Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Psalm 62:1-8: A Paraphrase

I did this for youth group tonight and thought it might be worth sharing.  Tried to put Psalm 62:1-8 in words that we would use in everyday speech.  I found it to be moving...I hope you will too.

The only way I have peace inside is in God
He comes through for me.
He’s like a rock for me, I can count on Him;
He’s like a bomb shelter from life; nothing shakes me.

How long are you guys gonna come after me?
Are you trying to push me over –
because I’m already partially broken,
because I’m hurting and weak?

I’m sure they’re out to get me!
Trying to push me down!
They love to lie…
When they’re around me they say nice things,
but inside I know they hate me.

Yes, inside, I only find peace in God,
My belief in a better tomorrow is because of Him.
He is my rock, I can count on Him;
He’s like a bomb shelter from life, nothing shakes me.

You can trust in him for everything too!
Pour out your insides to Him, the things you hide from everyone else.
Because God is a refuge!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Studying the Scriptures: My Approach

I wrote the other day about my goal to read the entire Bible with this question in mind: How is it that Jesus has corrected the problem of sin thereby allowing rebellious people to turn in faith to God?  My goal is to develop an understanding of atonement, the nature of sin and salvation, based on the entirety of Scripture.  Since then I read a post from April 2012 where I suggested that there are two basic questions that the entire Bible is answering: Who is God? and What does He want with me?  While these two questions do not directly relate to the question of how God has accomplished salvation, it seems that they would be appropriate to consider as I read through the Bible asking the question about the nature of the atonement.

So this is how I will approach my goal:
Tuesday and Wednesday I will read a passage of Scripture and begin to reflect on these four questions:
     1) Who is God?
     2) What does He want with me?
     3) What is the nature of sin?
     4) What is the remedy for sin?
Thursday I will write my thoughts in relation to the first question: Who is God?
Saturday or Sunday I will write in relation to the second question: What does He want with me?
Monday I will write in relation to the last two questions: What is the nature of sin? and What is the remedy for sin?

In approaching it in this way I hope to give a full week of thought to each passage before writing my conclusions on what it says about atonement.  Hopefully asking all four questions rather than just the last two will also make the whole exercise more fruitful.