Today's Devotion
God built into Israel’s calendar about thirty days of feasts per year. Add the weekly Sabbaths, and the total celebration time comes to around eighty days of feasting and rest annually. God is serious about celebration! When God mandated celebration among His people in the Old Testament, He used three Hebrew words: hâlal, châgag and shâbath. At the dedication of Jerusalem’s rebuilt wall in Nehemiah 12 (ESV), these three essentials of celebration are included. Celebration Keeps God Central Nehemiah’s celebration plans included instruments and singers filling the air with triumphant praise. The people sang and offered sacrifices to God with…
“And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.” Genesis 26:19 Every time I read this scripture about a well of springing water, I remember weeding the strawberry patch with my brother on a hot summer day. On the edge of the field, there was a spring. How refreshing it was to lay down our hoes, relax by the spring, and enjoy a drink of cold water. The water was always flowing, clear and cool, no matter how hot the day was. All we had to do was partake of it. Because of a…
Age is a number. That is all. But it is not just years. It’s moments in time—strung together like beads on a string. The string is not endless. It’s just so many mornings and so many evenings—sunrises and sunsets. It’s so many cups of coffee, pieces of toast, slices of pie—just so many egg rolls, enchiladas, and schnitzels. So many miles driven, steps taken, lawns mowed, weeds pulled, pencils pushed, timecards punched, degrees earned, dishes washed, and loads of laundry. It’s a certain number of log ons and log ins—of books read, letters written, conversations held, questions asked … and…
“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 One of my pet peeves is when a person gloats. I’m quite competitive by nature so when I’m losing, it infuriates me when someone rubs that…
“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived…
