Do We Really Seek God’s Will When We Make Decisions? We Must Align Our Plans with God’s Will If We Expect His Blessing King David desires to bring the Ark of the Covenant home, restore it to its rightful status, and put it in its proper place. He envisions a major celebration, one for all […]

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Women in the Bible: Jochebed A Good Mother Can Make All the Difference The Egyptians fear the mushrooming population of the enslaved Israelites. They command all the Israelite baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. However, one mother sees something special in her baby and hides him for several months. When she can conceal […]

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Zachariah Teaches About Shepherds, Their Sheep, and Us To Deserve a Good Shepherd, We Must Be Good Sheep Zachariah isn’t one of the better-known Old Testament prophets, and we don’t often read his book in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore it. A reoccurring theme in Zachariah’s writing is a shepherd and […]

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Hannah longs to have children but is childless. Adding to her misery, she’s harassed by everyone around her. Though, she is her husband’s (Elkanah) favorite wife he dismisses her infertility and fails to protect her from verbal assaults from his other wife, Peninnah, who endlessly torments her. Then, when she prays in earnest, Eli, the […]

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Why Does God Sometimes Withhold His Blessings from Us? We Must Put God First Before Worrying about Ourselves In the short book of Haggai, the prophet has a message for the people and an application for us today. God, through Haggai, chastises his people. They live in nice homes, while God’s home—the temple—sits in shambles. […]

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Athaliah is an evil woman. She encourages her son, the king, to act wickedly. He does and is soon assassinated. Then Athaliah seizes control and asserts herself as queen. Her lust for power is so great, she kills all the members of the royal family, including her own grandchildren. One baby, however, is rescued by […]

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3 Unusual Examples of God’s Healing Power God Uses His People to Heal the Hurting Elisha dies, but his influence lives on. Yes, Elisha continues to teach us today, thousands of years after his death, through the words recorded about him in the Bible. However, he also has a practical effect on someone postmortem. It’s […]

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Women in the Bible: Orpah Orpah Begins a Journey but Then Returns Home Orpah is the widowed daughter-in-law of Naomi and sister-in-law to Ruth. When Naomi decides to return to Judah, her daughters-in-law start out with her, but Naomi releases them. She encourages them to return to their mothers and find new husbands. Though Ruth […]

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Elisha Goes All in to Follow Elijah Elisha’s Total Commitment to Follow Elijah Leaves No Option to Go Back After Elijah has a meltdown of sorts, God reassures him that he is not alone and gives him several things to do. One of those tasks is to anoint his successor, Elisha. Elijah finds Elisha plowing […]

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Women in the Bible: Naomi God Takes Away Naomi’s Bitterness Over Losing Her Husband and Her Sons Naomi means pleasant. She, her husband, and their two sons leave their home country and travel to Moab because of a famine. While in Moab, her husband dies, leaving her a widow. Later both of her sons die, […]

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Should We Pray Against Our Enemies or Pray for Them? Some Psalms Ask God to Punish Our Enemies and Those Who Do Evil Many people enjoy reading the Psalms. They appreciate the poetic nature of its words. They find encouragement to persevere and inspiration to strengthen their faith. Many Psalms also lead us into our […]

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Women of the Bible: Abigail Abigail is an intelligent and beautiful woman. In contrast, her husband, Nabal, is surly and mean; his servants call him wicked and she confirms his name means fool. Nabal is wealthy, with thousands of livestock. David and his men protect Nabel’s herdsmen and flocks, anticipating he will appreciate their efforts […]

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How Do You Handle Disappointment? When God Wants to Give You a Second Chance Make Sure You’re Ready to Receive It You’re probably not familiar with Ahithophel in the Bible. Though his name does show up a few times during the reign of King David, Ahithophel is a largely forgettable character. He is an advisor […]

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Women in the Bible: Michal Michal marries David, who will later become king; her father is King Saul. Though her story starts out with promise, it ends sadly. David plays a critical role in the success of King Saul and the nation of Israel. Despite this, Saul’s attitude towards David varies greatly, with Saul often […]

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How to Find Strength in God David Found Strength in God When His Men Wanted to Kill Him When David and his men return from battle, they find that the Amalekites had raided their base, taken their families, and stolen all their belongings. David’s men are mad, and they blame him. They’re so inflamed with […]

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Women in the Bible: Tamar Tamar is a victim who takes extreme action to vindicate herself. She’s the daughter-in-law of Judah. She suffers at his hand, responds with guile, and has twins with him. Later she is one of four women mentioned in Jesus’s family tree. Talk about a messed-up situation. Here’s her story: Tamar […]

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Saul Squanders What God Gives Him Even If God Sets Us Up for Success, We’ll Fail If We Don’t Obey Him God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, ask for a king. This isn’t what God wants, but he gives them what they request. He gives them a king. At God’s direction, Samuel anoints Saul […]

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Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and Leah, is the central character of Genesis 34. Though we know what happened to her and because of her, we know nothing about what she said, did, or thought. Her story begins tragically. She is raped by Shechem. Yet after his act of lust, he falls in love with […]

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God Gives Us Living Water Living Water Flows from God’s Temple and Is for Our Benefit In the Old Testament, the people perceived that God lived in the temple. They saw this as his residence on earth. To connect with him meant they had to go to the temple. As Ezekiel winds down his lengthy […]

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Miriam is the older sister of Moses; she’s also the sister of Aaron, but we don’t know which one is older. At the time Moses is born, there’s a degree to kill all baby boys. Moses’s mom hides him as long as she can, then she puts him in a basket and places him in […]

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