Psalm 23, I Samuel 16: 1-13, 2 Samuel 5: 1-5David was a shepherd when he was a boy. He would use a cane to gently herd his sheep and keep them safe from wild animals. He learned to trust God from his dad Jesse. David often sang songs to show his love for God.David was also just a humble shepherd who protected his sheep well. When it came to appearances, his older brothers were the obvious choices ...  Read More

Even a glance at King David’s life reveals some impressive feats. As a boy, he defeated the giant Goliath, freeing his country. As a king, he expanded Israel’s territory, guiding the nation in battle. And when it came to his prowess as a warrior, as the song goes, David slayed his “tens of thousands.”Among warrior-kings, he fits in the ranks of Achilles and Hercules, the one exception being that h...  Read More

Samuel 8:1-22Samuel, the prophet, had functioned as Israel's leader for decades. Their true king was God, but Samuel spoke for God, but with Samuel growing older, the people wanted a more stable form of leadership. They wanted a king—a human king.When God’s people looked around the nations surrounding them, they noticed something. Everyone was ruled and led by a human king. But the Israelites didn...  Read More

In this story, if the Israelites had a Christmas list, it would’ve consisted of only one request, one gift they sought for—a king.Samuel, the prophet, had functioned as their leader for decades. Their true king was God, but Samuel was his mouthpiece, speaking and leading on his behalf. The people loved Samuel, but his sons were less capable, less trustworthy leaders.With Samuel growing older, the ...  Read More

Judges 6:1-7:25After God brought His people into the promised land they forgot about God and His rules. They even started believing in other gods and became very wicked. God was angry with them and handed them over to the Midianites who were very cruel and wicked too. For seven years, the Midianite nation had been mean to the Israelites. This made them feel defeated, afraid and weak.After a while,...  Read More

“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows."Rudolph’s story ends heroically and with a general fondness for that luminous red nose, but in the beginning, everybody hated Rudolph. Because when considering what a reindeer was supposed to be, Rudolph just didn’t fit.He was an outcast. But then, through a single act on one foggy Christma...  Read More

Joshua 1:1-11, 6:1-20The Israelites had wandered in the desert for 40 years, always longing to go home. And now finally, they were almost there. But one thing still stood in their way—Jericho.After Moses died, God chose a man named Joshua, to lead the people into the land he had promised them. Jericho was a towering fortress, with soaring ramparts and thick iron gates. The Israelites were no match...  Read More

Forty years had passed since God rescued the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. They had been liberated to a new life of freedom, and yet those four decades since their release consisted of nothing but endless wandering around the hot, sandy, wind-blown desert. Essentially, living out of suitcases, always traveling, never settling down, never planting gardens or building homes, but always longing f...  Read More

Exodus 19:1-20:21When God’s people were finally free from slavery in Egypt, God gave Moses instructions to share with His people.As the Israelites gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, thick clouds swirled in the sky, darkening the land. Constant flashes broke the darkness as bright bolts of lightning swarmed the mountain, appearing and disappearing, and then appearing again. The ground shook as th...  Read More

Santa Claus has a warm personality. Accounts describing him always use the same stock phrases: red suit, funny hat, big white beard, and a love for whole milk and sugar cookies. Not to mention eyes that twinkle, cheeks like roses, and a droll little mouth drawn up like a bow. Occasionally, we see hints of majesty revealed in his persona, but ordinarily, Santa is jolly, warm, and soft.Apart from hi...  Read More

Exodus 12:1-42The Israelites looked to Moses as their deliverer, the one who would help them and set them free from slavery. He would bring them to their true home, the land of Israel, a land promised to their father, Abraham.In preparation for this deliverance and journey home, they had something called the Passover. God asked the Israelites to cover their doorways with the blood of a lamb so tha...  Read More

Grocery stores are a wonder. In one building, so many items from so many places. Pink lady apples shipped from the orchards of Washington, pineapples whose homes were groves in Costa Rica, and roasted coffee beans tended in Ethiopia, wrapped up in nice shiny plastic. Grocery stores are incredible.Not just because they pull together the wonders of the world, organizing them under a single roof, nea...  Read More

Exodus 2:1-25, 3:1-14Many years after Joseph, God’s people were still living in Egypt, but now as slaves. God wanted to rescue His people and bring them to the land He had promised.When Moses was a baby, God saved him from the Nile River. And when Moses grew up, God saved him from the anger of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.God saved Moses for a very important reason: to rescue God’s people from slave...  Read More

From his earliest days, God was with Moses.Born into the midst of a genocide, life didn’t look promising for Moses. But his mother hid him for three months, hoping to spare his life. When it became clear that hiding wouldn’t work any longer, she took her son and placed him in a basket, and then she gently set it in the shallows of the river, caught among the reeds.And then she left, praying that G...  Read More

Genesis 37, 45:4-11, 50:15-21Joseph was one of many sons of Jacob. Although Jacob had 12 sons, he loved Joseph the most. Jacob, showing his love for Joseph, gave him a very expensive, fancy, colorful coat. Joseph also received dreams from God, showing he was destined for greatness in his future.Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and hated him. They wanted to kill him, but they instead sold him ...  Read More

As a teenager, Joseph imagined a bright future for himself. He was the youngest of 11 brothers, but his father loved and delighted in him the most. In displaying his affection, his father even gave him an expensive and fancy, colorful robe. And adding to it, Joseph received these dreams of sheaves in a field and stars in the sky bowing, both implying that his brothers would one day bow to him.Jose...  Read More

Genesis 28:1-22Isaac grew up to have a son of his own, named Jacob, Abraham's grandson. Jacob wronged his own brother and had to run away from his family for fear of his life. During his journey, Jacob came to place to lay for the night thinking of all the good things he had to leave. On this one night, God visited Jacob and spoke to him in a dream and showed him a vision - a symbol of God’s promi...  Read More

Ladders are helpful. When two things are separated by height, a ladder provides access. It brings the high and low together, the lofty and the lowly.When Adam and Eve sinned, the relationship between God and humanity was severed, and a separation was formed, an unsurpassable height. Access was gone.In this story, Jacob is a young man fleeing a hostile home. The brother that he’d wronged hated him ...  Read More

Genesis 22:1-19God promised Abraham a family. God had given Abraham and Sarah a gift—their son, Isaac. Isaac was their joy and delight. They treasured their son, and loved him more than anything.God spoke to Abraham, asking him to make a sacrifice of his son. God was testing Abraham because he obeyed God in all he did. Abraham knew what he had to do. Abraham and Isaac set off on a 3 day journey to...  Read More

God had given Abraham and Sarah a gift—their son, Isaac. From his earliest years of newborn wails and tottering first steps, to seeing their boy grow into a young man, he was their joy and delight. They treasured their son, and loved him more than anything.Then one day, God spoke to Abraham concerning his son. But what he commanded was shocking and sickening. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, w...  Read More

Genesis 12:1-7, 15:1-6A man named Abraham was living peacefully at home with his family, in a land he’d always known, with a clear vision of his future. He understood what his path in life was. He knew his future, and was eager for it. Abraham was set. But then came something he never could have believed. God spoke directly to Abraham, changing his plans and his future and calling him to something...  Read More

Abraham was living peacefully at home amongst his family, in a land he’d always known, with a clear vision of his future. He understood what his ladder to climb was, his path to walk, and his life to live. He knew his future, and was eager for it. Abraham was set.And then came the unexpected. God spoke to Abraham, wrinkling his hopes, dissolving his plans, calling him to something much less secure...  Read More

Genesis 6:5-14, 7:-5, 7:17-8:12, 9:1-17As the world kept growing, unfortunately sin kept growing. The more people sinned, the more the world became more broken, angering God. God would send a big flood to destroy the earth to start all over again. But God, because He is kind, decided to preserve the goodness of His creation. He would restore the earth, and to help, He would use a man named Noah. N...  Read More

The story of the flood opens with God’s sadness and grief over the flourishing of wickedness and sin in the earth. The thoughts of all humanity were only evil all the time. So God sent an act of judgment upon the world, in order to bring cleansing, to remove the filth and mire of sin. Because of our wickedness, God sent the flood. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”Genesis 6:8 In all t...  Read More