John Mark Hicks

(An English version is available here.) Aunque no está limitado ni contenido por la creación, el Dios Trinitario de Luz y Amor vive en relación con la creación y actúa dentro de ella. La trascendencia de Dios es a menudo donde comenzamos a hablar de Dios. “Esta es la manera terrena de pensar en un […]

God is holy! What does that mean? Psalm 99 provides an opportunity for meditating on the significance of God’s holiness. This brief Psalm helps us embrace the wonder, justice, and mercy of God’s holiness. Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss this brief Psalm (9 verses!) that powerfully confesses that “The Lord our God is […]

Dr. Phillip Camp, Professor of Old Testament at Lipscomb University, joins Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks to discuss the meaning and significance of Psalm 113, the first of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms sung at the pilgrimage festivals (including the Passover). We discuss the identity and activity of Israel’s God as well as the meaning […]

Job had no illusions that if God spoke that he somehow would be able to escape the misery of his present life. He expected death–he did not understand why God prolonged his suffering. But he wanted a word from God even if it was a word of condemnation. Job simply wants to know something even […]

Elihu, whose name means “he is my God,” appears from nowhere. He is neither named among the friends who come to comfort Job in the Prologue nor among the friends in the Epilogue whom God rebukes. He only appears here in Job 32-37. This has generated considerable speculation. Some, perhaps the majority of contemporary scholarship, […]

It is not a complete cycle.  Eliphaz’s speech is shorter than his previous two (Job 22), Bildad’s speech is the shortest in the whole dialogue (Job 25), and Zophar does not even speak. The friends are clearly exasperated and Job, too, is done with them. One might say they are no longer “friends.” The Friends […]

[Given time constraints in class–we will also cover Ecclesiastes this semester–the second (Job 15-21) and third speech (Job 22-27) cycles are only allotted one class period each.  Hopefully, at some point in the future, I will have opportunity to expand my posts on the these two cycles. But for now…this is what I have time […]

Zophar is seething. He can’t stand it.  Does Job really think he can dispute with God? Zophar’s zeal for the righteousness of God demands that he “rebuke” this mocker.  “Will no one rebuke you,” Zophar retorts, “when you mock?” (11:3b). Zophar’s speech may be divided into three sections:  (1) his rebuke of Job’s insolence (11:2-6), […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] Though neither bounded nor contained by the […]

The Lord’s Prayer is our pledge of allegiance to God and our assurance of God’s allegiance to us. The prayer is part of my morning, noon and evening meditations.  I also recite the prayer at other times in the day, including thee times while I shower (yes, I do shower).  I have found the prayer […]