“yet I will celebrate in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” – Habakkuk 3:18, CSB It’s the word “yet” that should get our attention when we read Habakkuk’s words.  God’s judgment had been pronounced and carried out. This was the judgment God had warned Judah… Read ⇢

“… love the LORD your God, obey him, and remain faithful to him. For he is your life,…” – Deuteronomy 30.20, CSB Moses stood before the people whom he had led for some 40 years, knowing that his time as their leader and shepherd was coming to a close. Moses… Read ⇢

“Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand,…” – Jeremiah 18.6, CSB It’s like God took Jeremiah on a field trip to the potter’s house. Jeremiah stood there and watched the potter working away at the wheel, molding and forming the clay into the jar… Read ⇢

“Why should I forgive you?” – Jeremiah 5.7, CSB What a powerful and sobering question. I could try to answer with a long list of things that I’ve done over the years, and yet all of my good deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64.6). I could try to compare… Read ⇢

He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. – Isaiah 53.3, CSB Jesus’s incarnation was not heralded to the world in bright lights and thunderous roars that should be the prelude to the King’s arrival. Instead, his birth announcement was made by… Read ⇢

I call you by your name,… – Isaiah 45.4, CSB Have you ever noticed how important it is to you when someone remembers your name? I believe that each of us is blessed when someone whom we have only met one or two times remembers our names even after not… Read ⇢

“When they had pasture, they became satisfied; they were satisfied, and their hearts became proud. Therefore they forgot me.” – Hosea 13.6, CSB One of the most dangerous things that negatively impact our relationship with the Lord is to be satisfied in the blessings of the Lord instead of being satisfied… Read ⇢

Bow down Your ear to me,… – Psalm 31.2, NKJV We are invited to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5.17). To talk to God about anything and everything is the invitation we are given by God himself. But have you ever stopped to acknowledge what God must do when we… Read ⇢

I appeal to you, instead, on the basis of love. – Philemon 9, CSB Instead.  This word was originally two words, “in stead,” meaning “in place of.”* And while we can do anything instead of what we are supposed to do from a thoughtless reaction, there is the “in place… Read ⇢