Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations

Send Allen a text - Ponder a couple more Psalms of thanksgiving with me!  Today's reading is from Psalm 107 and 118.  Psalm 107 is about the return from captivity, and why they went into it in the first place.  It was because of their rebellion, and it was because of God's eternal love and faithfulness that they came out.  When God saves His people, His people ought to say so!  Psalm 118...

Send Allen a text - Ponder a couple more Psalms of Thanksgiving with me.  As many are gearing up for the holiday of Thanksgiving, we want to center our minds on the Giver of all blessings.  Psalm 100 is about giving Him thanks for who He is, His steadfast love, and His faithfulness.  Psalm 103 focuses on God's forgiveness and treating us better than we deserve...but it also has a hint in it a...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about another conversation that takes place in John 7.  It all begins with some of the doubts people had about Jesus' origins.  They said in John 7:27 - "when the Christ appears we won't know where He is from."  What did they mean by that?  Furthermore, let's dig a little deeper into the Galilee problem.  What does the Scripture say about...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about what Christ said about the Holy Spirit in John 7.  What did Jesus mean when He said that out of our hearts would flow rivers or streams of living water?  John gives a footnote about this text and says this would happen to all believers (7:39).  Let's trace it in the Old Testament and then connect it to Acts 2:38 and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  To God...

Send Allen a text - Ponder some Psalms of Thanksgiving with me!  It's Thanksgiving week, and as we think about all the fantastic things we are blessed with, we must not forget that the origin of all of them, is God.  I'll be releasing some readings of some Psalms every morning, through Thanksgiving Day morning.  I hope these readings will help you think about all the amazing things God h...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about distractions to having healthy marriages.  My wife asked me recently during our anniversary dinner date what the best year of our marriage was, and what was the most challenging year of our marriage?  Wow, great questions!  It created healthy conversation between us, but what has shocked me in reflecting back on our answers is that it came down to life-dist...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me a conversation Jesus had with the Jews at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7.  By this time, they wanted to kill Him in Jerusalem already, but Jesus makes this pilgrimage to the city anyway.  The first recorded conversation in John 7 begins with, "how can Jesus know so much when He's never studied?"  He never went to their schools, didn't have...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how we deal with shame and guilt.  We all have it, though we may not have dealt with it as honestly as we should.  That we all have it, is evidenced by the story of "the fall" in Genesis 3.  That story is not just history.  We are missing so much wisdom if we read it as just history.  It is how sin works TODAY, and the fallout is the same too.  Th...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about presuming what God wants, when something hasn't been communicated clearly.  This can lead to quite a mess!  Join with me in looking at a couple of instances where it led to spiritual disaster.  What God has always wanted is a listening ear and a heart for obedience.  That can take quite a bit of discipline though, especially when we might excuse things...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how quickly and rashly we make life decisions at times.  This episode is a bit of a contrast between the presumption that we studied about in the last episode vs. taking an unassuming approach to life.  What does God want me to do?  This disciplined approach was seen several times throughout king David's life, but it's perfectly seen in Jesus.  Da...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how we are addicted to big, flashy, impressive things.  Let's contrast that with how Jesus told us the kingdom of heaven would begin.  Today is election day.  I'm very grateful for the opportunity to vote and to live in a place where we have freedom.  However, with all the political ads I have been forced to watch over the past several months I am...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the most popular passage about Christ's ascension in the Old Testament - Daniel 7.  It's a bit of a follow up from the last podcast episode about Jesus being more than David's son...He's the Son of God.  However, interestingly, Daniel 7 refers to him as "one like the son of man" when speaking about His ascension and His kingdom...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the lineage of Christ.  Jesus once asked the Pharisee's - what do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?  All the Jews knew the Christ needed to be descended from David, but Jesus pushes them a bit - is that all He is?  Will the Christ be more than that?  Jesus challenges them to think deeper about a Messianic Psalm (110).  And finally, and just...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about reading the letters of Scripture as one, complete unit.  The way we read Scripture today is so compartmentalized, and much different from how they were intended to be read.  We read a few verses from this book, a few verses over here, a few verses over there...and that's not a bad thing but it's definitely not how they were read in the early churc...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about why Peter says we are saved in baptism.  Baptism has been one of the most controversial and hotly debated topics of the last few centuries and yet Peter says in the clearest language possible, baptism now saves you (I Peter 3:21).  What was Peter thinking and why do so many people reject that?  What are some objections to baptism?  Let's think through...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the end of Job!  The longest continuous speech in Job is by a mysterious character named Elihu.  He pops up at the end of Job, although he makes it clear he's been listening to Job and his friends while they were arguing the whole time.  His theme is simple - regardless of the suffering we experience, God is good through it all!  He is the right and ju...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how the leadership in the New Testament morphed into something different than when the church began.  At the beginning, you see a heavy focus on the apostles' leadership.  Then, at the end of Acts 11, you start seeing a different leadership group introduced - elders.  From then on you start seeing elders becoming more and more prominent as leaders in t...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about God's angel armies!  They are all around.  They are awaiting God's direction at any moment to help His cause.  This was the case in II Kings 6 when the Syrian army showed up to capture and/or kill Elisha.  Elisha's servant is rattled but Elisha doesn't react the same.  He sees something his servant isn't seeing.  Are we seeing like...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about who can be an elder in God's church.  In a previous episode we began thinking about how impactful leaders in the church can be, for the good or for the bad.  Leaders make a difference!  That's why God wants elders in every church (Acts 14:23).  But who can be an elder?  The primary passages that talk about their qualifications are I Timothy 3:1-7...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about perspective on what we've been forgiven, and how it plays into how we forgive others.  In our last shorter pondering-devotional entitled "Dinner with a Pharisee", we spoke about how forgiveness is a matter of perspective.  When we are seeing clearly what we have been forgiven of, we will honor and reverence Jesus as that sinful woman did.  Je...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the impact of leadership!  Both positively and negatively God's people have always been swayed by their leaders.  God wants every congregation to have great leadership.  That starts with the eldership.  Many religions, even amongst modern day "Christianity" have all kinds of organizational structures and leadership models that are nowhere see...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how and why suffering came into existence.  God didn't create a world with pain, death or any semblance of suffering.  That was only introduced because of sin.  Because that's the case, many of us are tempted to think we are being punished for our own sins when we suffer.  This is at the heart of the discussion between Job and his friends.  Most o...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about appreciating forgiveness is really a matter of perspective.  Jesus went over to Simon the Pharisee's home and a parable broke out!  But only after a woman interrupted the dinner with an amazing act of humility.  Jesus asked Simon if he saw her.  Do we?  Furthermore, do we see the moneylender?  To God be the glory!  Please email me any comments or quest...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me more about the book of Job!  We can't even get out of chapter 1 without being confronted that God at least allows all suffering.  Job's suffering was extreme and intense.  How could he go through it and fall to his knees in worship?  What were the things he was thinking while his wife wanted him to curse God?  Powerful principles to help us deal with ou...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about contentment.  It is absolutely central to having a mind of thanksgiving.  In this society which is constantly reminding us of what we don't have and all the upgrades we "need", it's not easy.  It's not a poor man's problem either.  It takes as much effort to learn contentment in rich people too.  Fortunately, we have the exampl...