“For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” – Esther 4:14 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: Esther 1-3, Psalm 69 It must have been hard … More Resist Evil, Injustice, and Oppression

“Then we left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from thehand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way.” – Ezra 8:31 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: Ezra 8-10, Proverbs 29 I’m ready. I’m beyond ready. I was beyond ready before Easter. I have missed being with you … More The Return From Exile

“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the Lord. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” – Proverbs 23:17-18 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Chronicles 27-28, Psalm 63, Proverbs 23 The last several weeks have been LONG! I’m not talking about physical distancing or quarantines. I’m talking about our time spent … More A Future Hope

“Happy are your people! Happy are these your servants, who continually attend you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the Lord your God.” – 2 Chronicles 9:7-8 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Chronicles 6-9, Proverbs 15 What does it mean to be happy? It seems … More Happy Life

“…sanctify yourselves, you and your kindred, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.” – 1 Chronicles 15:12 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Chronicles 15-16, Proverbs 8 I have always LOVED the story of David bringing the ark into Jerusalem (although I am a little biased to the “undignified” version told in 2 Samuel 6). For twenty … More Loud Sounds of Joy

“Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning thewords of the book that has been found…” – 2 Kings 22:13a TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Kings 22-25 What would happen if everything you knew was all of a sudden disrupted? Perhaps that seems more reasonable for us today then it might have seemed six weeks ago. In the middle of a global health crisis … More Life Disrupted

“As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out…But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces” – 2 Kings 2:11-12 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Kings 1-2, Psalm 51 Do … More Chariots of Fire

“Let these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the Lord, be near to theLord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other.” – 1 Kings 8:59-60 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Kings 8-11 … More Maintaining the Cause

“Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’” – 2 Samuel 12:5-7 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Samuel 11-12 The story of David and Bathsheba is … More “You Are the Man!”

“May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you.” – 1 Samuel 24:12 TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Samuel 21-25 It would have been so easy for David! As he found himself hiding in the cave, Saul – the man who has been chasing him and trying to kill him – walks … More Do No Harm