Category: Through the Bible Devotions

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

A first time for everything

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 5.

After Jesus touches a man full of leprosy, he tells him, “Go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as Moses commanded” (Luke 5:13,14).

I’ll bet this didn’t happen very often. In fact, I’ll bet that few if any people recovered from leprosy or any other skin disease that word refers to. I could be wrong, but the priest may have never had anyone come to him to be proclaimed healed.

I imagine the priest had to get out the scroll which included Leviticus 14. That’s where the Lord told Moses exactly what needed to be done for a leprous person on the day of his cleansing.

  • If the priest observed healing, the person would bring two live clean birds, some cedarwood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop,.

The person then kills one of the birds in a jar filled with fresh water.

  • The priest ties up the other bird with the yarn, cedarwood, and hyssop, dips it in the water in the jar. The priest then sprinkles the water on the person seven times, and releases the bird.
  • The healed person washes his clothes, shaves all his hair, and takes a bath, clean and restored.

But there’s more.

  • Eight days later, the person offers up two males lambs, a ewe lamb, some grain mixed with oil, and some more oil.
  • The priest takes some of the blood of the killed lamb and puts it on the right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe, followed by oil in those same places.

The whole process was involved and took more than a week to complete.

I was once invited to do a memorial service at someone’s home. After some readings and prayers, we went into the back yard which abutted some freshwater marshland. A family member handed me a cardboard box and said, “Do what you usually do.”

I had never held a box of remains before, much less performed a ritual scattering. I had to rubric to consult, so I made one up. I did learn this: always make sure you’re standing upwind.

That wasn’t the only time I improvised.

  • I did a quinceañera for a teenager whose family had Puerta Rican roots. I made phone calls to local churches with Hispanic ministry to find the ceremony.
  • People asked me to bless bibles and cross necklaces. I usually prayed for the people who read or wore them.
  • Visiting someone in the hospital with Covid-19 involved gearing up with personal protection equipment. I don’t remember taking that class in seminary.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

It’s relentless

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tim Bernhard on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 4.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1,2). During that time, Jesus ate nothing, so he was in very dire circumstances when tempted. In contrast, we’re often tempted when we’re blessed, when things are going well, and when we have few worries.

The thing about temptation is you rarely see it coming. It looks good, sounds appealing, promises to be beneficial, and is within reach. After the fact is when you think, “I wish I hadn’t done that,” “I shouldn’t have said that,” and “I should have known better.” In these matters, your hindsight is indeed 20/20.

Here something from Enduring Word that I never thought about: “The presence of temptation only relents when we give in.” Until we succumb, temptation from the influences around us, our own desires, and yes, Satan himself, will press in on us.

Jesus is different. He knows exactly what the devil is attempting to do, and heads off each temptation at the pass with guidelines from God’s word. After several failed attempts, the devil gives up until another time. We have a hero who resists temptation, pays the price for every time we’ve given in, and shows us that there is always a way out through faith in him.

Posted in mathematics, Through the Bible Devotions

Just do the math

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 2.

In his gospel, Luke mentions a man name Simeon who is waiting to see the Messiah. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). In faith, he knows he’s immortal until he puts eyes on the Savior. Imagine what you could do with a promise like that!

I’m a math guy, but I never considered that Simeon did the math when he went to the temple on the very same day when Joseph and Mary showed up with Jesus.

The shepherds who saw and heard the angelic announcement and praises about the Christ’s birth had told everyone what they had experienced (Luke 2:17). News like that spreads quickly.

Simeon was righteous and devout (2:25). He knew the Old Testament statute that after circumcision, a woman would come to the temple with her son in thirty-three days for purification (Leviticus 12). The Spirit of God, working through the Word, gave Simeon a good idea of when the Messiah would show up at the temple. This was not an accidental encounter. God had arranged for this meet-up a long time ago.

I’m smiling as I write this. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts, but I majored in math. Years later, God led me to the seminary to prepare for pastoral ministry. To some, math and ministry appear to be thousands of miles apart. For me, they are next door neighbors!

I cut my math teeth on algebra in eighth grade. I helped all my friends get through ninth grade geometry. Functions, trigonometry, and calculus all made sense to me in high school. From statistics to topology, God prepared me for graduate study in theology. By God’s grace, I love numbers almost as much as I love him!

I know enough about math to know that you can’t calculate when Jesus will return. I also can’t assume that the little bit you have won’t go a long way, as it did with the feeding of the five thousand. My age may be a finite number, but nothing about God is. The concept of infinity simply leads me to worship the eternal God and look forward to eternal life.

Math got me some awards and college scholarships in high school. Math prepared me to help my daughter excel in high school calculus. Math gives me the chance to tutor my home-schooled grandsons. Math gives me perspective when people try to use statistics to their advantage. Math reveals a creator who numbers my days, knows the how many hairs I have on my head, and constantly gives more than I ask for or imagine.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Everything?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 12.

And [Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:41-44)

This woman gave “all she had to live on” (12:44). Really? Why?

I get it. Jesus’s point? Her offering was huge. It was everything she had. It was a ridiculous sacrifice. God doesn’t require this. He never asks for this. He doesn’t love her more because of her offering.

So what’s going on here? Who gives everything they have to God? Or to anyone else?

I might do that in a moment. I may have five bucks in my pocket. I’ll give that away. Does that count? It’s not everything I have. I’ve got more in the bank. I can always resupply my cash at the ATM.

At what point would giving everything be a virtue? What about your responsibilities to feeding your family, mortgage payments, credit card payments, insurance premiums, utility bills, taxes, pets, cell phone carrier, prescription medications, gas for the car, semi-annual air conditioner maintenance, doctor co-pays, haircuts, and Chick-fil-A?

God never asks for everything. He requires ten percent in the Old Testament. Sacrifices might have been one bull, one lamb, two pigeons, or some other prescribed offering. Something substantial, but never your whole portfolio.

This woman’s gift put the rich people’s contributions to shame. Fair enough. Is that what we aspire to, or is that simply a lesson in humility? Only one gave up everything, even his life for us. Jesus did that so we would be free from any obligations to God. How great is that?

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

This time he uses spit

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 7 and 8.

“And taking [a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment] aside from the crowd privately, Jesus put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue” (Mark 7:33).

“[Jesus] took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him…his sight was restored” (Mark 8:23-25).

So far in Mark’s gospel Jesus healed with his voice and his touch. Why does Jesus use his spit in these two healings?

Some commentators say that Jesus did miracles in a number of ways to avoid leaving any kind of formula for others to copy. Others write of diseased eyelids stuck together and dry tongues, loosened in part by saliva.

Or maybe Jesus turned the custom of spitting from an insult to a blessing. When arrested, Jesus would be spit on and mocked, but also turned that a blessing as taking our shame and guilt upon himself.

When do you spit? Infants spit out that first taste of pureed green beans. I spit out a bug that flies into my mouth. Toothpaste after brushing. Mouthwashing after rinsing. Whatever that junk was you coughed up. A little spit might get a small spot off your shirt. Ever get so angry you could spit? Lukewarm church members make God want to spit you out like old, warm coffee.

God created you with salivary glands so you’d have plenty of spit for digestion, dental hygiene, and talking. Fully human just like us, Jesus put his spit to good use, healing like no one ever has.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Why did Jesus let the demons go into the pigs?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 5.

In the Gerasenes, Jesus encounters a man possessed by a legion of unclean spirits. The spirits beg Jesus to allow them to enter a herd of two thousand pigs. The possessed pigs rush down a steep hillside into the sea where they all drown (Mark 5:1-20).

Before you know it, the man is dressed and in his right mind. But here’s my question: Why did Jesus let the demons destroy the herd of pigs?

I did a little reading and came up with a few possibilities.

  • We’re definitely in a Gentile region. There’s no way you’d find a herd of pigs anywhere near Jewish town and villages. Pork was forbidden by Old Testament dietary laws. Jesus, a Jewish man, would have no problem getting rid of a herd of pigs, keeping with Jesus law and life.
  • Once the demons entered the pigs, we see exactly what they wanted to do to this man. Their objective was to destroy not simply possess him. The number showed the severity of this possession. Nevertheless, though outnumbered, Jesus has complete authority over the unclean spirits. They could only do what he allowed them to do. And he didn’t even break a sweat.
  • Spiritual freedom comes at a cost. Ultimately, Jesus will pay the price with his life on the cross to defeat Satan and all his minions. This day, though, the price was a couple thousand hogs.

In the end, the people were more afraid of the one who had authority over the demons than the possessed man who lived among the tombs, who could break any shackles and chains that bound him. They begged Jesus to leave. And Jesus did. But not until he commissioned the man to make sure everyone knew what Jesus had done for him.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Make me good soil

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Alicia Christin Gerald on Unsplash

“But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20).

Every time I read or hear Jesus’s parable of the sower (or the soils, as some call it), I stop to pray, “Lord, let me be good soil!” I know that on any given day, I could be like the path, the rocky ground, or all be overwhelmed by thorns.

Sometimes I’m not paying attention. In one ear and out the other. Other times it just doesn’t sink in. I can’t figure out how it applies. Still other times I’ve got a million things on my mind, and there doesn’t seem to be much room for spiritual truths. Or, I’m all ears, and I learn something new and useful.

I’d rather be the last on that list. Jesus promises, “Pay attention to what you hear…For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (4:24,25). Some of that is on me. If I get rid of distractions, I can, of course, focus much better. But I can always ask God for help, too. I can ask for knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. I can ask to learn something new. I can pray that he would direct my steps according to his word. I can ask that I would be good soil!

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Are you out of your mind?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 3.

And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:21)

Jesus couldn’t openly enter a town. He had to stay on the outskirts, because too many people were coming to be healed (Mark 1:45). He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him when the crowds were crushing in on him (3:9). Jesus and the disciples were so busy they didn’t have time to eat. Which is why his family thought he was out of his mind.

On any given day I wonder if someone is crazy or out of their mind. When the un-helmeted motorcyclist zooms past me on the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, I yell, “You guys are idiots!” I hear how much some people are asking for their houses and conclude, “You’re crazy if you think you’ll get that much.” When I caught my 80-year-old neighbor up on his roof, I asked, “Are you out of your mind?” (He had been banned from climbing ladders years ago.)

Of course, I’m sure some wonder the same thing about me. Driving youth home from a Christian rock event at 3 am, then getting up to preach the next day. Teaching middle school classes. Delivering Angel Tree presents to home in the housing projects. “Is he out of his mind?”

But Jesus? Out of his mind? I suppose one could say that. Especially when he tells us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, and forgive each other. Really, Jesus? Maybe your family was right.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

Through the roof

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Elina Volkova: https://www.pexels.com

Some more “through the bible” thoughts from Mark 2.

“When Jesus saw their faith…” (Mark 2:5).

There is so much going on as Jesus preaches to a crowd crammed into his house in Capernaum. Four men carry a paralyzed man to Jesus, but can’t even get in the door. They take him up on the roof, open up a hole, and let him down to where Jesus is. “And when Jesus saw their faith…” he responds with spiritual and physical healing. The man walks away forgiven!

I’ve heard it said that faith is personal, but it is never private. What does faith look like on the outside? Faithful church attendance? Helping to feed or clothe someone who needs the basics? Going on a mission trip to share the gospel? Financially supporting Christian ministry? Yes to all of the above.

The faith of these five men looks like confidence, persistence, and creativity. No crowd, roof, or disability was going to keep their friend from Jesus. Their efforts reflect Paul’s words, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39).

Sometimes it seems like those we love are so far away from God. If we could just get them to Jesus, they would get it. But maybe you’re not the one who will do it. Maybe it will be a friend or coworker who will bring them. Pray that the right one will come along who will get them through the roof to Jesus!