God’s people had profaned the covenants of their fathers in the treatment of one another, the worship of other gods, and the divorcing of their wives. They chose faithless self-indulgence and unraveled into chaos. For His glory and their own flourishing, the Lord called them back to the harmony o...
By the end of the Old Testament, the priests were allowing God’s people to bring their worst to Him. God brought a charge against them, reminding them of His love and the discipline that would ensue. He wanted their full attention, not their leftovers. He is not a pet at which to throw the scraps...
God’s people doubt His goodness and are skeptical of His kindness. They are relationally fractured, apathetic, and have turned their backs on Him. His message to them through the prophet Malachi is, “I have loved you.”
It is of utmost importance to follow God, and utterly impossible to do it on our own. When we face the important and impossible, we tend to run towards shame, pride, or condemnation. Though our hearts condemn us, God does not, because He is greater than our hearts. So let your mind be convinced a...
The drumbeat of Genesis was God creating and calling it good. But after He made the first human, He saw it was not good for us to be alone. He made more people so that we would have companions and friends. Jesus was friendship made flesh. He modeled vulnerability and commitment showing the path t...
Paul, inspired by the Spirit, states that God began a good work in us and will bring it to completion at Christ’s return. This prophetic, rugged verse outlasts the buffeting of life and stands firm as a promise—He started it, and He will finish it.
The hills and high places were known centers for idol worship and altars to false gods. The Psalmist, looking up to these places, declares that his help will not come from the mountains, but from the Maker of the mountains. The one true God is our help in times of trouble.
All who are led by the Spirit have been adopted into the family of God. He gives to His children a unique identity, places us into time exactly where He wants us, and calls us to flourish, not on our own, but in a family of fellow believers. If we are His children, then we are also heirs to His k...
God, knowing the times in which we would live and the boundaries of our habitation, uniquely wired and uniquely placed us so that men and women might seek and find God. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to declare His glory in whatever we do and wherever we find ourselves. This...
As we progress through life, it is natural for us to search for who we really are. Our wounds and failures tend to speak the loudest as we grasp for strands of an identity. But the same God who spoke all of creation into existence declares that we are His forgiven children—redeemed, perfectly lov...
