Author: jmarkfox

The ark of the covenant was a box of acacia wood, covered with pure gold, which God instructed his people to build in the wilderness. It was the place (and of course God is not contained in a box) where God was, to be with his people. The lid of the ark was called the … Continue reading Be merciful to me, the sinner

At the end of the Book of the Covenant in Exodus, God is giving his people two things. First, a promise that he would be with them and lead them to the promised land. They would need only to trust him to remove their enemies when they arrived. God said he would be an enemy … Continue reading Grace and Favor Squandered

God paints two scenarios for his people in the book of Exodus that we can apply to our lives today. Let’s imagine you are driving down the road and you see a person you consider your enemy. He is standing beside his car on the shoulder ahead, engine boiling over, steam rising to the clouds, … Continue reading Love your Enemies…and Your Family

God taught his people after delivering them from slavery in Egypt how to treat the most vulnerable in society. That group, especially in those times and still today in many parts of the world, included widows and orphans. You may have heard the saying, “The measure of civilization is how it treats its weakest members.” … Continue reading Love for the Vulnerable

What if you left your favorite donkey with a neighbor for safekeeping and it ended up dead or injured or missing when you returned? Don’t have a favorite? Ok, any of your donkeys. That problem was covered in the civil laws God gave to His people in the wilderness. The man who was responsible for … Continue reading Like a Good Neighbor

In his book, “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen,” David Brooks writes this: “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.” And he writes, “She who only looks inward will find only chaos, and she who looks outward with the … Continue reading A Community of Love