Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“Return, rebellious children, says the Lord, for I am your Master.” –Jeremiah 3:14 The Lord promised that, if we repented of our rebellion against Him, He would appoint over us wise and prudent leaders after His own heart (Jer 3:15). Then we would become fruitful and reach new heights (Jer 3:16ff). We do not produce “grain a hundred- or sixty- or thirtyfold” (Mt 13:8) if we do not repent of: • not growing in understanding God’s Word (Mt 13:19). The Holy Spirit has been given to us as our Teacher (Jn 14:26). If we are docile to the Spirit, we...

“They have forsaken Me, the Source of living waters; they have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water.” –Jeremiah 2:13 Does your life hold water — the living waters of God’s grace, Baptism, and the Holy Spirit? The patterns that we develop in our lives can be likened to digging cisterns (see Jer 2:13). These patterns will either help us retain and grow in our faith or contribute to an erosion and loss of our faith. For instance, a cistern, or way of life, in which God’s Word is not taken authoritatively will usually not hold water for...

“Show us wonderful signs.” –Micah 7:15 The Lord is all-powerful and all-knowing. Therefore, He is never at a loss, never surprised, and never on the defensive. Logically, the all-powerful, all-knowing Lord must always be on the offensive. Therefore, events opposed to God’s will are necessarily defensive maneuvers by Satan and those he is using. For example, the terrorists’ attacks on September 11, 2001, were in opposition to the Lord’s work of salvation. We naturally wonder what the Lord was and is doing that would be such a threat to the evil one. Why did Satan react so violently? Of course,...

“You gave Your sons good ground for hope.” —Wisdom 12:19 Before we totally committed our lives to Jesus, we walked in the valley of hopelessness. Life in general seemed hopeless. To cope with this, we would retreat to what we thought were bastions of hope — our children, work, marriages, or a special activity. These rays of hope usually dimmed. So we tried to constantly distract ourselves or alter our consciousness to ignore the gnawing and sometimes savage hopelessness within us. When we saw someone hopeful, we were either cynical or wanted to ask him to defend his hope (1...