Judges 5

“My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless the Lord” (v9). Deborah’s song celebrates all the different people who courageously stepped forward to join her and Barak in delivering Israel from their enemies. When she arose, “a mother in Israel” (v7), others followed: Barak and Jael, and the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, and Issachar. Others, like the “clans of Reuben”, hesitated to join the battle (v15).

“A

Luke 9:37-62

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (v51). Jesus warned his disciples that he was “about to be delivered into the hands of men” (v44), but they were “afraid” to ask him what he meant. They knew their Lord could heal and raise the dead, but they were disturbed by the possibility of his suffering. Jesus told them the truth about following him: it might require homelessness (v58), or the loss of family comforts, or suffering (

Luke 9:1-36

“You give them something to eat” (v13). Jesus had given his disciples “power and authority” over demons and diseases and sent them out to preach and to heal (v2). They were beginning to understand that Jesus was “the Christ of God”, the Anointed One (v20). Jesus called them further – not just to believe in him, but to act in his name. Following him was not putting on a new cultural label, but death to the old self and a radical commitment to a new way of living (v23).

“And

Psalm 37

David, writing as an old man (v25), gives some of the wisest advice in scripture: Do not fret because of evil doers nor envious of wrongdoers, (v1). “Fret” translates several Hebrew words, but here it means strong anger, anger that makes the face red. David is acknowledging the terrible injustices in the world – the prosperity and success of the wicked (v7-14), the plotting of the wicked against the righteous, the afflicted and needy. How can one not become angry?!

David i

Judges 4

“Israel sinned again…,” v1, and for twenty years, God allowed them to be in bondage. And again they called on God. A prophetess, Deborah, was leading Israel. She summoned Barak and told him God was sending him to lead the army. His answer was, “I will go if you will go with me,” v8. Ultimately, Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army was defeated.  Sisera himself fled. Exhausted, he stopped at a tent to rest. Jael, the wife of a godly man, killed him. 

This strange sto

Judges 3

Because of sin, Israel was in bondage to Eglon, king of Moab even paying an annual tribute to him. When Israel cried out to God, God raised up a deliverer, Ehud, a left-handed man who was  to deliver the tribute to Eglon!   He strapped a hidden blade on his right side. The guards searched only his left. He used the blade to kill Eglon. 

Before Israel prayed, God had Ehud in place. Where his left-handedness would have been considered a problem, it was essential to the solut

Judges 2

This chapter explains the cost of “making peace with evil,” whether evil practices in one’s life, or binding covenants in the business or the political world. Verse 10 speaks of a generation that arose that “did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done.” Their incomplete obedience was a poor foundation that produced repetitive chaos, chaos allowed by God to remind them of the price of disobedience.

Not all chaos is the result of disobedience, but when a nation or i

Judges 1

The books of Judges and Ruth contain Jewish history that cover the time between the death of Joshua and birth of Samuel. They portray Israel as a tribal federation, becoming a nation, coming into possession of the Promised Land. The stories usually revolve around the faith and action of leaders.

Caleb, who had led under Joshua, needed to identify men and women with leadership faith, so he offered his daughter to become the wife of any man who would capture Kiriath-sepher.

Luke 8

Luke 8 captures much of the nature of Christ and His work including some of His best-known parables and most instructive miracles. These reveal His power over nature, demons, sickness and even death. The chapter begins, however, with recording the faithfulness of a group of women who had been healed of a variety of diseases, and even demon possession, who helped support both Jesus and his disciples “out of their private means,” v3. Some are named; some are not, but all we

Luke 7

John the Baptist had been put in prison by Herod (Luke 3:20). Though having identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (Jh 1:19-36) and even having been thought of by many as being the Messiah, he had ended up in Herod’s prison while Jesus was gaining a following. So, he sent two trusted disciples to ask, “Are you the one to come?”, Lk 7:18-28. 

Sometimes events appear to overpower faith. One can go through a “Herod’s prison” experience and need assurance. It does not mean we h

Psalm 36

“Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes, for it flatters him” v1. A person intent on doing good, “feels good” when he does good. It is the affirmation of a godly conscience. A person intent on doing evil, however, “feels good” when he has done evil. Evil resonates in his heart. 

Gross acts of evil are easily understood as such. But how we regard the success or failure of others reveals what is in our own hearts. There

Joshua 24

“Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord” (24:14). Joshua knew that the Israelites would not only be tempted by the “new” idols of Canaan; they also faced the temptation of serving the old gods of their own ancestors. This included the false gods of Abraham’s family from “beyond the Euphrates” (v2) as well as the gods of Egypt (v14). Among many competing options, the choice to serve the one true God always required stea

Joshua 22-23

 “Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God” (23:11). Joshua’s last words to the Israelites reminded them that life in the Promised Land depended on their faithfulness to the Lord. “Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses ...” (23:6-7). They would be tempted to worship the idols of their neighbors, but if they did, they would lose God’s favor in the land (23:13). Joshua urged them to maintain their passio

Joshua 21

“The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands” (v41). The Levites (including priests) were the only tribe without their own land allotment, because, as servants of the tabernacle (and later Temple), God Himself was their inheritance. When they weren’t serving in the Temple, they lived in designated cities “in the midst of” all the other tribes, some of which were cities of refuge. I

Joshua 20

“These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there ...” (v9). God commanded Joshua to create several “cities of refuge” throughout the Promised Land, so that those who accidentally killed someone (manslaughter) could find safety there, rather than be executed by a family avenger or mob violence (v9). That person was supposed to explain his case to “the e