Daily Bible Verse

[nanny]

1 Timothy 4:12 KJV
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.


Who You Are

In 2011, after a decade of childlessness, my wife and I chose to start afresh in a new country. Exciting as the move was, it required my leaving a broadcast career, which I missed. Feeling lost, I asked my friend Liam for advice.

“I don’t know what my calling is anymore,” I told Liam dejectedly.

“You’re not broadcasting here?” he asked. I said I wasn’t.

“And how is your marriage?”

Surprised at his change of topic, I told Liam that Merryn and I were doing well. We’d faced heartbreak together but emerged closer through the ordeal.

“Commitment is the core of the gospel,” he said, smiling. “Oh, how the world needs to see committed marriages like yours! You may not realize the impact you’re having already, beyond what you do, simply by being who you are.”

When a difficult work situation left Timothy dejected, the apostle Paul didn’t give him career goals. Instead, he encouraged Timothy to live a godly life, setting an example through his speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity (1 Timothy 4:12–13, 15). He would best impact others by living faithfully.

It’s easy to value our lives based on our career success when what matters most is our character. I had forgotten that. But a word of truth, a gracious act, even a committed marriage can bring great change—because through them something of God’s own goodness touches the world.


Reflect & Pray
Who has touched your life and what qualities did they have? How can you set an example of faithfulness today?

Dear God, help me to remember that the work I do isn’t as important as the person I become. Please make me more like You.


Insight
Timothy was a protégé of the apostle Paul (1 Timothy 1:2). As one of his most trusted associates, Paul affectionately called him “my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 4:17). On many occasions, Paul sent Timothy to several churches as his personal representative (Acts 19:22; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 16:10–11; Philippians 2:19–23; 1 Thessalonians 3:2–6). He’d left Timothy in Ephesus, the richest commercial city in Asia Minor, to deal with the various problems in the cosmopolitan church, including confronting false teachers (1 Timothy 1:3–7) and disorderly worship (2:8–15), appointing elders and deacons, and challenging materialism and greed (3:1–13). Here in 1 Timothy 4, Paul encourages Timothy to live an exemplary life and to grow and excel in his teaching ministry (vv. 15–16). Timothy is to lead by being “an example for the believers” (v. 12).
 

[nanny]

Exodus 3:7-8

7 And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.


Christmas Light

To my eyes, the Christmas tree looked to be ablaze in fire! Not because of artificial strings of lights but from real fire. Our family was invited to a friend’s altdeutsche Tradition, or the “old German way,” a celebration featuring delicious traditional desserts and a tree with real, lit candles. (For safety, the freshly cut tree was lit one night only.)

As I watched the tree appear to burn, I thought of Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush. While tending sheep in the wilderness, Moses was surprised by a flaming bush that was somehow not consumed by the flames. As he approached the bush to investigate, God called to him. The message from the burning bush was not one of judgment but of rescue for the people of Israel. God had seen the plight and misery of His people who were enslaved in Egypt and had “come down to rescue them” (Exodus 3:8).

While God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, all of humanity still needed rescue—not just from physical suffering but also from the effects that evil and death brought into our world. Hundreds of years later, God responded by sending down the Light, His Son, Jesus (John 1:9–10), sent not “to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (3:17).


Reflect & Pray
How can you celebrate God’s provision of rescue through Jesus? What other traditions point you to Him?

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus, the Light of the world.


Insight
Why did God ask Moses to remove his sandals? (Exodus 3:5). More than forty years later, the angel of the Lord would repeat this command to Moses’ successor, Joshua (Joshua 5:15). In Joshua 6:2, we learn that this “angel” is the Lord Himself. It wasn’t the ground itself that was holy, but rather God’s presence that made it so. Theologians also postulate that the sandals, which are in constant contact with the literal ground, symbolize all that’s earthly. Footwear is considered as profane and common, in stark contrast to the holiness of God. This brings new meaning to the significance of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet in the upper room (John 13:2–17). Additionally, the removal of footwear was used in Old Testament times as a sign of sealing a covenant (see Ruth 4:7–8).
 

[nanny]

Matthew 6:11 KJV
Give us this day our daily bread.


Daily Dependence

One morning our younger kids decided to get up early and fix breakfast for themselves. Tired from a grueling week, my wife and I were trying to sleep until at least 7:00 a.m. on that Saturday morning. Suddenly, I heard a loud crash! I jumped out of bed and raced downstairs to find a shattered bowl, oatmeal all over the floor, and Jonas—our five-year-old—desperately trying to sweep (more like smear) the gooey mess off the floor. My children were hungry, but they chose not to ask for help. Instead of reaching out in dependence, they chose independence, and the result was definitely not a culinary delight.

In human terms, children are meant to grow from dependence to independence. But in our relationship with God, maturity means moving from independence to dependence on Him. Prayer is where we practice such dependent ways. When Jesus taught His disciples—and all of us who have come to believe in Him—to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), He was teaching a prayer of dependence. Bread is a metaphor for sustenance, deliverance, and guidance (vv. 11–13). We’re dependent on God for all that and more.

There are no self-made believers in Jesus, and we’ll never graduate from His grace. Throughout our lives, may we always begin our day by taking the posture of dependence as we pray to “our Father in heaven” (v. 9).


Reflect & Pray
What’s the “bread” you’re praying for today? How do you reveal your trust in God as you call out to Him?

Dear Jesus, You’re my Creator and my Sustainer. Please help me to trust in You.


Insight
Some Bible versions translate “babbling” (Matthew 6:7) as “vain repetitions” (kjv, nkjv) or “empty phrases” (esv), which means to repeat the same words over and over again as the gentiles (non-Jews) did. They did so to be noticed and to be viewed as righteous or pious. This calls to mind the prophets of Baal who called on their god “from morning till noon” but with “no response” (1 Kings 18:26). Jesus wasn’t condemning public prayer but prohibiting mindless, mechanical repetition. The hypocrites (Pharisees and others) proudly prayed like this “in the synagogues and on the street corners” (Matthew 6:5) so that people would see them. But while on earth, Jesus “offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7). Unlike the ungodly prayers of the hypocrites, “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
 

[nanny]

Luke 2:38 KJV
And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.


Great Expectations

On a busy day before Christmas, an aged woman approached the mail counter at my crowded neighborhood post office. Watching her slow pace, the patient postal clerk greeted her, “Well hello, young lady!” His words were friendly, but some might hear them saying that “younger” is better.

The Bible inspires us to see that advanced age can motivate our hope. As the infant Jesus is brought to the temple by Joseph and Mary, to be consecrated (Luke 2:23; see Exodus 13:2, 12), two elderly believers suddenly take center stage.

First, Simeon—who’d been waiting for years to see the Messiah—“took [Jesus] in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations’ ” (Luke 2:28–31).

Then Anna, a “very old” prophet (v. 36), came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph. A widow who’d been married only seven years, she’d lived in the temple to age eighty-four. Never leaving, she “worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” When she saw Jesus, she began praising God, explaining about “the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (vv. 37–38).

These two hopeful servants remind us to never stop waiting on God—no matter our age—with great expectations.


Reflect & Pray
What lessons have you learned from elderly believers about God’s faithfulness? How does their hopefulness inspire you?

Dear faithful Father, when I lose hope, remind me to wait expectantly for You.


Insight
Most Israelites were anticipating the arrival of Messiah, and one might expect that the religious leaders would have been among them. Yet they seemed to miss Him despite the signs and prophecy (see Matthew 2:1–6). In contrast, Luke 2 informs us of Simeon and Anna, who recognized Him at once. What made the difference? In the case of Simeon and Anna, they actively sought out a close relationship with God. The text says of Simeon, “Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts” (v. 27), indicating that he was customarily sensitive to God’s leading. As for Anna, it appears she literally lived at the temple (v. 37). Both Simeon and Anna knew what the arrival of the Christ child meant.
 

[nanny]

Psalm 23:6 KJV
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


God’s Sure Pursuit

Some years ago, a man walked about a block ahead of me. I could clearly see that his arms were full of packages. All of a sudden, he tripped, dropping everything. A couple of people helped him to his feet, assisting him in collecting what he’d dropped. But they missed something—his wallet. I picked it up and took off in hot pursuit of the stranger, hoping to return that important item. I yelled “Sir, sir!” and finally got his attention. He turned just as I reached him. As I held out the wallet, I’ll never forget his look of surprised relief and immense gratitude.

What began as following after that man turned into something quite different. Most English translations use the word follow in the final verse of the familiar Psalm 23—“Surely your goodness and love will follow me” (v. 6). And while “follow” fits, the actual Hebrew word used is more forceful, aggressive even. The word literally means “to pursue or chase,” much like a predator pursues his prey (think of a wolf pursuing sheep).

God’s goodness and love don’t merely follow along after us at a casual pace, in no real hurry, like a pet might leisurely follow you home. No, “surely” we are being pursued—chased even—with intention. Much like pursuing a man to return his wallet, we’re pursued by the Good Shepherd who loves us with an everlasting love (vv. 1, 6).


Reflect & Pray
Do you believe God’s goodness is actually pursuing you? If not, why not, since Scripture includes the word surely?

Good Shepherd, thank You that Your goodness and love pursue me always.


Insight
Although Psalm 23 is the best-known Scripture passage that employs the shepherd metaphor to speak of God, this figure of speech appears throughout the Bible. In Genesis 48:15, Jacob (Israel) referred to God as his shepherd. The prophet Isaiah said, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (40:11). The Shepherd gets a name and a face in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Hebrews 13:20 speaks of Jesus as “that great Shepherd of the sheep.” Peter called Him “the Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4), and Revelation 7:17 says, “the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.”
 

[nanny]

Ruth 2:12 KJV
The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.


Fast-Food Encouragement

Maria carried her fast-food lunch to an empty table. As she bit into her burger, her eyes locked on those of a young man seated several tables away. His clothes were soiled, his hair hung limply, and he clutched at an empty paper cup. Clearly, he was hungry. How could she help? A gift of cash seemed unwise. If she bought a meal and presented it to him, might he be embarrassed?

Just then Maria remembered the story of Ruth where Boaz, a wealthy landowner, invited the impoverished immigrant widow to glean from his fields. He ordered his men: “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her” (Ruth 2:15–16). In a culture where women were utterly dependent on their connection to men for survival, Boaz demonstrated God’s loving provision. Eventually, Boaz married Ruth, redeeming her from her serious need (4:9–10).

As Maria rose to leave, she placed her untouched packet of fries on a nearby table, meeting the man’s eyes as she did so. If he was hungry, he might glean from her “fast-food field.” God’s heart is revealed in the stories of Scripture as they illustrate creative solutions to encourage.


Reflect & Pray
Is there someone around you today that you might invite to “glean” from the abundance in your life? Ask God to reveal the needs around you that you might respond with His heart.


Insight
God gave the Israelites “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8) and commanded His people to take care of the poor living among them. Landowners were to intentionally not harvest all the grain so that the poor could glean the leftovers (Leviticus 19:9–10; 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19–22). God’s solution for the hungry is the generous hearts and open hands of His people (Deuteronomy 15:4–11). The law of gleaning was the backdrop for the story of Ruth. Boaz, a close relative of Naomi, was a God-fearing landowner who permitted the poor to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1–3, 20). He even ordered his servants to deliberately “pull out some stalks for [Ruth] from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up” (v. 16). As a result of Boaz’s grace and generosity, Ruth gleaned “an ephah” or about 30 pounds (v. 17) of barley, enough to last for several weeks.

[nanny]

Galatians 6:2 KJV
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.


Lighten the Load

When the women in our newly formed Bible study faced a series of tragedies, we suddenly found ourselves sharing deeply personal experiences. Facing the loss of a father, the pain of a wedding anniversary after divorce, the birth of a child who was completely deaf, the experience of racing to bring a child to the emergency room—it was too much for anyone to carry alone. Each person’s vulnerability led to more transparency. We cried and prayed together, and what started as a group of strangers became a group of close friends in a matter of weeks.

As part of the church body, believers in Jesus are able to come alongside people in their suffering in a deep and personal way. The relational ties that bind together brothers and sisters in Christ aren’t dependent on the length of time we’ve known each other or the things we have in common. Instead, we do what Paul calls “[carrying] each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). Relying on God’s strength, we listen, we empathize, we help where we can, and we pray. We can look for ways to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (v. 10). Paul says that when we do so, we fulfill the law of Christ (v. 2): to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. The burdens of life can be heavy, but He’s given us our church family to lighten the load.


Reflect & Pray
Who’s suffering around you? How can you lighten their load today?

Dear God, thank You for walking alongside me no matter what I face. Help me love others in that way today.


Insight
The apostle Paul urged believers to “serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13)—a lifestyle only possible through continual reliance on the Spirit (vv. 16–18, 22–26). Galatians 6:1–10 offers practical guidance on what such a Spirit-led life looks like in practice. Paul focused on both corporate responsibility (of the faith community) and individual responsibility (of each person). For example, the community of faith seeks to correct and restore someone caught in sin, while the individual believer must always be on guard to “watch [them]selves” (v. 1). Similarly, as a group sharing life together, the believing community can “carry each other’s burdens” (v. 2), while each individual takes responsibility to “test their own actions” and “carry their own load” (vv. 4–5). Paul invites the community of faith to both serve in community and to individually take responsibility so that they can do “good to all people” (v. 10).
 

[nanny]

2 Samuel 22:2-3 KJV

2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.


Running to Our Shelter

The sixth-grade basketball game was well underway. Parents and grandparents were cheering on their players, while younger brothers and sisters of the boys on the teams entertained themselves out in the school hallway. Suddenly, sirens blared and lights flashed in the gym. A fire alarm had been tripped. Soon the siblings came streaming back into the gym in panic, looking for their parents.

There was no fire; the alarm had accidentally been activated. But as I watched, I was struck by the way the children—sensing a crisis—unashamedly ran to embrace their parents. What a picture of confidence in those who could provide a sense of safety and reassurance in a time of fear!

Scripture presents a time when David experienced great fear. Saul and numerous other enemies (2 Samuel 22:1) pursued him. After God delivered David to safety, the grateful man sang an eloquent song of praise about His help. He called God “my rock, my fortress and my deliverer” (v. 2). When the “cords of the grave” and “the snares of death” (v. 6) hounded him, David “called out” to God and his “cry came to [God’s] ears” (v. 7). In the end, David proclaimed He “rescued me” (vv. 18, 20, 49).

In times of fear and uncertainty, we can run to the “Rock” (v. 32). As we call on God’s name, He alone provides the refuge and shelter we need (vv. 2–3).


Reflect & Pray
What fear are you dealing with these days? How can God help you face it and deal with it?

Dear God, when I’m afraid, remind me to trust You—to depend on You—and praise Your name.


Insight
David’s song of praise in 2 Samuel 22 comes toward the end of his life. It recounts his history with his enemies and how God rescued the king over and over through years of challenges, danger, and hardship.

At the beginning of the books of Samuel, Israel wanted a king who would fight for them “like all the other nations” (1 Samuel 8:20). After the failure of Saul, David became that king. He fought their battles, and he won. But in his final song of praise to God, he pointed out that it was ultimately God—not himself—who did the true saving. His words became the song we know as Psalm 18. The Israelites incorporated the king’s personal words of praise into their liturgy. Whenever the song was sung, it reminded them—and should remind us—that their true deliverer was and always will be their God.
 

[nanny]

Romans 12:9 KJV
Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.


Clinging to What’s Good

When we park our car near an open field and walk across it to get to our house, we almost always get some sticky cockleburs on our clothes—especially in the fall. These tiny “hitchhikers” attach to clothing, shoes, or whatever is passing by and ride to their next destination. It’s nature’s way of spreading cocklebur seeds in my local field and around the world.

As I try to carefully remove clinging cockleburs, I’ve often thought about the message that admonishes believers in Jesus to “cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). When we’re trying to love others, it can be challenging. However, as the Holy Spirit helps us hold on to what’s good with all we have, we can repel evil and be “sincere” in our love as He guides us (v. 9).

Cocklebur seeds don’t fall off with a mere brush of the hand, they hang on to you. And when we focus on what’s good, keeping our mind on God’s mercy, compassion, and commands, we too—in His strength—can hang on tightly to those we love. He helps us stay “devoted to one another in love,” remembering to place other’s needs before our own (v. 10).

Yes, those cockleburs can be challenging, but they also remind me to cling to others in love and by God’s power to grip tightly “what is good” (v. 9; see also Philippians 4:8–9).


Reflect & Pray
How can clinging to what’s good help you love a challenging friend or family member? How is sincere love also a tenacious love?

Remind me to cling with all my might to what’s good, Jesus. I desire to reflect Your love to others.


Insight
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:9 that “love must be sincere.” The word used to describe love here is sincere (anypokritos), which simply means “unhypocritical” or “behavior free from hidden agendas.” A hidden agenda is when a person appears to demonstrate love for someone but really has a selfish motive. It would be easy to read the statements that follow this verse as separate exhortations. However, verses 9–13 are meant to describe what genuine love should look like. This vision of love matches Paul’s encouragement in Philippians 2:3–4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Jesus said we’re to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37–39). True and sincere love focuses on others and doesn’t seek its own pleasure.
 

[nanny]

Psalm 43:5 KJV
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.


I Heard the Bells

“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” based on an 1863 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is a truly unusual Christmas song. Instead of the expected Christmas joy and mirth, the lyric forms a lament, crying out, “And in despair I bowed my head / There is no peace on earth I said / For hate is strong and mocks the song / Of peace on earth, good will to men.” This lament, however, moves forward into hope, reassuring us that “God is not dead, nor does he sleep / The wrong shall fail, the right prevail / With peace on earth goodwill toward men.”

The pattern of hope rising out of lament is also found in the lament psalms of the Bible. As such, Psalm 43 begins with the psalmist crying out about his enemies who attack him (v. 1) and his God who seems to have forgotten him (v. 2). But the singer doesn’t stay in lament—he looks up to the God he doesn’t fully understand but still trusts, singing, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (v. 5).

Life is filled with reasons for lament, and we all experience them on a regular basis. But, if we allow that lament to point us to the God of hope, we can sing joyfully—even if we sing through our tears.


Reflect & Pray
What concerns are you experiencing in this moment? From the testimony of Scripture, how can God offer you hope in this season of life?

I cry to You, Father, as I struggle under the burdens of life. Remind me that my help comes from above, from the Maker of heaven and earth.


Insight
The book of Psalms is Israel’s official hymnbook. It consists of 150 songs written over a thousand-year period by several composers, including Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, and the sons of Korah. Used in individual and corporate worship, these songs are variously categorized as thanksgiving, praise, imprecatory, messianic, kingship, wisdom, and lament psalms. Psalm 43 falls into the category of a lament psalm. These songs express cries to God for deliverance and help in times of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, distress, and abandonment. In many Hebrew manuscripts, Psalms 42 and 43 are combined as one song. In a series of psalms composed by the sons of Korah (Psalms 42–49), Psalm 43 is the only one with no title, suggesting that it belongs with Psalm 42. The refrain “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” (43:5) is also found in 42:5 and 42:11.