The story of Tamar is a tragic one. The beautiful daughter of King David caught the eye of her half-brother, Amnon, who lusted for her. At the advice of his cousin, Amnon feigned illness and manipulated Tamar into his bedroom. Once alone, he...
Do We Really Seek God’s Will When We Make Decisions? We Must Align Our Plans with God’s Will If We Expect His Blessing King David desires to bring the Ark of the Covenant home, restore it to its rightful status, and put it in its proper place. He...
They’ll Know We’re Christians By Our Love Followers of Jesus Should Carefully Consider the Message We Send to the World A song from my youth carries the title, which repeats in the chorus, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.” If you’re...
Women in the Bible: Jochebed A Good Mother Can Make All the Difference The Egyptians fear the mushrooming population of the enslaved Israelites. They command all the Israelite baby boys be thrown into the Nile River. However, one mother sees...
Zachariah Teaches About Shepherds, Their Sheep, and Us To Deserve a Good Shepherd, We Must Be Good Sheep Zachariah isn’t one of the better-known Old Testament prophets, and we don’t often read his book in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean we...
Should Christians Follow Jesus, Be His Disciple, or Go as a Missionary? We Must Choose Labels with Care for They Reflect Our Identity and Our Theology By definition I am a Christian, but I’ve always shied away from that word. It means different...
Hannah longs to have children but is childless. Adding to her misery, she’s harassed by everyone around her. Though, she is her husband’s (Elkanah) favorite wife he dismisses her infertility and fails to protect her from verbal assaults from his...
Why Does God Sometimes Withhold His Blessings from Us? We Must Put God First Before Worrying about Ourselves In the short book of Haggai, the prophet has a message for the people and an application for us today. God, through Haggai, chastises his...
The Four Parts of the Great Commission A few weeks ago we looked at Jesus’s final instructions as found in each of the Bible’s four biographies of him. Melding these together, we came up with three steps. First is to follow Jesus, second is to...
Athaliah is an evil woman. She encourages her son, the king, to act wickedly. He does and is soon assassinated. Then Athaliah seizes control and asserts herself as queen. Her lust for power is so great, she kills all the members of the royal...
