What Does God Want?
What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. —Micah 6:8 Israel grumbled that God was too demanding: hard to understand …
Fish Food
Jonah ran away from the Lord. —Jonah 1:3 God ordered Jonah to “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it.” Jonah didn’t cotton to the assignment. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, Israel’s despised enemy. So Jonah hightailed it in the opposite direction—went …
Beware of Pride
The pride of your heart has deceived you. —Obadiah 1:3 The Edomites were a cocky bunch: “Who can bring me down?” they crowed. The answer? “I will bring you down, declares the Lord.” When Babylonian soldiers sacked Jerusalem, the Edomites signed …
Guard Against Drift
“You have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. —Amos 4:6 The phrase “you have not returned to me” surfaces often in the book of Amos—five times in chapter 4. The Lord repeatedly reminded his wayward …
Repentance
Rend your heart and not your garments. —Joel 2:13 Joel warned Israel they were going to pay a high price for ditching God: locusts would demolish their fields and destroy their crops. But that didn’t have to …
Facing East
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear. —Hosea 6:3 “The soul of many a man has its eastward aspect,” wrote F.W. Boreham. He explained that most people experience long, dreary nights in life. And when …
At the Right Time
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. —Daniel 3:17 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew that God was able to save them, but didn’t know if he would. …
We Can Only Imagine
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. —Ezekiel 1:28 What will it be like when we see the Lord? Bart Millard wondered about that after the death of his father, and wrote a song about it: “I can only imagine what …
Self-Examination
Let us examine our ways and test them. —Lamentations 3:40 Self-examination is frequently self-deceptive because we are skillful at self-justification. When we compare ourselves with others, we lean toward comparing our virtues with their vices. We are more tolerant of our own weaknesses and sins than of the …
Your Cup of Cold Water
Wendy keeps bottled water and peanut butter crackers in her car—not for herself, but for those who stroll the medians at major intersections: Hungry — Laid Off — Will Work for Food. Wendy isn’t comfortable dishing out cash to strangers, fearful of feeding an addiction. But neither is she comfortable turning a cold shoulder to …