing all of that, then his health is attacked. He has to endure all this internal suffering, (because even whenever our faith is great, even whenever we view God as supreme and sovereign, ...

 An online Bible study/marking group that I'm in has been giving us prayer prompts lately stemming from a word thread post we used earlier on the word darkness . Each day the moderator will post a verse from that thread to prompt us to use in order to pray Scripture. Today the verse was Luke 11:35, "Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness."  I have meditated on this verse most of the day. I even took a nap and dusted a few trinkets I keep in my windowsill, before the Spirit brought to mind something I had learned earlier this year and that is the idea of Satan in the ancient near east mindset, as the Shining One. Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:14, "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light".  What's interesting is the verses surrounding my prompt verse in Luke 11 speak of vision, and the importance of having a "good eye" vs a "bad eye" or that your vision be "healthy" vs ...