Posts from 2025 (Page 17)
Daily Devotions
The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.” vs. 12 Joshua 5:9-12 It’s hard to read these accounts of the Hebrew invasion of the land of Canaan without thinking about the current struggle for land in what are known as the Palestinian territories. The place where Joshua and his army made their camp is in what we…
Daily Devotions
He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” vss. 8-9 Luke 13:6-9 It’s always tempting to think that we’ve got plenty of time in life for repentance. It’s one of those things that we put off, mainly because it’s so hard. Once we’ve established patterns for relating with the world, we…
Daily Devotions
He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?’” vs. 2 Luke 13:1-5 News of atrocities committed by oppressive rulers has always traveled fast. Here Jesus refers to an especially egregious act of the Roman governor, Pilate, that had been all over the social media of the day. He asks the people if the Galileans had been murdered because they were worse sinners than anyone else. His…
Daily Devotions
No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” vs. 13 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 Paul has no illusions about the power of human beings to resist temptation. He knows that even people of faith can be spineless and feeble when immorality, greed, and idolatry…
Daily Devotions
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea … Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them…” vss. 1, 5 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 Paul certainly was no Pollyanna. He knew from Hebrew history that most of the people of Israel, rescued from slavery in Egypt, had fallen away from the faith by the time they left the wilderness. Therefore he does not…
Daily Devotions
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.” vss. 3-4 Psalm 63 In recent years the writers of praise songs have discovered the richness of the psalms and have used their lyrics in hundreds of their hymns. These two verses from Psalm 63 make up the entirety of the praise song, Thy Loving Kindness, and…
Daily Devotions
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” vs. 8 Isaiah 55:6-9 Whatever might be said about Isaiah, he certainly had his finger on the pulse of the Divine Presence. For the most part we humans have been hopelessly confused about the nature of God, and have in fact created God in our own image. We claim to know God’s will about any number of things, and assume that God will always behave…
Daily Devotions
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” vs. 2 Isaiah 55:1-5 Many people spend hours every day wishing they had another means of employment. Sometimes the problem is their co-workers, sometimes it’s their compensation, but often it’s just plain lack of satisfaction in what they’re doing. These folks become the target…
Daily Devotions
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” vs. 34 Luke 13:34-35 Like all Jews of his time Jesus had a deep and abiding love for the city of Jerusalem. For centuries it had been the site of the temple, which, during Jesus’ lifetime, had been completely rebuilt…
Daily Devotions
“He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.’” vs. 32 Luke 13:31-33 Luke reports that King Herod had become aware of Jesus’ ministry and saw his work as a threat to his rule. Some Pharisees even reported to Jesus that Herod wanted to kill him. Jesus wasn’t intimidated. He kept on doing what he had been…
Daily Devotions
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” vss. 11-12 Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Most of us are, familiar with these verses from Psalm 91, not because we’ve read them in scripture, but because we’ve heard them sung as one of the verses in “On Eagles’ Wings.” That devotional hymn, dating back to about 1979, has…
Daily Devotions
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” vss. 19-20 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Believers have always been fans of Valentine’s Day. Way back in the third century there was a St. Valentine who performed works of love and service in the area of Rome. As the years passed, stories and myths…