An Oracle, Part 5

By James Boice

Theme: Under His Wings

In this week’s lessons we are given a stark description of the wicked, while the contrasting attributes of God reveal what God will do for those who belong to him.

Scripture: Psalm 36:1-12

Yesterday we said that the first way in which the righteous are blessed is in being satisfied, or taking joy in, the abundance of God’s blessings.

Joy. Our word for the second blessing is joy, though the word David uses here is "delights." The interesting thing about David's word is that it is the plural of the word "Eden" and undoubtedly looks backward to the joys of our first parents before the Fall.9

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Something to Hate

by Christina Fox • November 02, 2017

While hate is a strong word, it is a necessary word. It is necessary to speak the truth about what is evil. We need to use it to think about, talk about, and act against sin.

Do you have any words you outlaw in your home? Perhaps you forbid words such as “shut up” or “stupid.” One of the words I limit in our house is the word “hate.” I can’t say that I hate the word, because I think it's a powerful word that should be used properly. It should be reserved for serious things. When we say we hate something, we make a judgment saying “This is bad. It’s wrong.

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

An Oracle, Part 4

By James Boice

Theme: God’s Attributes

In this week’s lessons we are given a stark description of the wicked, while the contrasting attributes of God reveal what God will do for those who belong to him.

Scripture: Psalm 36:1-12

The first of God’s attributes that David mentions is lovingkindness, which we considered yesterday.

Faithfulness. The second attribute is faithfulness. Maclaren rightly argues that this has to do with God's verbal revelation, for only a God who has spoken promises to mankind can be thought of as faithful. This God has done. He has given numerous revelations and promises, and he has adhered unwaveringly to each one. Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote, "He never fails, nor forgets, not falters, nor forfeits his word.... To every word of threat or promise, prophecy or covenant, the Lord has exactly adhered, for he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.”7

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

An Oracle, Part 3

By James Boice

Theme: Abandonment to Evil

In this week’s lessons we are given a stark description of the wicked, while the contrasting attributes of God reveal what God will do for those who belong to him.

Scripture: Psalm 36:1-12

Yesterday we looked at the first three steps in the wicked person’s decline. Today we begin by giving the last two.

Without any restraining influence from what is good, the wicked person becomes so abandoned to evil that he plots it by night as well as day and becomes thoroughly committed to an evil course. At this stage of his or her fall the evil person is not merely drifting into evil ways. He is plotting it, in contrast to the godly who spend the wakeful night hours meditating on God and his commandments. Psalm 1:2 says of the righteous man, "His delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." David wrote of himself in Psalm 63:6, "On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night."

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

A Reformation Hymn

by Greg Wilbur • October 31, 2017

This song of comfort and hope would have been particularly consoling during the unrest and uncertainly of the early days of the Reformation. Reminding the people of the truth of the Gospel, the promises of life in death, and the glory of Christ that drives away the darkness of the lands under the shadow of death.

In peace and joy I now depart At God's disposing;
For full of comfort is my heart, Soft reposing.
So the Lord hath promised me, And death is but a slumber.
 
'Tis Christ that wrought this work for me, My faithful Savior,
Whom Thou hast made mine eyes to see By Thy favor.
Now I know He is my Life, My Help in need and dying.
 
Him Thou hast unto all set forth Their great Salvation
And to His kingdom called the earth, Every nation,
By Thy dear and wholesome Word, In every place res

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

An Oracle, Part 2

By James Boice

Theme: The Way of the Wicked

In this week’s lessons we are given a stark description of the wicked, while the contrasting attributes of God reveal what God will do for those who belong to him.

Scripture: Psalm 36:1-12

Denying that one will one day give an accounting to God has a profound impact on how the wicked person lives, which is what the next verses are about. As Arno Gaebelein says, "Loving darkness more than light, he calls evil good and good evil and is self-righteous and has an excuse for everything."3 David sees five steps in his decline.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Gospel-Motivated Work

by Caleb Cangelosi • October 30, 2017

Americans in the 21st century have a complicated relationship to work. On the one hand, many have seen their jobs disappear due, among other reasons, to automation, outsourcing, or the hiring of less expensive, more efficient, or more willing immigrants...On the other hand, we struggle mightily with laziness, benumbed by the soma of endless distractions on our artificially intelligent devices, bowing down to the idol of comfort, desiring to enjoy a perpetual “weekend” of life. In such a state of affairs, how are Christians to think, respond and live?

Americans in the 21st century have a complicated relationship to work. On the one hand, many have seen their jobs disappear due, among other reasons, to automation, outsourcing, or the hiring of less expensive, more efficient, or more willing immigrants. We are increasingly bombarded by doomsday claims that robots and artificial intelligence will in time take over nearly all vocations, leading many to argue that the government should provide a guaranteed universal basic income to every citizen of our country, since most of us will supposedly be out of work soon.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

An Oracle, Part 1

By James Boice

Theme: The Word of the Lord

In this week’s lessons we are given a stark description of the wicked, while the contrasting attributes of God reveal what God will do for those who belong to him.

Scripture: Psalm 36:1-12

Psalm 36 is a lot like Psalm 1 in contrasting the ways of the righteous with those of the wicked, showing their natures, path of life and end. But there are two differences. First, the order is reversed. In Psalm 1, the righteous are described (vv. 1-3), then the wicked (v. 4), and then the ends of each compared (vv. 5, 6). In Psalm 36 the order is: first, the wicked (vv. 1-4), then the righteous (vv. 5-9), and then the contrast (vv. 10-12). The other difference is that in Psalm 36 the section on the righteous is not focused on these persons so much as on God, whose steadfast love and faithfulness they alone appreciate and trust.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

No One Like You! Part 5

By James Boice

Theme: Our Great Adversary

In this week’s lessons we learn how to handle slander and mistreatment in a righteous way, both against ourselves and others.

Scripture: Psalm 35:1-28

Unlike many of our psalm studies, I have saved the application of this one to the end, because it is difficult to apply and because I wanted to get the whole of the psalm unpacked before I did. How should we apply it? Is it right to ask God to judge our enemies, as David did? Can we pray part of what he prayed, eliminating other parts? If so, how do we distinguish between the parts? Or should we reject the imprecatory psalms entirely? Let me suggest the following.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

No One Like You! Part 4

By James Boice

Theme: David’s Advocate

In this week’s lessons we learn how to handle slander and mistreatment in a righteous way, both against ourselves and others.

Scripture: Psalm 35:1-28

Part Two: A Lawsuit. In the second part of the psalm (vv. 11-18) the image changes to that of a lawsuit, and the problem here is that David's enemies are slandering him, just as, in the previous section, they had been scheming against his life. Is this literal? Probably! For even if there was no actual lawsuit—we have no record of anyone being able literally to bring a suit against the king—the slander was no doubt real, and David is pleading to the Lord to be his advocate.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

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