Tag Archives: faith

The Lord Has Not Given You a Heart to Know (a look at Deut 29:4)

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As we read through Deuteronomy we arrive at a challenging passage.

But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears!  

Deut 29:4 (NET)

What makes it challenging?

Taking that passage literally, it says that God has not given the Israelites the ability to understand, perceive nor discern something. Further, He has been withholding the ability to understand it, whatever it might be, up to that very day.

Reading this, there are at least three questions that should immediately come to mind.

  • What is it that God is not giving the Israelites an ability to understand, perceive and discern?
  • Is this something the Israelites are only able to understand if God gives them an ability to perceive it?
  • What is the historical context of the day on which this is spoken and what has occurred before the statement is made?
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The Nature of Easter (a series of haiku)

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The month of April is national poetry month and also when Easter generally falls. This year I wrote a set of haiku that primarily focused on the final week of Jesus’ life. The haiku is an unrhymed poetic form originating in Japan. In English it typically consists of 17 syllables arranged in a 5-7-5 pattern over three lines. The form generally uses nature as a topic and seeks to suggest ideas through contrast and double meaning.

Thirst sends one walking
More than some water is sought
From an ancient well

A straight path ahead
Branches waving wildly
There’s no turning back

A fruitless fig tree
Expectations are not met
It withers and dies

Lilies dot the field
Tranquility is shattered
White is colored red

A seed is planted
Earth holds what it can’t contain
From death comes much fruit

A buried seed sprouts
Sown it bursts forth in new life
Birds shall rest in shade

Sunlight breaks the dark
On a rock a dove alights
A new day has dawned

Twas a Tale of Two Falls

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A theological poem using the rhyme scheme known as anapaestic tetrameter found in Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“ by Gustave Doré

Twas before the beginning when God formed a plan
to create heavens and earth and even a man.
Before earth’s big debut, there was a prior start.
The angels were created and given a part.
Praising the Ancient One in His glorious light. 
The winged creatures serve Him all day, there’s never night.

But wait. How can we know the order of these things?
Can angels rejoice before they’re made by the King?
For eternity has no before or after.
It’s one endless now without former or latter.
Now, if time is the space that’s between two events, 
then to order them ask: when did the clock commence?
Before earth and sky are spoken into being,
what else can give things chronological meaning?

Let’s go back to the start before our inception 
when angels were pure and were without deception.

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