Category: REBECCA VAN NOORD

  • TAUNTING DEATH

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 33:50-34:29; 1 Corinthians 15:35-58; Psalm 29:1-11 My best friend’s mother, a dear family friend, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Over the span of three years, the disease attacked her nerve cells, starting with her hands and feet and moving inward to her vital organs. Every time I visited her, she would…

  • PRAYER AND HOPE FOR THE ANXIOUS

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 33:1-49; 1 Corinthians 15:12-34; Psalm 28:1-9 Anxiety, depression, and fear aren’t part of the Christian life—or the ideal Christian life, anyway. But for those who struggle with these emotions, this tidy concept isn’t helpful or true. What is helpful is hope and belief in the midst of tumultuous emotion. The writer of…

  • GRACE AND FAVOR

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 30:1-16; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:13; Psalm 25:1-22 Usually when we seek someone’s goodwill, we emphasize our own winning traits or accomplishments. Our supervisor, significant other, or family members are barraged with a list of our actions in an attempt to get the other to respond in kind. Often this results in a tug-of-war…

  • THOUGHTLESS ICONOCLASM

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 29:1-40; 1 Corinthians 11:17-12:11; Psalm 24:1-10 When we learn something new about life and faith, it’s tempting to use our knowledge and freedom to tear down religious constructs and artifices—exposing truth in a way that’s not helpful or edifying. If we’re honest, pushing boundaries and living edgy and unfettered gives us a…

  • A MERCIFUL SMACKDOWN

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 22:1-41; 1 Corinthians 5:1-6:11; Psalm 19:1-14 Sometimes, we’d rather not be teachable. When it comes to taking advice from people in my church community, it’s easier to keep an emotional distance than it is to listen. If I tread lightly on their sin, maybe they’ll tread lightly on mine. If we keep…

  • A PSALM OF CONFIDENCE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 15:1-41; John 20:1-31; Psalm 16:1-11 You are my Lord,” the psalmist acknowledges. “I have no good apart from you” (Psa 16:2). We know that God is everything we need, but somehow the details still get in the way. We want to alleviate our troubles through other means—that vacation, the position that will…

  • CRY OUT LIKE THE PSALMIST

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 13:1-33; John 18:25-19:16; Psalm 13:1-6 We often read the very bold psalms of the Bible without really reading them. We’re used to their cadence, their cries, and their requests. They seem appropriate in contexts where war, death, and enemies or mutinous friends were a daily reality. For that reason, these cries don’t…

  • THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 7:48-89; John 15:1-16:4; Psalm 9:1-7 Jesus isn’t simply a high priority or even the highest priority of our lives. He is the source of life. In the Gospel of John, Jesus teaches the disciples that they need to depend on Him for their very lives—both in the present and for eternal life.…

  • CONCERNING KNOWLEDGE AND EATING MEAT

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 7:1-47; John 14:1-31; Psalm 8:1-9 It’s easy to equate knowledge with faith and then look down on new believers. Although we might not voice it, those who are less knowledgeable in their faith can seem weak. And sometimes, instead of practicing patience, showing love, and speaking carefully about the hope within us,…

  • SIGNS AND SATIRE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 6:1-27; John 13:21-38; Psalm 7:1-17 The images of judgment in Psa 7 are sometimes hard to take. We are so acquainted with a God of love that it’s difficult to understand a God who blinds eyes, hardens hearts, and “has indignation every day” (Psa 7:11). While these passages paint a picture of…