You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms; with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider; with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer; with you I break in pieces man and woman; with you I break … More He chooses and uses the hammers He pleases.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. —Jeremiah 29:11 ESV So often this passage is taken out of context and we use it to reassure ourselves that wonderful circumstances are ahead for us. Read … More God’s Plans for Us
Ecclesiastes 8:12, in our Bible reading passage for today, reminds us: Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. Carrollton, Kentucky, was the site of one of the most deadly bus disasters in United … More I know that it will be well with those who fear God
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. … More “If God wills…”
Ray Stedman on Jeremiah 20-22: So it is a number of years later, and Zedekiah, weakest of all the kings of Judah and the last of the line, is now on the throne. Nebuchadnezzar is sending up another army against Jerusalem, the city is under siege, and king Zedekiah now sends a hasty word to … More God is not a heavenly genie
John Piper, in a sermon, “Prayer and the Victory of God” helps us understand Isaiah 37, part of our Bible reading plan today. Now to fix this truth vividly in your minds—that the victory of God is coming and that it is coming by means of our prayers—look with me at Isaiah 37 and one … More The Stunning Effect of Prayer Illustrated
When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” —Luke 22:53 (verses 47-53 in our reading plan) J.C. Ryle comments on Luke 22:53– …the time during which evil is permitted to triumph is fixed and limited … More God’s absolute and complete sovereignty
“The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.”— Proverbs 16:33 “God’s dice always have a lucky roll,” said Sophocles, one of classical Athens’ three great tragic playwrights. Here’s what Charles H. Spurgeon has to say, in Morning and Evening: If the disposal of the lot is the … More The events of our lives are in His hands
On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to … More Divine Insomnia
As we begin reading the book of Ezra in our Bible reading plan today, here is John Piper, in “A Hunger for God” p 166: Israel had been taken into Babylonian exile. They had been there for decades. Now the time had come, in God’s reckoning, for their restoration. But how could this happen? They were a tiny, … More Piper on Ezra: “Massively hope-giving”
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 