King Solomon’s Wives: A Subtle Source of Distraction Consider the foreign wives of King Solomon King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wasn’t so wise with his love life. In all he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Even worse, many of King Solomon’s wives were foreigners, something God prohibited because he feared they […]
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A Different Prescription For Prayer In Matthew 20, Jesus shares a parable, predicts his death, and teaches about serving. He also heals two blind men. Nowhere in this chapter does he mention prayer, yet in this passage I see two insights about prayer. It’s a different prescription for prayer, and we will do well to […]
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Who Do You Worship? A Lesson for Today from Zephaniah A too-common practice in the United States (and perhaps around the world) is to take parts from different religions and philosophies, mashing them together to form a personal belief system. Doing so is a consumer-centric mindset. People keep the parts they like, and they ditch […]
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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. His life serves as a lesson in how not to respond to disappointment. Though his name does show up a few times during the reign […]
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The Medium of Endor Not Everything That’s Spiritual is Good Here’s the situation. The prophet Samuel is dead. God has abandoned King Saul, and the once-promising ruler is losing his grip on power. Saul prays, but God doesn’t respond. None of the ways Saul has heard from God in the past are working now. In […]
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Having a Q and A with God In the short book of Malachi, there is a reoccurring phrase “but you ask” (along with a few of variations thereof). This turns into a Question and Answer monologue, with God voicing the people’s unspoken questions and then responding. It’s like having a Q and A with God. […]
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Similarities Between Zechariah and Revelation The book of Zechariah contains prophecy given by God to the prophet Zechariah about future events. A few centuries later the apostle John also had a revelation from God in the form of a dream, which he recorded in the book of Revelation. Consider the similarities between the books of […]
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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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The Wicked Acts of Sodom and Gomorrah Even if you’ve not read the Bible, you have likely heard about Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities God destroyed for their extreme wickedness. The account of this is found in Genesis, chapters 18 and 19. In this text, the sexual depravity of the men of Sodom is portrayed. […]
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Consider the Timing of God’s Blessings In the post about the effects of priority we saw that wrong priorities produces wrong outcomes, whereas right priorities results in God’s blessings. It is, however, worth it to consider the timing of these two events. The prophecy is given on the first day of the sixth month. The […]
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Do You Offer God a Sacrifice of Praise? The term “sacrifice of praise” is only found in one verse in the Bible. It’s a curious phrase. What does it mean? Whatever it may refer to, the first thing we see is we are to do it continually. We are to offer a constant sacrifice of […]
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From Haggai: Lessons about Priority In the short book of Haggai, the central theme is that God’s house (the temple) needs to be rebuilt. It lay in ruins. But the people have not done so because they are focused on their own houses and comfort. As far as God is concerned, their priorities are wrong. […]
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Micah, Stop: The Prophet Speaks Truth, but the People Won’t Listen The prophet Micah gives some strong words from God to his chosen people. Although Micah’s proclamation—his prophecy—should convict them, instead they take offense. At one point the people even tell him to stop talking—they say, “Stop it Micah”—as if his silence would keep God’s […]
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What Do You Know about Zephaniah and the Flood? A quick read of the beginning of the book of Zephaniah sounds a lot like Noah and the flood: “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the […]
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What Do You Do On Sunday? People have different ideas about what you can and can’t do on Sundays, how you should and shouldn’t act. This ranges from Sunday being the same as every other day to it being a solemn set-apart time when you go to church, rest, and do nothing else. Though I […]
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Zephaniah Asks: What Do You Really Rely Upon? The short Old Testament book of Zephaniah opens with an apocalyptic prophecy. Amid the forth telling of doom and gloom is the reminder that “neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them.” The Message Bible, puts it more directly: “Don’t plan on buying […]
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God Talks to Gideon—and to Us Another familiar character in the book of Judges is Gideon. There are three whole chapters devoted to him. He is a fearful man who is at first cautious of God’s call. But eventually he does fully obey what God says to do. There are three initial things that God […]
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Avoiding the Risk of Complacency Complacency. The word complacent means to be “pleased or satisfied” or especially, to be “extremely self-satisfied.” This seems to describe many people that I know. They are complacent, perhaps not materially, but certainly spiritually. They are content to sit back, with no concern for their non-material well-being and little remorse […]
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10 People Raised from the Dead in the Bible Resurrections Occur in Both the Old and New Testaments In the Bible, dead people return to life. This happens on ten occasions, with three resurrections occurring in the Old Testament and seven times in the New. Check out these stories of people supernaturally raised from the […]
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Do What Is Just and Right Do God’s Instructions to the King of Judah Apply to Us Today? It’s dark times indeed for God’s people. The prophet Jeremiah is his mouthpiece to speak truth. God sends Jeremiah to the king of Judah with a message. This message begins with some commands and ends with a […]
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