Recent Devotions
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18 I woke up this morning to a white world. Snow had fallen through the night, and everything looked clean and new. All the marks and imperfections in the yard from yesterday were gone. This verse in Isaiah came to my mind. The prophet Isaiah was sent to the nation of Judah to convict them of their sins and their need to seek the Lord.…
Then the Lord called Samuel.Samuel answered, Here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me. But Eli said, I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 1 Samuel 3:4–5, NIV. Samuel, at this moment, did not know the voice of…
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 1 John 3:1, NLT. God loves you so much. However,…
Readers Loved
Martin Luther wrote, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.” At the end of every winter, we witness a miracle—life coming from death. Bare branches form green leaves, brown grass turns into a lovely meadow as spring blooms in dazzling beauty. The warm breezes whisper, “Come alive!” The evidence of resurrection happens before our eyes every year. Spring never fails to produce new life, springing forth from what was dead. It’s the perfect setting for Easter—the season we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus – the hope of the…
God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NET) I think I’ve confessed this before, but I am “one of those people.” I am not content to read a book straight through. I peek. Well, more than peek. I go to the end of the book and read the last several pages to be sure it comes out okay at the end. I am not content to let…
“But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy!” (Psalm 68:3, ESV) All fairy tales seem to end with that wonderful line, “And they lived happily ever after.” As a child, we could read that line and then contentedly close our storybook, knowing everything in their lives would now be perfect. We love happy endings—especially our own. Everyone wants to be happy. Some think all is well when life is good and they can enjoy the many pleasures that money can buy. This means that circumstance, rather than any inner quality, defines…
“Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” John 16:19-20 ESV The scripture doesn’t say that we “may” experience sorrow and weeping, but that we will for sure have to endure these difficult seasons. One of my…
