Embrace the Common Good for the Sake of Others and Our Faith I often write about the importance of Christian unity. I even covered it in my dissertation. Yet I live in a society that celebrates the individual. These two ideas stand in conflict with each other. We can’t achieve the unity of believers when […]
If We’re Ready to Listen, God Can Speak to Us through His Holy Spirit In the book of Ezekiel we come across an interesting passage. Some of the leaders of the nation of Israel approach Ezekiel. They ask him to seek God’s input for them. They want to hear God, but they can’t do it […]
Let God Built and Protect All That We Do There are fifteen songs of ascent in the Bible. Five of them are in today’s reading. Four of the fifteen are ascribed to David and one to Solomon; the rest are anonymous. Most of them are quite short. We understand the people would sing these songs […]
Even If God Sets Us Up for Success, We’ll Fail If We Don’t Obey Him God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, ask for a king. This isn’t what God wants, but he gives them what they request. He gives them a king. At God’s direction, Samuel anoints Saul as king, appointing him ruler over […]
Consider What Job Believes in the Midst of His Suffering After Bildad’s attack, Job stares into the distance. He sits in silence as if this time he will not respond. Still, his anger bubbles within him, slowly at first and then building until it boils. He scans the three men and closes his eyes. He […]
The World’s Understanding of Hope Pales in Comparison to the Bible’s As followers of Jesus, we put our hope in him. But what does it mean to hope? The world’s understanding of hope isn’t very comforting. And the dictionary doesn’t do so well at aligning its definition with how Scripture uses the word. Hoping Is […]
The Nation of Judah Calls Out to God and He Routes Their Enemy Here’s a story that shows why we should rely on the Lord God. King Abijah is the grandson of King Solomon and the great grandson of King David. Civil war during the reign of Abijah’s father, Rehoboam, splits the nation of Israel […]
Psalm 155: from Beyond Psalm 150 As God’s people travel through the desert and prepare to take the promised land, they come to the border of the Amorites. They ask King Sihon for permission to travel through the country, promising to stay on the main thoroughfare and not take any of the Amorites’ food or […]
40 Insights about Moving from Despair to Deliverance through the Life of Job Discover how to have encouraging confidence, persevering faith, and unshakable trust, even when you’re in the depths of unimaginable turmoil. Job’s story is a hard one to understand. He faces numerous tragedies. He endures gut-wrenching losses. How does a godly man survive […]
Because of God We Can Anticipate a Better Tomorrow There are many reasons why I love the Bible, in fact I list thirteen. One of those reasons is hope. The Bible is filled with hope. It’s mentioned 180 times in both the Old and New Testaments. Hope in the Old Testament The word hope appears […]