Category: Bible Insights

Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.

God Brings Low the Pride of the Arrogant

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 27, 2023

God Wants Us to Celebrate Him and What He’s Done for Us

As Isaiah moves forward in his sweeping prophecy, he devotes a section to the city of Tyre. Tyre is a city of prominence, a center of trade and commerce.

God doesn’t like their self-sufficiency and that they take pride in what they have become.

Isaiah warns them of their coming destruction. He emphatically ends his prophecy for them, saying that God has planned this because he wants to bring down the pride of their splendor.

In fact, he desires to humble all who are renowned (Isaiah 23:9). This describes the arrogance of the city of Tyre. They’re going down.

Pride Sets Us Up for Failure

In Proverbs Solomon writes that pride brings about destruction and haughtiness leads to a great fall (Proverbs 16:18). King Solomon is right.

We unwisely elevate ourselves when we take pride in our skills, status, or inherent characteristics without acknowledging God who is behind it.

We glory in ourselves and not our creator who made us. He created us to be who we are and granted us his favor. Misplacing our confidence in ourselves sets us up for a fall. Pride prepares us for failure.

Instead Boast in the Lord

To the church in Corinth, Paul reminds his friends that if they’re to boast in anything it should be in God (1 Corinthians 1:31). We should boast in God’s character, in his love, and in his power.

God is worthy of our boasting. In sharing this reminder, Paul paraphrases Jeremiah 9:24. So, Jeremiah said it first and Paul reminds us that we should boast only in God. That is, we are to glory in the Lord.

Our egocentric society celebrates self-accomplishment and elevates the individual. This is far from what God has in mind. God wants us to celebrate him and what he’s done for us. He wants us to elevate him and not ourselves.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Isaiah 21-24, and today’s post is on Isaiah 23:9.]

Read more about the book of Isaiah in For Unto Us: 40 Prophetic Insights About Jesus, Justice, and Gentiles from the Prophet Isaiah available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags glory, pride

Bible Insights

3 Unusual Examples of God’s Healing Power

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 13, 2023

God Uses His People to Heal the Hurting

Elisha dies, but his influence lives on. Yes, Elisha continues to teach us today, thousands of years after his death, through the words recorded about him in the Bible. However, he also has a practical effect on someone postmortem.

It’s one example of God’s amazing healing power through his people.

1. The Healing Power of Elisha’s Bones

A man dies, and his friends are burying him when a gang of bandits come into view. Not wanting to end up like their buddy, the pallbearers dump the body in the nearest tomb.

It happens to be Elisha’s final resting place. When the body touches the bones of Elisha, the dead man becomes undead and jumps to his feet (2 Kings 13:21).

This is an amazing example of God’s power to heal. It’s the ultimate healing: resurrection. But that’s not all. Here are two more stories.

2. The Healing Power of Peter’s Shadow

The Bible also tells about people bringing their infirmed friends and placing them on the street where they expect Peter to travel. They hope Peter’s shadow might fall on the sick as he passes by.

Though the Bible doesn’t explicitly say that people received healing this way, why would they go to this trouble if Peter’s shadow hadn’t healed others in the past? (Acts 5:15).

3. The Healing Power of Paul’s Handkerchief

Later in the book of Acts, we read about God doing astonishing miracles through Paul. This supernatural power is so extraordinary that even handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul touches have the power to heal people.

They bring these garments to people who need healing. The people who receive them are cured and evil spirits are cast out, even though Paul isn’t physically present (Acts 19:11-12).

God’s Power to Heal Is in Us

God’s healing power occurs through a dead man’s bones, a shadow, and articles of clothing. Is God still in the business of healing people? How can these examples inform our view of miracles and how we act today?

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is 2 Kings 11-13, and today’s post is on 2 Kings 13:21.]

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Tags Elisha, heal, Paul, Peter, supernatural

Bible Insights

Seek Wise Counsel and Then Follow It

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 6, 2023

Choose Advisors with Care

When king Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam assumes the throne over all of Israel, following his father, Solomon, and grandfather David. A delegation comes to him and asks him to lighten their load, to decrease the burden placed on them by his father.

Rehoboam doesn’t answer them right away. Instead, he seeks wise counsel.

Rehoboam first consults with his father’s advisors, who had faithfully served Solomon during his reign. They recommend he do as the delegation requested. Then the people would follow him as king and serve him.

Rehoboam doesn’t like their advice and chooses not to follow it.

Instead, he asks his friends, his buddies who he grew up with, to see what they would say. They give him the opposite answer. They tell him to make a bold statement of power, that he will demand much more than his father ever did.

From a human perspective they may have said this because they saw he already rejected the wise counsel of his father’s advisers. Or it could be they told him what they knew he wanted to hear. Or perhaps they were arrogant and out of touch with the people’s outlook.

But we’ll later learn that God brought about the bad advice from Rehoboam’s friends to accomplish his objective.

Rehoboam foolishly follows his friends’ advice. Most of the nation rejects him as their king, leaving him only the tribe of Judah to govern.

Today’s Lesson

When faced with important decisions or confronted with dilemmas that elude us, we’re wise to seek wise counsel from trusted advisors. Then we should follow it. To do anything else would be folly.

I often have people ask me for advice. I’m happy to share my opinion or impart what God has revealed to me. Most receive my words gladly, but for a few their eyes go glassy, and they stop listening.

For these folks, their minds were already made-up. They knew what they wanted to do and hoped I’d tell them what they wanted to hear. They didn’t seek wise counsel from me.

Instead, they hoped I’d confirm what they were going to do anyway as being the best choice.

It is good for us to seek wise counsel whenever we need advice. But it’s even better to follow the wise advice we receive.

This is why it’s important that we choose our advisors with care, selecting godly counselors who will tell us our Lord’s truth and nothing else.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Kings 12-14 and today’s post is on 1 Kings 12:8.]

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Tags advice, wisdom

Bible Insights

The Proverbs 31 Woman

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 30, 2023

Discover More about the Remarkable Woman of Proverbs 31

The book of Proverbs ends with a poem about a woman of noble character. People often call her the Proverbs 31 Woman. Though she may be a real person, this passage reads more like an idealized ode to a wife of mythical proportions.

One Busy Lady

Regardless, she is one busy lady, and I get tired just reading about all she does.

She cares for her husband and provides for her family, she works hard with her hands and stays up late, she is an entrepreneur who turns a profit, and she even has time to help the poor. Because of her, her husband enjoys respect.

Her children bless her, and her husband praises her. She’s esteemed for her character, dignity, strength, and wisdom. She receives honor and praise. Besides all this, she’s beautiful and charming, but she doesn’t concern herself with these temporary traits.

Her Main Focus

Instead, she focuses on something lasting: her relationship with God. She reverences him, having a holy respect for who he is. Today we might understand this as a genuine love for God.

Despite being busier than I can imagine, she still has time for her Lord. Think about it.

While many people look in disbelief at what this woman does, they miss the main point. Our focus should be on who she is: a godly woman who makes God a priority.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Proverbs 29-31 and today’s post is on Proverbs 31:10–31.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Proverbs, Women of the Bible

Bible Insights

Are You a Sluggard?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 23, 2023

Don’t Be Too Quick to Say No

The word sluggard occurs 14 times in Proverbs, but is nowhere to be found in the other 65 books of the Bible. This is curious.

First, what is a sluggard? It’s a slothful person; an idler; a person who is habitually lazy. Consider then, Proverbs’ 14 mentions of the word:

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?
As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him.
The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!
A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.
The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!” or, “I will be murdered in the streets!”
I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!”
As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.

It is clear that Solomon does not think much of sluggards, of lazy, idle, slothful people. According to his proverbs, sluggards do not plan or take initiative; they procrastinate and delude themselves about their own wisdom. Does this describe you?

While few would say yes, the preceding sluggardly characteristics are something that most of us struggle with upon occasion.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Proverbs 5-7 and today’s post is on Proverbs 6:6.]

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Tags Proverbs, sluggard

Bible Insights

Celebrate Ascension Day

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 18, 2023

Ascension Day occurs 40 days after Easter.

Jesus Must Return to Heaven before the Holy Spirit Can Come

Ascension Day occurs forty days after Resurrection Sunday (more commonly called Easter). Here is some background.

Jesus comes to earth as a man to save us. He dies on the cross as a sacrificial sin offering, dying in our place. On Easter Jesus rises from the dead. He spends forty days with his friends and followers to prove he is alive.

During this time, he tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for a special gift—the Holy Spirit—that Papa will send (Acts 1:4). Jesus must leave before the Holy Spirit can come.

Jesus gives his parting instructions to his disciples and commissions them to be his witnesses throughout the entire world. He has completed all he came to earth to do (Matthew 28:18-20).

It’s time for him to leave. It’s time for him to return to his Father in heaven.

After his parting words, he ascends into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). We celebrate this on Ascension Day.

Ascension Day falls on Thursday every year. It is forty days after Easter. Since Easter is on a different day each year, so is Ascension Day.

Out of convenience many churches acknowledge Jesus’s returned to heaven on the following Sunday. They call this Ascension Sunday, even though Jesus didn’t ascend into heaven on the first day of the week. It actually occurred three days earlier.

Ascension Day is critical.

This is because Jesus had to return to heaven before his followers—and we—could receive the Holy Spirit. Without Jesus leaving, the Holy Spirit couldn’t have come, and Pentecost couldn’t have occurred.

Though the disciples will no longer have Jesus live with them, they will have the Holy Spirit live in them.

May we worship Jesus for what he did when he died in our place for the wrong things we have done.

May we embrace the Holy Spirit for what he is doing in our lives today.

Celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and his return to heaven in The Victory of Jesus. The Victory of Jesus is another book in Peter DeHaan’s beloved Holiday Celebration Bible Study Series. Get your copy today.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Ascension Day, Holy Spirit, Jesus

Bible Insights

His Love Endures Forever

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 16, 2023

We Should Praise God for the Many Ways He Loves Us

Love is a recurring theme in Scripture (686 verses). It shows up in most every book of the Bible (60 out of 66). The word is most common in Psalms (157 verses).

Psalm 136 leads the way with 26 mentions of love, all in the repeating refrain “His love endures forever.”

This Psalm is a song of praise to God. It affirms who he is and what he’s done. In response to each phrase of thanks and appreciation, the singers repeatedly chant, “His love endures forever.”

What are these characteristics of God? Read Psalm 136 to find out all the details. Here’s a summary:

God is good.
He is God of all gods and Lord of all lords.
He does amazing feats.
He created everything.
He guided his people, protected them, and brought them to his promised land.
He remembers us when we’re down, frees us from our enemies, and feeds us when we’re hungry.

And for each one of these, our response is to praise him, for “his love endures forever.” Forever is a long time. It’s eternal. Just as God is eternal—living forever with no beginning or end—so too is his love for us.

Paul says that three things will last forever. These are faith, hope, and love. Of this amazing trio, love stands in first place. Love is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13).

John writes that the highest, most excellent, expression of love is to die so another may live (John 15:13). John is quoting Jesus. In this passage, Jesus obliquely references God’s plan to save us.

To do so, Jesus will offer himself as the once-and-for-all, ultimate sacrifice to make payment for the sins (mistakes) of all humanity, for all time. This will reconcile us with Papa.

Jesus died so that we may live. You, me, everyone. That’s true love. His love endures forever.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Psalms 135-139, and today’s post is on Psalms 136:2.]

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Tags God is love, Jesus, love, sacrifice

Bible Insights

Should We Pray Against Our Enemies or Pray for Them?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 9, 2023

Some Psalms Ask God to Punish Our Enemies and Those Who Do Evil

Many people enjoy reading the Psalms. They appreciate the poetic nature of its words. They find encouragement to persevere and inspiration to strengthen their faith. Many Psalms also lead us into our worship of God. These are some of the best.

However, other Psalms carry a negative focus. These Psalms request that God punish people for the wrong things they have done to him, society, and to us. This presents a challenge to my view of God and my theology of faith.

Is it okay for us to ask God to favor us, while we beg him to hurt our enemies? After all, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, do good to them, and pray for them (Luke 6:27-28).

Yet David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22), does just the opposite. He asks God to vindicate him by destroying his enemies.

David’s Prayer of Retribution

Consider some of the key points from David’s petition of retaliation in Psalms 109:6-15:

Send someone to fight my enemy.
Find him guilty.
Let his prayers condemn him.
Cut his life short so that his children become orphans and his wife, a widow.
Make his children homeless and beg for food.
Have his creditors repossess everything he owns.
Don’t let anyone be nice to him or pity his poor, orphaned kids.
Let his family line die out.
Hold him accountable for all the sins of his ancestors.
Don’t forgive him for the wrong things he’s done.

Wow! That’s quite a prayer. It’s one that I would never dare say. Yet, I must admit, there are times I wish God would do bad things to bad people.

Though the Old Testament of the Bible records David’s harsh, revengeful prayer against his oppressors, we must remember Jesus’s command to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us (Luke 6:27-28).

Both of these appear in the Bible, and it’s left to us to determine which one should guide our prayers. May we choose wisely.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Psalms 106-109, and today’s post is on Psalms 109:6-15.]

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Tags love, pray for others, psalm

Bible Insights

Do You Ever Wonder If Your Right Behavior Is in Vain?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date May 2, 2023

Keeping Our Heart Pure Is Hard, Especially When God Offers Us Grace and Mercy

There are at least twelve psalms in the Bible written by Asaph. Psalm 73 is one of them. Asaph’s having a bad day.

He’s going through a difficult time. It’s a rough season for him. He’s discouraged and pours out his angst to God in this Psalm. His words are honest and real, gut wrenching and agonizing.

We feel his pain. His pain may be our pain. His questions may be our questions.

At one point he wonders if his efforts to maintain his purity are in vain (Psalm 73:13). I get that.

Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing. It requires effort and involves sacrifice. And toward what end? There is no reward in sight. There is no “well done good and faithful servant.”

Is it all in vain? Taking the easy path seems the easy thing to do. So why not?

After all we have God’s mercy and grace to rely upon, so do our actions really matter? I think that’s where Asaph is at.

This is wrong thinking, and I often struggle with it.

We shouldn’t do good things to gain God’s attention, receive his favor, or even hear his praise. If we do something good for God in expectation of earning something from him in return, we have it backward.

That’s man’s thinking, not God’s way.

Instead our right actions, our purity of word and deed, should come forth in response to what God has already done for us. It’s our thank you gift to him.

God gives us a life worth living, a future to anticipate. Our right response is to adjust our behavior out of gratitude.

Thanking God through our actions and purity is not in vain. It’s the right thing to do and what he deserves.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Psalms 71-75, and today’s post is on Psalm 73:13.]

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Tags purity, righteousness

Bible Insights

Balance Freedom of Speech with Being Careful in What We Say

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 25, 2023

The Tongue Is a Dangerous Tool that We Must Tame

In one of his Psalms, David writes that he will be careful in what he says so that he doesn’t sin. He talks about putting a muzzle on his mouth (Psalms 39:1). He says nothing about having freedom of speech.

James is clear about the dangers of an uncensored tongue. A small part of our body, the tongue can do great harm, setting a whole forest on fire from the single spark of a careless word.

What we say can corrupt our whole being, setting our life on fire, a fire born from hell (James 3:3-6).

Jude likewise warns about us saying too much. He writes about people who slander what they don’t understand, operating on instinct like irrational animals. In doing so we destroy ourselves (Jude 1:10).

Freedom of Speech

Today too many people assume that freedom of speech gives them the unfettered right to say whatever they want. In the process they often hurt others and risk making themselves look foolish. Or worse yet, their tongue causes them to sin.

They—and us along with them—will do well to put a muzzle on our mouth, to tame our tongue. We should use our words to praise God (Psalm 40:3) but never to cause harm to another.

Watching our words with care will keep us from sin and setting our souls on fire.

Responsibility of Speech

As a society we will do well to follow David’s example, as well as James’s and Jude’s wise counsel.

Instead, too many people grasp the concept of free speech that we can say whatever we want, however we want, whenever we want without a thought given to the consequences.

Yet freedom of speech carries a responsibility. Our freedom of speech is not without limit.

As followers of Jesus, we have a duty to speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), to muzzle our mouth so that we do not sin, and to not say things that may harm others.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Psalms 36-40, and today’s post is on Psalms 39:1.]

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Tags James, Jude, King David, love, psalm