“With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.” (Psalm 39:11)
Psalm 39:11 should be a standard memory verse for God’s people — but most have probably never heard it. Yet it explains so many of the painful things that happen in our lives, and heeding it might cause us to avoid so much hardship. Continue reading
When we are reading through God’s word like we are, we need to look for certain things. Like is there a command we need to keep; or a sin to confess; or a prayer to pray using this verse? Is something repeated? If it is, that must be important. One of the things the Lord brought to my attention as I read Exodus 3 & 4 this week was that as God called Moses to go and deliver His people, Moses asked the Lord a series of questions. These questions were important to him as he faced God’s call on his life. And these same questions are important for US as we hear from God about what He wants US to do with our lives, and in His church, today: Continue reading
“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger. For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down upon me.” (Psalm 38:1-2)
“Rebuke … wrath … burning anger … arrows … You hand has pressed down upon me.” If these words sound strange to many readers of Bible studies, devotionals and sermons today, it is because they are conspicuously absent. Unless you read the actual text of scripture, you may never encounter these concepts. And yet they are an important part of the revelation of God’s nature, and His dealings with us. Continue reading
“But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer kept returning to my bosom.” (Psalm 35:13)
Can you remember a time when a prayer you were prayingfor someone was so urgent, that your heart returned to it over and over? Perhaps a loved one was driving home on a stormy evening, or their life was hanging by a thread in ICU. The prayer that you prayed was not a one-time “God bless so-and-so”, but a desperate cry which your heart kept repeating until the crisis was over.
This is the kind of prayer that David describes here in Psalm 35. Continue reading
Christians have a different outlook than other people have. We believe in an unseen, almighty, all-wise God. So because of that, not only is our outlook different, but our vocabulary is different as well. Many people speak of “karma” or “luck” or things happening by “chance.” But as Christians, we don’t believe in those things. We believe in a GOD who arranges events, and so we have a different vocabulary. We don’t speak of “chance” or “luck’; instead we speak of “The Providence of God.”
The Providence of God is a concept that Christians a few generations ago referred to often — but in our age both the word and the idea behind it have fallen into neglect. The “Providence” of God refers to the way that God directs details in life to bring about His plan and purpose in the world. In our daily Bible readings this week in Genesis we have seen God’s Providence unfold in a dramatic way in the life of Joseph and his family. Continue reading
One little expression in the story of Joseph in Genesis tells us all we need to know about him — and the one thing we need most in our lives today too: Continue reading
In Psalm 25:4-5 David prays, “Make me to know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me …”. Many Christians might identify with these words. Upon reading them they might say, “Amen! I want God to lead ME like that!” But do you really? Are you willing to do what is necessary for God to lead you? What does that involve? Psalm 25 shows us: Continue reading
From the remotest jungle in Africa or the Amazon, to the most isolated island in the Pacific, every culture that has ever been discovered has worshiped. They have never found a civilization in which the people didn’t worship someone or something. Which shows that Man’s heart was made to worship something, even when it’s misguided, or when we don’t know what or how to worship; we know we are supposed to be worshiping something.
Last Sunday we saw how Jacob made a real, personal, commitment of his life to Yahweh, the God of the Bible, as his God. And we saw that when he did, he showed it in a couple of ways: he made a commitment to give God back a tenth of all that He gave him. And he worshiped Him. We saw that when you really come to know the Lord, you worship Him.
But someone might ask: “But HOW do I worship Him?” And that’s not a bad question. You’d like to think that we just all instinctively know how to worship; but the problem is, our sin has distorted our relationship with God, and we have to a great extent lost our ability to worship the way we should. So God gave us His word, to show us the way back to Him — first, by having our sins forgiven through Christ, so that we CAN come back to Him. And then in a number of places in His word He shows us just HOW we should worship Him once we are reconciled to Him in Christ. If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, that’s the first thing you’ve got to do, in order to be able to worship. You can’t begin to worship God until you do — your sin is still in the way. But if you DO know Jesus as your Savior, then you can learn from this passage today, several ways to worship God:
“I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1-2)
Here we find four distinctive ways that God’s people can worship Him: Continue reading
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” (Genesis 29:20)
Surely this is at least one of the most romantic verses in all of the word of God. Jacob loved Rachel so much that he was not only willing to work seven years to earn her hand in marriage, but the seven years “seemed to him but a few days” because he loved her so much. It’s hard to beat that sentiment!
But this is also indicative of a truth that applies in a number of areas of life: Continue reading
“Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.’’ (Genesis 22:14)
”The Lord will provide” Abraham said. In Hebrew this is “Yahweh Jireh”, or “Jehovah Jireh,” and it has become one of the best-loved names of God among Christians today. But do we appreciate that name, and His provision, for what it really is? Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
shawnethomas 