Jer. 43-44 Pride is a dangerous and powerful thing. It skews our perspective and drives us to rationalize and justify our choices any way that we can. This remnant of Judah had likely already made ...
Tag: Faith
Day 310 – Jer 41-42; Heb 11:1-19Day 310 – Jer 41-42; Heb 11:1-19
Jer. 41-42 Here it is again – that choice to trust and obey God and live, or to trust in your own reasoning and die. God doesn’t always ask us to do what seems the ...
Day 299 – Jer 25, 45-46; Heb 1Day 299 – Jer 25, 45-46; Heb 1
Jer. 25, 45-46 Jeremiah prophesied that God would use Babylon to punish His faithless people and then, after seventy years, He would punish Babylon. I’m not sure what to make of that. I am certain ...
Day 266 – Is 32-33; Rom 3Day 266 – Is 32-33; Rom 3
Is. 32-33 Fools “utter error concerning the LORD” (Is 32:6), and scoundrels “ruin the poor with lying words” (Is 32:7). Satan is the Father of Lies, but God is Truth. The importance of constantly seeking ...
Day 265 – Is 30-31; Rom 2Day 265 – Is 30-31; Rom 2
Is. 30-31 What will it take for people to truly know that God alone is God? Even we who know it and who strive to live by that truth find ourselves continually seeking our own ...
Day 236 – 1 Chron 26-27; 1 Cor 1:1-28Day 236 – 1 Chron 26-27; 1 Cor 1:1-28
1 Chron. 26-17 There is another reference to David’s census in this passage, and perhaps it sheds a little more light on why he incurred God’s wrath for the count. It says here that David ...
Day 233 – 1 Chron 17-19; 1 Cor 13Day 233 – 1 Chron 17-19; 1 Cor 13
1 Chron. 17-19 King David wanted to build a house for God. Instead, God promised to build a house for David. David was speaking of making a cedar house, but God was speaking of making ...
Day 214 – Ps 119:89-176; 2 Thess 1Day 214 – Ps 119:89-176; 2 Thess 1
Ps. 119: 89-176 Affirmations are big these days, the idea being that if you tell yourself something often enough and with enough confidence, you will begin to believe it. This Psalm feels like that to ...
Day 205 – Ps 89, 92; Phil 3Day 205 – Ps 89, 92; Phil 3
Ps. 89, 92 There are so many things in the Bible that have a double meaning or that we can read two ways. As I was reading through Psalm 89 this morning, one such alternative ...
Day 199 – 2 Kings 19-21; Gal 5Day 199 – 2 Kings 19-21; Gal 5
2 Kings 19-21 I see a repeated pattern among the righteous kings of Judah in the humility with which they approach the LORD. They do not approach God with pomp and pride, demanding action on ...
Day 196 – Amos 7-9; Gal 2Day 196 – Amos 7-9; Gal 2
Amos 7-9 Amos 7 starts off with two visions of God’s judgment on Israel. When Amos sees these, he pleads for God’s mercy, saying, “O Lord God, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is ...
Day 189 – 2 Kings 4-6; Jms 2Day 189 – 2 Kings 4-6; Jms 2
2 Kings 4-6 When God took Elijah, Elisha, his replacement, asked for a double measure of Elijah’s spirit. God granted him this when he saw Elijah taken away. The text then launches into a series ...
Day 168 – Prov 19-21; Acts 3Day 168 – Prov 19-21; Acts 3
Prov. 19 Proverbs 19 mentions quite a bit about how people are more inclined to befriend the wealthy than the poor. It is human nature to seek relationships from which one can benefit. But Proverbs ...
Day 163 – Prov 5-7; John 20Day 163 – Prov 5-7; John 20
Prov. 5-7 In all three of these chapters, Solomon warns against the adulterous woman. He addresses “my son” in these proverbs, so the warnings make sense. The temptation toward sexual impurity is very strong, especially ...
Day 152 – Ps 39-41; John 12:27-50Day 152 – Ps 39-41; John 12:27-50
Ps. 39-41 It is so interesting to read David’s Psalms as if it were Jesus saying the words rather than David. So much of it fits! There are several examples in today’s reading, but one ...
Day 140 – 2 Sam 23-24; John 6:41-71Day 140 – 2 Sam 23-24; John 6:41-71
2 Sam. 23-24 In David’s final words, he says, “The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; His word is on my tongue.” (2 Sam 23:2) – how true this is! David’s Psalms contain so ...
Day 135 – 2 Sam 15; Ps 3, 69; John 4:27-54Day 135 – 2 Sam 15; Ps 3, 69; John 4:27-54
2 Sam. 15 David never made assumptions about his position with God, always leaving his fate in God’s hands. I don’t mean that he lacked confidence in God – quite the opposite, I think. When ...
Day 123 – Ps 52, 57, 142; Luke 22:24-46Day 123 – Ps 52, 57, 142; Luke 22:24-46
Ps. 52 It is clear how David felt about Doeg, the Edomite, and rightly so. And yet, it is also clear that he leaves any vengeance or vindication concerning Doeg to God. He never seeks ...
Day 122 – 1 Sam 22; Ps 56; Luke 22:1-23Day 122 – 1 Sam 22; Ps 56; Luke 22:1-23
1 Sam. 22 I am struck by the crowd that gathered to David. 1 Sam 22:2a says, “And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in ...
Day 109 – Judges 13-15; Luke 15:1-10Day 109 – Judges 13-15; Luke 15:1-10
Judges 13-15 Wow – I love Manoah’s response to God’s word here! (And funny, his wife remains nameless…) Manoah never questioned or doubted the word from God (and he didn’t even realize that it had ...
Day 96 – Josh 1-3; Luke 9:1-17Day 96 – Josh 1-3; Luke 9:1-17
Josh. 1-3 Once again, God gives a command (not a pep talk) to be strong and courageous and not to fear. So it seems God commands us not to fear. Fear is a lack of ...
Day 89 – Deut 17-19; Luke 5:17-39Day 89 – Deut 17-19; Luke 5:17-39
Deut. 17-19 Reading through this section in Deuteronomy, it seems to me that the children of Israel did not do any of the things God told them to do. Even the Godly men, like David ...
Day 86 – Deut 8-10; Luke 4:1-30Day 86 – Deut 8-10; Luke 4:1-30
Deut. 8-10 Deut. 9 makes it very clear that God did not bless the people of Israel because of their righteousness. He blessed them to set them apart, because He chose them. Starting with Abram, ...
Day 80 – Num 28-30; Luke 1:21-38Day 80 – Num 28-30; Luke 1:21-38
Num. 28-30 Chapter 30 seems to go along with the thought that man is to woman as Christ is to His Church. It states that any man that a woman ‘belongs’ to – whether her ...
Day 78 – Num 23-25; Mark 16Day 78 – Num 23-25; Mark 16
Num. 23-25 Balaam repeatedly told Balak that he could only say what the LORD put in his mouth to say. When he repeated this after his third blessing on the people of Israel, he added ...
Day 68 – Lev 26-27; Mark 11:19-33Day 68 – Lev 26-27; Mark 11:19-33
Lev 26-27 Why are we humans never satisfied? It seems we never have enough; we always want more. Adam and Eve had everything they could possibly need or want in the Garden of Eden, with ...
Day 65 – Lev 21-22; Mark 10:1-31Day 65 – Lev 21-22; Mark 10:1-31
Lev 21-22 God’s laws seem awfully harsh sometimes – in stark contrast to the merciful that we know God is. Paul says in Romans that the law was given that our sin might be made ...
Day 63 – Lev 17-18; Mark 9:1-29Day 63 – Lev 17-18; Mark 9:1-29
Lev. 17-18 Just two…okay, three, quick thoughts from this reading. First, I note how God repeatedly stresses that the laws and the ways He has for His people are different from the cultures around them. ...
Day 60 – Lev 13; Mark 7:14-37Day 60 – Lev 13; Mark 7:14-37
Lev. 13 I still don’t get all these detailed laws. What’s up with the heavy focus on leprous diseases? A brief search on the issue suggested two possibilities. One is that leprosy is a very ...
Day 58 – Lev 8-10; Mark 6:30-56Day 58 – Lev 8-10; Mark 6:30-56
Lev. 8-10 At the end of chapter 10, Aaron does not do as he was commanded. He and his remaining sons refused their portion of the sin offering for the people and they did not ...