"The destruction of Moab is very sad. Clearly, the heart of Isaiah is moved over their demise. The cities mentioned in Isaiah 15 are cities near the south of the Dead Sea, a place completely overrun and destroyed. Descriptive phrases like shaving off the head and beards being cut were outward sig...

"The Biblical land of Cush has been identified as the land south of Egypt, today it is called Ethiopia. The people who lived there were descendants of the son of Ham and grandson of Noah. Cush was known for locusts, and that may be why it’s referred to as the land shadowed with buzzing wings(ISAI...

"It is easy to trust in the good work of the past to protect us from the evil around us today. But God makes it clear that every generation must decide for itself who He is and what that means to them, this will determine their future. In other words, God is present when we obey Him. Past actions...

"My belief about eschatology, about the Bible’s end-times prophecies, leans more literal. That is not to say that there isn’t poetic language, allegory, and metaphor involved, but only to say that I believe some of the prophecies to be speaking of a real, physical truth. For today’s reading, this...

"When Israel split into two, they embarked on different paths and under different leaders. The ten tribes in the North kept the name Israel and rejected the House of David as their kings. The two tribes to the South became known as Judah, and the descendants of David were always their kings. Juda...

"In our sinful human nature, it is easy to blame or misunderstand God. We can even thank God wrongly, or for the wrong things. This is demonstrated by the foreign army invading Judah in the time of the prophet Isaiah. Though they were given military success by God as a consequence for Judah’s sin...

"It is good for us to question our hopes and intentions. Today, let’s ask ourselves: What is the ideal we are most striving for in our lives? Youth? The appearance of youth? Health? Various success? Long life? All these things have some merit, but what does God prioritize for us? Eternal life. Be...

"When we think about what recorded history is, we come to the realization that it is imperfect. History comes to us from limited human perspectives and experiences, and it is written for different reasons. In a conflict, for example, there will be at least two sides to the story. Often, it is onl...

"A covenant is exclusive. Its terms are binding on the parties who entered it, and its benefits and repercussions apply to those parties. God made a covenant with Jacob, whom He renamed Israel. In several generations that followed, the descendants of Jacob renewed their covenants with God. It is ...

"Can God work through people who don’t know Him? That is a question we find the answer to in Isaiah 45. Cyrus was a Persian king whom God called even though he did not know God. As we think about this and look at history, I believe we can say that God often calls people to do things His will requ...

"God’s promises are unique. God’s promises have supernatural power to back them up. Sometimes when I am reading through the Scripture it seems like God interrupts my thoughts with His providence. I really do marvel at the remarkable resolve in the LORD’s actions. His mercy and love are endless, a...

"In Isaiah 57, we learn that the people of God had taken a massive wrong turn. Evil had permeated their culture. God responds in a blunt way. He gives Isaiah a message for the people of Judah, and doesn’t mince words, doesn’t soften the blow or deal sensitively with the people. The message cuts b...

"I believe that Isaiah 60 highlights a promised time of Messianic reign to Israel and the world. While some take this in more metaphoric way, I see it as an event to happen in the future, during what has been called the thousand-year reign of Christ. Looking at chapter 60, we see the joy and glad...

"As we read Isaiah 64, imagine the devastation that would have been felt by the small, faithful remnant of God. Isaiah was part of that faithful remnant and God had revealed to him in advance that destruction was on its way, God’s judgment for the broken covenant. Isaiah’s prayer is passionate in...

"Chapter 1 of Jeremiah introduces us to Jeremiah the prophet, who he is and where he came from. His tribe was Benjamin, whom we have seen go on a varied journey throughout Scripture. Back in Judges, we read about how the tribe of Benjamin was nearly destroyed for their great evil, then Israel’s f...

"It seems to me that today, the more we assert our own amazing individuality, the more attention and worship we seem to draw to ourselves. In Jeremiah 9, we see God speaking to a people who are impressed with themselves, who are fixated on what they can and have created with their own hands. Idol...

"A return to God means a change in how you live your life. God calls us out of sin and destruction and into His glorious victory. This will look a little bit different for each person’s life. It may mean new friends, new places, and certainly new patterns in our lifestyles that may feel strange a...

"Today’s passage highlights the contrast between God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom. Even the wisest king of Israel, famous King Solomon, failed to properly lead God’s people. We need more than wisdom to live a godly life, we need to be obedient to the Word of God. Even when it may not always seem wis...

"When Jeremiah stood in the court of the LORD’s house and confronted the people of Jerusalem, they rebelled against him and his message. Pashhur, the priest and chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard about the things that Jeremiah had prophesied, and ordered that the prophet be beaten and...

"To me, relief is the best way to describe the coming of the LORD. We are all troubled by sin and evil and we have been for thousands of years. The natural or general revelation of God is expressed through creation. This testifies of God’s existence and magnitude among others. The special revelat...

"In every human life there are circumstances outside of our control, and, too often, we believe that these events just happen by chance. But God is not like us, He is so much greater, He understands us better than we understand ourselves. He can make beautiful even the worst of circumstances. In ...