In his earlier years, John was a short-tempered man with a burning fuse. On one occasion, after Jesus was rejected by the Samaritans, John forgot himself and with whom he was speaking and asked if the Lord would like him to “command fire to come down from heaven and consume [the Samaritans]?” (Luke 9:54). Who […]
Read MoreCategory Archives: Bible Characters
The Benefits of Breakdowns
Who would’ve ever guessed it? Out of the blue came this nobody. He had spent his years away from the crowded streets of the city, working for his father in the quiet yet rugged outdoors. Had someone asked anybody in his day if they had ever heard of him, a blank stare and a quick […]
Read MoreSolomon’s Glory
Almost a thousand years before Christ, Solomon inherited the throne of Israel from his father David. Let’s look for a moment at the young king’s attitude as the burden of sovereignty settled on his shoulders. We read in 1 Kings 3 that once all the dust of the coronation had cleared, Solomon went to Gibeon, […]
Read MoreRedeemed
You would be hard-pressed to find a more delightful story than that of Ruth. On the surface it reads like a romantic mini-drama in three scenes. Nice girl falls on hard times; girl meets man; man marries girl. But as with any really good story, just below the surface there are some very important ideas […]
Read MoreNot Forgotten: A Lesson from the Life of Esther
God’s presence is not as intriguing as His absence. His voice is not as eloquent as His silence. Who of us has not longed for a word from God, searched for a glimpse of His power, or yearned for the reassurance of His presence, only to feel that He seems absent for the moment? Distant. […]
Read MoreLife Is Difficult: A Lesson from the Life of Job
Life is difficult. That blunt, three-word statement is an accurate appraisal of our existence on this earth. When the writer of the biblical book named Job picked up his stylus to write his story, he could have begun with a similar-sounding and equally blunt sentence, “Life is unfair.” No one could argue the point that […]
Read MoreMicah and His Message
Little is known about the prophet Micah. His hometown Moresheth lay in Judah’s fertile foothills near the fortified cities Lachish, Maresha, and Soco. It was about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem and so close to the Philistine city Gath that it was often linked with this larger city and called Moresheth-gath. Most commentators believe Micah […]
Read MoreHow to Study a Bible Character: Discovering the People in the Greatest Story Ever Told
God is the greatest storyteller of all time. Using narratives that begin with such lines as, “In the land of Uz there lived a man . . .” (Job 1:1 NIV), He plucks us out of our world and drops us into another. Suddenly, we’re in a different time and culture, yet the characters we […]
Read MoreReading the Old Testament for All It’s Worth
We never outgrow our love for a good story, do we? There is something compelling, something magnetic, and something altogether unique about the best stories. They engage, both our minds and our hearts. They allow us to empathise with the experiences of other human beings. They also create opportunities to learn from the lives of […]
Read MoreRahab: Demonstrating Courageous Faith
She had a reputation no woman would ever want: she was a harlot, a prostitute. But she was also a woman whose courage and faith in God would transcend her reputation and place her in the lineage of the Messiah. Rahab owned a house, built on the outer walls of Jericho. When two Israelite spies […]
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