Radically Happy

Category: Devotional

  • Genesis 21:1-21:34 Laughter and Tears

    honoring Sarah… forgive and heal… laughter… mocking into mirth… to mocking… insecurity… dysfunctional family… no option… trusting God… water ran out.. promise and a well… water oath… everlasting God…

  • Genesis 20:1-20:18 Abimelation

    Abraham heads south… like last time… didn’t learn… still a babe… sense of propriety… slay righteous nation… blameless and lawful vs. moral… chance for redemption… Sarah’s feelings… Abraham’s intercession… restoration…

  • Genesis 19:1-19:38 Lot of Trouble

    two angels to Sodom… Middle Eastern hospitality… fears… homosexuality… violence towards strangers… courage or cluelessness… can’t live an isolated but righteous life… cinematic moment… consequences…

  • Genesis 18:16-18:33 Debating God

    death of Sodom… An odd question… staged for Abraham’s benefit… negotiating with God … to instruct Abraham… relational… interpretative framework for understanding God… postmodern commentary…

  • Genesis 18:1-18:15 Entertaining Angels

    Yahweh making house calls… a rich welcome… something was up… “Sarah thy wife shall have a son”… biological realities… laughable… neither ordinary biology nor extraordinary faith… God choosing…

  • Genesis 17:1-17:27 Abram = Abraham – Ha!

    … new name for God… from God… from personal to descendants… extends the covenant… cutting close to home… Sarah is included… beyond skeptical to laughing… God will get the last laugh…

  • Genesis 16:1-16:16 A Fateful Hearing

    …shameful…Sarai, barenness, Hagar… against God’s design… stupid idea… Abram’s fault… male responsibility… wife’s reckless scheme… God intervenes… hears affliction… listening and watching…

  • Genesis 15:1-15:21 From Despair to Heir

    the word of the Lord… vision… exalted father… mockery… does not chastise, corrects and comforts… Abram believes… radically centered… right relationship… judges everyone by the same standard…

  • Genesis 14:1-14:24 Raiders of the Lost Patri-Arch

    Nasty names… hanging with evildoers… fascinating contrast… alliance… trained… acts immediately… succeeds… Melchizedek… auspicious name, abrupt appearance… spiritual perspective… character of Abram… transformational thinking (and acting)…

  • Genesis 13:1-13:18 Parking Lot

    back to the beginning… speaking terms with God… remind us like a beacon… is wealth always a blessing?… cake-cutting… what value is wealth other than to provide for your family?…not whim, but sovereign choice…

  • Genesis 12:4-12:20 Altar, He Go

    Abram departed… the LORD appeared… an altar… God revealed Himself… Egypt… felt outside God’s protection… wrong on so many levels… becomes a curse… missed our chance to transform the world

  • Genesis 12:1-12:3 The Abrahamic Covenant

    Abrahamic covenant…idea of transformation… great responsibility… guilt…Blessed by being able to bless… happiness consists of fulfillment, other-centeredness, justice, and expansion… liberating rather than guilt-inducing

  • Genesis 11:10-11:32 The Death of Haran

    The generations of Terah (delay)…Abram (exalted father)…Lot… Haran is the death of Terah, as well as his station of delay… Terah is barely a footnote in history… chickened out and missed the blessing…

  • Job 42:1-42:17 Job, Well Done

    Job clearly gets the point… God didn’t answer… wasn’t logical, but emotional… blow away Job’s false security, gave him real security… restore friendship as much as individuals… Did Job speak rightly?… with his head, but not his heart… day by day

  • Job 41:1-41:34 Leviathan’s Mean Feet

    the infamous leviathan… not a tame lion… casually treat something so dangerous… Have you lost all good sense?… knock him back to sanity… worship aligns us with the spiritual world… best technology is laughable… foolish mortal.

  • Job 40:15-40:24 Judging Behemoth

    …God glorying in behemoth… Job can’t even judge a beast, how dare he judge God? … ‘judge’ includes action as well as reason… more like Judge Dredd than anything else in modern literature… God, grant me the serenity of behemoth…

  • Job 40:1-40:14 Answer, Man

    the Lord answering Job… a command for Job to answer Him… shamed by God’s wisdom and compassion.. viewed himself as righteous in human terms.. a shadow of God’s… power, how and why it is used…

  • Job 39:1-39:30 The Glory of the Herd

    God’s questions as an assertion …as if He were the family doctor — or even a grandparent… that same care over unsupervised animals..Yes, God is humbling Job, but He’s doing it by pointing out how His love and compassion — and knowledge and power — transcend anything Job can imagine……

  • Job 38:1-38:41 Re-viewing God

    repeat yesterday… integrating Reason, Emotion, and Intention … more about heart than mind… “God is God, and I am not.” …one whole, integrated God.. polytheism a splintered psyche… indescribably gentle, yet hard as stone…nothing compared to God’s care

  • Job 38:1-39:30 God Smacks Back

    …the Lord does respond… indignation… answer me… almost comical… God’s doing the interrogating… dramatic effect… testing Job’s understanding… I created wisdom — and you didn’t… takes it to a whole new level… Teach me humility…