Harmony's Blessing - Psalm 133

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing—life forevermore" (Psalm 133, HCSB).

While it may be the gathering of God's people at Jerusalem during one of the annual festivals that inspired the Psalmist to write this brief reflection, he assures us that God's blessing abounds wherever brotherly love among God's people abounds.

The Unbelieving Believer - Mark 9:14-29

"And he answered them, 'O faithless generations, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?" (Mark 9:20, ESV)

The story of Jesus healing a boy with an unclean spirit demonstrates the dilemma many Christians face when trying to live out their faith--being an unbelieving believer.

Bad Weather Farmers - Psalm 126:5-6

"Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest" (Psalm 126:5-6, NLT).

Do you sometimes seem to be doing everything right and everything goes wrong?

You are faithful to God, planting seed for His Kingdom by serving and obeying Him in every way. Then, in the middle of your faithfulness and obedience, first one problem or tragedy strikes, then another, and then another.

More - Leviticus 19:23-25

"When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden. It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you; I am Yahweh your God" (Leviticus 19:23-25, HCSB).

The prohibition from eating the fruit of a newly planted fruit tree may have had to do with the fact that the fruit of a young tree was not well formed and did not taste good in the early stages of its life.

Since the firstfruits belonged to God (see Numbers 18:12-17), the fruit of the fourth year was consecrated to God as a praise offering to indicate that the Israelites recognized that God was the One who gave them the good things the earth produced and blessed them with increased production.

Life Blood - Leviticus 17:10-11

"And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people, for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible."

 These verses explain the theology of substitutionary atonement.

Israel was forbidden to consume blood because blood was symbolic of the life given by God and was reserved as God’s portion of each animal sacrifice.

God had also designated the sacrificial blood as the means of atonement. In other words, God’s grace permitted the life of the animal to be a substitute in exchange for the life of the human sinner.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross follows this same pattern for substitutionary atonement as described in Leviticus with the exception that Christ's sacrifice, because He was God Incarnate, was once and for all while the sacrifice of bulls and goats had to be made repeatedly.

The Terrified Disciple - Mark 6:49-52

"When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, 'Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.' Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened." (Mark 6:49-52, HCSB).

Have you ever read a familiar passage in the Bible and found something new in it? That's what happened to me as I read again this familiar story of Jesus walking on the water.

Admittedly, Mark's version of this story does not include an important element described in Matthew's account (Matthew 14:22-33). In Matthew's version, Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus until he notices the wind and the waves, and consequently, begins to sink. So Peter's faith (or lack of it) is usually the focus of this story for us.

The Baddest Man In the World - Mark 5:1-20

"And Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, 'Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.' So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea...As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.And he did not permit him but said to him, 'Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled" (Mark 5:9-13, 18-20, ESV).

As Jesus was preaching on the east side of the sea of Galilee, He encountered a man possessed or controlled by evil spirits or demons.

This man lived alone in a cemetery and he was so bad that the people living in the region had tried to bind him with shackles and chains but he was always able to break the chains apart.