Job’s friends would have helped Job more to simply share his grief and admit that they did not know all the “whys” of life. Why is it those closest to us try to analyze our circumstances and start telling us exactly what is wrong with us and what we need to do to get...
JOB 2 This short chapter captures so much of the emotion of the Book of Job. It’s painful to read, as it provokes emotions in us that we hope are never a reality in our lives. We see, however, that there is a world vying for us – a world that is not what God intended for us &ndash...
In the book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”, by Judith Viorst, Alexander the main character undergoes a series of difficult events which result in a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. On a day when everything goes wrong for him, Alexander is...
I have to be honest that in my research of Chapter 9 in Esther, I really needed to focus. The chapter is a little violent so I decided to zero in on one event: Purim. But in my further online research of Purim, I saw a link that said, “How to make a fishtail braid in 5 easy steps&rdquo...
The story of Esther is one of my favorites in the Bible. The ups and downs and plot twists have always made me wish it would be turned into a Disney animated movie. This chapter is all about the “bad guy” Haman and his plot to do away with the Jews in Babylon. The reason...
Nehemiah 9:17 “They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and...
Nehemiah was a man with a burden. Jerusalem, the city of his ancestors, was in ruins. He had a God-sized vision to rebuild the walls. What should he do first? If it were me, I would make a plan, start a “to do” list and get busy with the first steps. Instead, Nehemiah prayed...
In the 9th chapter of Ezra, the priestly leader is made aware of a great problem among the remnant of Jews who had returned to help rebuild the city of Jerusalem and re-inhabit the land of Judah. Many of them – contrary to God’s commands – had married spouses from...
Read Ezra 1 When I awoke this morning, opened the curtains of our hotel room (directly across the street from where over a decade ago the Twin Towers were decimated) I observed a "temple" of sorts under construction. The "Freedom Tower" reaches high above any other structure in New York City...
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. (2 Chronicles 36:15 NIV)In spite of the multiple kings doing evil in the sight of God throughout this book of the Bible, God continues to...
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