Biblical Reflections

From me and my wife (Um Daoud). A person from our church asked us to compose these reflections. Along with other reflections on verses from Scripture by missionaries they will be offered as a series:

By Um Daoud:

Ps. 37:23 -- Our steps are made firm by the LORD, when he delights in our way.

The thing that struck me initially as odd in this passage is the phrase "when HE delights in OUR way," not "when WE delight in HIS way." Why did the psalmist decide to say it this way? God has given us choices in life, and sometimes they are not always easy to test against the black-and-white "Thou shalt's" and "Thou shalt not's" given in Scripture. There's no advice in Scripture about which college to send our kids to or how often we need to go to church, but it does give us guidelines to make wise choices with the time and other resources that God has given us. And when God is delighted by the choices we make in our day to day living, you know what He does? He affirms our path and "our steps are made firm" by Him.


By Abu Daoud:

Phil. 4:6 -- Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Eucharist means thanksgiving.

Since you have believed in Jesus Christ—that he is God’s Son and that he died so that you could be reconciled to God—you are obviously insane. You are insane so we [one of the governments here in the Middle East] will place you in an insane asylum and treat you with electro-shock therapy until you realize your insanity.

This is just one of many true stories from the Middle East of a Muslim who has believed in Jesus, the Son of God. But his heart is full of thanksgiving. Let that be a challenge to you. He is part of the one body like you: recall this in the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving.


By Abu Daoud:

Ps. 31:24 -- Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.

We often associate courage with action, while we associate waiting with postponing action. That is not the biblical way of approaching waiting though. To wait is indeed a concrete decision, something that one decides to do because of one’s faith. But waiting is never an end in and of itself: it is a time of preparing, a time of summoning up courage so that in the end we can be conformed to Christ’s image and carry out the courageous acts that he wills. Let us wait and take courage, but waiting is only godly when there is an action that we will carry out later: “For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power” (1 Cor. 4:20). The Son of God is not glorified for his conversation, dialogue, or thinking, but for his decision to—at the right time—drink of the cup his Father gave him: torture and crucifixion.