Category: DEVOTIONALS

  • MEASURING OUT GOD’S GOODNESS

    Connect The TestamentsHabakkuk 2:6–3:19; Acts 18:1–28; Job 26:1–14 Although we don’t usually question God’s goodness, we do make assumptions about how He should act in the world. We expect God to use us in His work and to intercede on our behalf—and rightfully so, since those promises come from Him. But when we find ourselves…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. — Judges 7:20 Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he bade them, at an appointed signal, break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, “The sword of the Lord, and…

  • HONESTLY QUESTIONING GOD

    Connect The TestamentsHabakkuk 1:1–2:5; Acts 17:1–34; Job 25:1–6 Many people are afraid to be honest with God—which is odd, considering that He already knows what we’re thinking. The biblical authors certainly told God how they felt, and they did so eloquently and often. The prophet Habakkuk remarked, “O Yahweh, how long shall I cry for…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. — Galatians 5:1 This “liberty” makes us free to heaven’s charter—the Bible. Here is a choice passage, believer, “When thou passest through the rivers, I will be with thee.” You are free to that. Here is another: “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but…

  • ANOTHER TAKE

    Connect The TestamentsNahum 1:1–3:19; Acts 16:6–40; Job 24:12–25 What do we risk when we know of God’s forgiveness and then become complacent and return to our sinful ways? What happens when we turn our back on God—treating Him like an insurance agent rather than a savior? The short, shocking book of Nahum shows what happens…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. — Galatians 5:25 The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being a master in experimental theology, for they are vital…

  • WHAT SHALL BE DONE?

    Connect The TestamentsMicah 7:1–20; Acts 15:22–16:5; Job 24:1–11 How should we respond when those around us seem to be not only falling short of the glory of God, but actually abandoning God’s work? What should we do when we witness neighbors or friends tolerating or even justifying acts of injustice, oppression, greed, or idolatry? We…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Bring him unto me. — Mark 9:19 Despairingly the poor disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed the Lord Jesus’ word, “Bring…

  • FREEDOM AND RESPONSE

    Connect The TestamentsMicah 4:1–6:16; Acts 14:8–15:21; Job 23:1–17 Freedom from sin gives us the power to love. But freedom from poverty or oppression or guilt sometimes makes us complacent. We forget our inclination to wander away from God’s will and pursue our own, and we overlook that God will eventually call us to account. Although…

  • THE PAIN OF IDOLATRY

    Connect The TestamentsMicah 1:1–3:12; Acts 13:13–14:7; Job 22:14–30 Idolatry causes pain. If this truth were present in our minds each time we placed something before God, we would make different decisions. Micah’s account of the sins of Samaria makes this fact painfully and dramatically clear: “So I [Yahweh] will make Samaria as a heap of…