Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 3--Verse 9These were all the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines. And Tamar was their sister.The first 8 scriptures list 19 sons born to David. Then the Bible admits there were sons of concubines, though they are not listed by name or number. Not every person in David’s family line was included in the Chronicles Hall of Fame.I have often wondered wh...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 2--Verse 3The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah…Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, and He put him to death.”This account may give us pause. How do we understand this? How do we reconcile God’s justice with His mercy? One pastor whose comments I read said we don’t:“…because they are not enemies, they are friends who are not in conflict ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 1--Verse 34Abraham fathered Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.Reading these genealogies is like a recap of all we’ve read this year. As you read, stop at the names you remember from past reading and reflect on their story. These first two chapters of 1 Chronicles remind me of learning about my own family history. As a kid, I loved hearing my grandparents’...  Read More

Daily devotional from 2 Kings 25--Verse 27Evil-marodach…graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.In the midst of this account of an awful time in Judah, King Jehoiachin’s release from prison seems like a little ray of light. It’s interesting, we read in the previous chapter that Jehoiachin wasn’t any better than the other kings–he did evil in the sight of the Lord. So where did he get...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 24--Verse 2And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets.God always keeps His Word and sometimes He even brings calamity to people. This is a concept that is hard t...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 23--Verse 25Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might…nor did any like him arise after him.To say King Josiah changed some things up during his rule is an understatement. He dismantled traditions, broke customs, and forsook dignity as he rid the nation of false gods. One thing we know ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 22--Verses 10-11 (NIV)Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. As he was working out payment for some workers, the Books of the Law were foun...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 21--Verse 9They did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray…God speaks, but sometimes He is ignored. He warns, yet people refuse to listen. And when His voice is continually resisted, silence is the result…not because God stops speaking, but because we stop hearing.And when that happens, we are left in a vulnerable state. Other voices begin to lead us, often in the w...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 20--Verse 17Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.King Hezekiah was dying and prayed for healing. God heard his prayer, promised to add fifteen years to his life, and deliver Jerusalem from attack by Assyria. These promises...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 19—Verse 30And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.Most people go through times in life when they feel like they have been uprooted and misplaced, and are unfruitful. This happens to us as individuals, as families, sometimes as whole organizations or even nations. But those times are usually temporary. God c...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 18--Verses 3-4And [Hezekiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).Idolatry has no p...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 17--Verse 18None was left but the tribe of Judah only. In chapter 17, the nation of Israel came to a complete and total collapse. Nothing was left but the tribe of Judah only. And there will be a day when this world will look a lot like Israel. Completely devastated. God will have issued his warnings (as he did in verse 13), but sinful humanity is bent on its own way ...  Read More