Tag: MOMENT WITH GOD A DEVOTIONAL FOR EVERY BIBLICAL BOOK

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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.…

  • REDEEMING DISILLUSION

    Reflections on Esther Esther’s plan for her life likely didn’t look like God’s plan—she probably didn’t count on becoming a concubine to the king and then the king’s wife. But in a seemingly hopeless situation, God used Esther to save his people from destruction; his plan was bigger than Esther likely ever imagined. Sometimes there…

  • WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS

    Reflections on Nehemiah “I’m leaving her; I’m getting a divorce.” I nearly dropped the phone. I knew things had been bad, but I had blindly assumed that they were working through their issues. After all, it was their first year of marriage. Everyone’s first year is tough. I had grossly miscalculated their relational progress, and…

  • GOD IS OUR SHELTER

    Reflections on Ezra The book of Ezra recounts the the return of God’s people from exile and the rebuilding of the temple; after decades of captivity, the Lord “moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation” allowing the exiles of Judah to return home—“in order to fulfill the words of the…

  • CALLING DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN

    Reflections on 2 Chronicles I vividly remember an evening I spent worshiping with persecuted Christians. It was loud and full of words of truth and visions that were clearly from God. But it was also peaceful. For this group of Christians, I thought, worshiping God is the ultimate experience and desire. They went to God…

  • GETTING PAST THE PAST

    Reflections on 1 Chronicles First Chronicles begins with an exhaustive chronology. A recurring theme quickly becomes apparent: But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them (1 Chr 5:25). Again and again, the Israelites sin against…

  • COUNTERFEIT REPENTANCE

    Reflections on 2 Kings We often take the genuineness of our repentance for granted, as if feeling sorry for our sin is proof enough. But just after Paul preaches repentance, he commands his listeners to “prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20). True repentance has corroborating evidence. Perhaps the best way to learn what…