Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 12

 

Rejoice!

The Bible repeatedly calls upon us to be a people who “rejoice” in the LORD.  “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous; befitting is the praise of the upright.” (Psalm 33:1) “Yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 11

 

Teach Your Child the Word

One of the most sobering and weighty commands in Scripture is God’s demand that parents teach their children His word.  It is sobering because the task is so big.  It is weighty because our child’s eternal life depends upon it.

Most parents are very aware that a “good parent” is someone who...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 10

 

Love for Foreigners

How do you feel about refugees and immigrants?  Are you frustrated with them?  Or hateful toward them?  Or do you love – really love – them?  Moses has been reciting the history of the nation’s deliverance from slavery and...

Today's Reading - Deuteronomy 9

 

A Stubborn People

Just like you and me, Israel was a stubborn people who did not deserve any of God’s blessings.

God made a covenant with Israel and the people affirmed their desire to keep it, but failed repeatedly to do so.  At Sinai, the people promised to keep the commandments of the LORD, but...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 7 & 8

Blessed With Wealth

An often misunderstood principle in Scripture is that of the wealth of the believer.  Tragically, some influential pastors and leaders have promoted a “health and wealth” gospel.  They teach their unsuspecting listeners that it is their divine “right” as followers of Christ to...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 6

 

The LORD our God is One

Today’s verse is known as the “Shema Yisrael” or simply as “Shema.”  It is one of the most astounding verses in the entire Bible because it declares the exclusiveness of God to the entire world.  There is only one God and His name is “Yahweh.”  And because He is...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 5

 

Don't Turn Aside to the Left or Right

One of the most prevalent sins in Christianity today is the sin of “carelessness.”  So many people do not give as much care to their walk with God as necessary.  We give a great deal of attention to things like managing our investments, planning our...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 4:25-49

 

God's Truth in YOUR Heart

As Moses nears the end of his ministry, he pauses to give the Israelites an extremely important exhortation: take what you’ve learned about the LORD from me and “lay it to your heart.”  He tells them to take it to heart that God is in Heaven above; God is on...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-24

 

Don't Mess with God's Commands

Moses urged God’s people to listen to and to obey the laws of God.  Not to analyze them, criticize them, spiritualize them, compromise them, liberalize them, modernize them, or trivialize them.  They were exhorted to...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 3

 

The Person God Chooses

Moses has been a faithful leader of the Israelites for four decades.  But now it is time to pass on the leadership role to a new person. It is time to choose someone who could take them the rest of the way into the Land God...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 2

 

Remembering the Hand of God

It is so easy, when recounting our past experiences, to focus on the hardships and difficulties.  So often, we tell others about how hard it had been to go through a particular circumstance or experience. We love to “sing the blues.” Unfortunately, when we recount...

Today's Reading: Deuteronomy 1

 

Escaping the Wilderness

The Israelites’ journey from Egypt to the Promised Land presents amazing illustrations and analogies for us of the Christian walk and life and experience. Egypt, the area of bondage, slavery, and hardship is symbolic of the life of the world, slaves to...

Today's Reading: Numbers 36

 

Doing as the Lord Commanded

Zelophedad was blessed with seven daughters.  He had no sons, which caused a bit of a problem for the girls.  The LORD had commanded that the Land of Israel be divided (apportioned) among the twelve tribes and that whenever the father of a family died, his land was to...

Today's Reading: Numbers 35

 

Jesus, Our City of Refuge

Among the settlements of Israel, there were to be six cities appointed as cities of refuge, or sanctuary cities.  Three on either side of the Jordan River placed strategically through the land so that...

Today's Reading: Numbers 34

 

Boundaries of the Land

In today’s passage, the LORD speaks to Moses and gives him specific instructions for marking off the boundaries of Israel when they move into the Promised Land.  God promised that He...

Today's Reading: Numbers 33

Barbs in Your Eyes

The travels of Israel from bondage in Egypt to freedom in Canaan often symbolize the journey of the follower of Christ.  We too were once trapped in bondage.  Bondage to sin and a life of spiritual scarcity and emptiness.    When we received Christ into our lives, we were miraculously delivered from that life and set on...

Today's Reading: Numbers 32

 

Your Sin Will Find You Out

If you received an anonymous letter in the mail that simply read, “I know what you did,” what is the first thing that would come to your mind?  Is there some unconfessed sin from your past that you haven’t dealt with?  Or, worse, is there some “secret” sin in your present life that you think no one knows about?

Jesus said, "That which is done in secret shall be shouted from the housetop” (Luke 8:17).  

In Hebrews 4:13 we read "Everything is open and naked before Him with whom we have to do."  There really is no such thing as “secret sin.”  You may think...

Today's Reading: Numbers 31:25-54

 

Remembering God's Victories

Following their great victory over the Midianites (in which no Israelite lives were lost) the people come together for a memorial of thanksgiving to God.  So thankful for God’s protection, the people freely and generously offered up a portion of the goods seized in...

Today's Reading: Numbers 31:1-24

 

Purified by Water and Fire

One of Moses’ final acts as the leader of Israel was to avenge the Midianites, who had caused the children of Israel to sin against the Lord. God is taking out judgement against the Midianites...

Today's Reading: Numbers 30

 

Don't Break Your Vow

A vow was a pledge that a person made, whether to God or to a fellow human being, to carry out some specifically stated action. The vow usually involved swearing an oath in the name of God. When a man made a vow, he could not...