Category: Uncategorized

MORNING— Positioned Without Knowing Why “The king loved Esther more than all the women… so he set the royal crown on her head…Now when Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate… he learned of a plot… and the king’s life was spared.” By this point in the story of Israel, the people are still living…

MORNING – A Time to Mourn “Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them… They read from the book of the law of the LORD their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped…

MORNING— A Hungry People Gather “And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate… Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly… and he read from it… from early morning until midday… and all the people were attentive to the book of the…

MORNING— Opposition from the Outside “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses… Then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work.’” Advancement rarely goes unnoticed—and it is rarely welcomed by…

MORNING— Prayer: the Foundation of Calling “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, ‘I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who…

MORNING— The People Return to the Land “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia…” The Old Testament history books tell one long story—twelve books in all—from Joshua…

MORNING— When the Walls Finally Fall “Now on the seventh day of the fifth month… Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard… came to Jerusalem. He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem… So all the army of the Chaldeans… broke down the walls around Jerusalem.” In February…

MORNING— A King Who Wanted God “For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David…” Josiah becomes king at eight years old. He inherits a nation hollowed out by generations of compromise—idols in the land, truth forgotten, worship distorted. Yet…

MORNING— How Far a Heart Can Fall “Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.” Manasseh’s reign begins with a chilling summary: he knew the truth and mislead others to get them to turn from it. It wasn’t…

MORNING— A Letter Spread Before the Lord “Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.” Assyria has already taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity. Now the cruel nation has Jerusalem…