Tag: Devotional

  • MAY GOD KEEP US FROM BEING LIKE THINKERS

    Reflections on Ecclesiastes Great minds don’t think alike. Leonardo Da Vinci didn’t paint the “Mona Lisa” by working like his predecessors; he made the uncommon move of focusing on her eyes and hands. Albert Einstein didn’t figure out the speed of light by focusing on the problems his peers were solving. Walt Whitman didn’t come…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly. Remphan’s star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms struggles…

  • IF LIFE WERE A MUSICAL

    Connect The TestamentsJudges 4:1-6:10; Philippians 1:19-30; Psalm 65:1-13 Maybe life should be more like a musical or an oratorio—like Les Misérables or Handel’s Messiah. How we feel is often expressed better in song or poetry than anything else. Literary criticism tells us that poets write verse because prose simply can’t capture the emotions they’re feeling.…

  • TO DO: FEAR GOD

    Reflections on Proverbs From the time I was old enough to work an after-school job, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I had a game plan. Star student and valued employee, I closely identified with the Proverbs 31 woman; she embodies the modern-day linchpin concept: goal-setting, prioritizing and productivity. But it…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    Art thou asking the reason of this, believer? Look upward to thy heavenly Father, and behold him pure and holy. Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like him? Wilt thou easily be conformed to his image? Wilt thou not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify thee? Will…

  • DON’T FOCUS ON OVERCOMING

    Connect The TestamentsJudges 2:11-3:31; Philippians 1:12-18; Psalm 63-64 When I go through difficult circumstances, I want the end. I’m so focused on escape and overcoming that I barely think about what God might be teaching me through that experience. And I’m certainly not thinking about how He might be using me to witness to others.…

  • INCHING TOWARDS GOD

    Reflections on the Psalms I have had seasons of great joy and delight in God, as well as seasons of unrelenting sorrow—times when God seemed silent and hidden in the midst of distressing circumstances and loss. We would love to think that following God is nothing but going from one degree of glory to the…

  • MORNING & EVENING

    It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God’s own time—the going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord’s soldiers, who are now fighting “the good fight of faith” will have done with conflict, and have entered into the joy of their Lord. But…

  • WHO WILL FIGHT FOR US?

    Connect The TestamentsJudges 1:1-2:10; Philippians 1:1-11; Psalm 61:1-62:12 “Who will go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?” (Judg 1:1). I’ve felt this way before—wondering who will be my advocate in my time of need. It’s ironic that we are surrounded by people, and we have constant access to communication, and…

  • ACCEPTING THE UNEXPECTED

    Reflections on Job After the family business collapsed, my mom scrambled to find work waiting tables so she could feed us. Then, when her aging parents were no longer able to take care of themselves, she shouldered the load as caregiver. Throughout the years, despite mental and physical exhaustion, she never wavered from following God.…