Isaiah 4 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             These are pretty bleak times if Is 4:1 is happening.  In normal times, a man courts a woman.   The idea of a man getting on his knees means he is pleading with this woman to marry him.  In v. 1, the woman is one of seven who are saying, “I will eat my own food and buy my own clothes, just marry me!”  One can hardly imagine…

Isaiah 3 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence This chapter describes God’s judgment upon the corrupt leadership of men in Jerusalem in the first half and upon the luxurious sinful living among the women in the latter half.  First, he contends with the men, the elder and princes of His people, for Isaiah says in v.14, “It is you who have devoured the vineyard (see Isaiah 5), the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  What…

Isaiah 1 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             We begin studying the massively weighty, deep, delightful vision of Isaiah.  You are going to just love his descriptive language, exalted view of God, his true-to-life view of man’s pride, and his insightful view of the coming Messiah.  Better to quote from Oswald’s commentary on Isaiah, “Of all the books of the OT, Isaiah is perhaps the richest.  Its literary grandeur is unequaled.  Its scope is unparalleled. …

Psalm 89 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence              This psalm, the last in Book III of the Psalter, is a little harder to characterize than the others.  Although it is still primarily a psalm of lament, it is much brighter in perspective than the previous psalm, which is the darkest prayer in all the psalter.  In addition to the complaint/lament mentioned in the latter part of the psalm, Psalm 89 offers some praise to God throughout…

Psalms 87 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson  The outline is easily discerned by noticing the ‘Selah’ after verse 3 and verse 6.  The careful reader will see the natural breaks.  Kidner refers to the “enigmatic, staccato phrases” of this Psalm.  For those of love the hymns of John Newton, you will notice the title of his well known hymn at the beginning of verse 3.  Robert Godfrey writes, “Psalm 87 may well be the greatest…

Psalm 86 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            This is the only psalm of David in Book III of the Psalter, and it too is a psalm of lament.  These psalms of lamentation or complaint were some of Martin Luther’s favorites.  Of them he said, “What is the greatest thing in the Psalter but this earnest speaking amid the storm winds of every kind? . . . Where do you find deeper, more sorrowful, more pitiful…

Psalms 84 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson  John R. W. Stott lays out an easy-to-follow outline of this Psalm in his small book Favorite Psalms.  Verses 1-7 is the blessedness of others and 8-12 is A personal prayer.  Derek Kidner in the Tyndale Series has 1-4 Distant home; 5-8 Eager journey; 9-12 Radiant Presence.  Sometimes, outlines can be divided by different markers in the text.  One sees a repeated word that begins a section.  Other…

Psalm 83 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence             In this psalm of complaint against Israel’s persecutors who have joined together in a confederated league of many nations, Asaph is pleading with God to defend His people and His holy name.  In the first verse, the psalmist sets the tone of the psalm by pleading with the Lord to listen, to act and to speak a word of judgment against their enemies.  Then, in vv.2-5 he lays…

Psalm 82 by Pastor David Groendyk This is something of a bizarre psalm. As the ESV Study Bible explains, this psalm is something of a mix between a lament that is sung by God’s people and a prophecy against the wicked. In a section of the psalms that is dominated by the oppression and suffering of God’s people, this one stands out as unique. The primary audience here seems to be wicked and oppressive rulers,…

Psalm 81 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             Robert Godfrey in Learning to Love the Psalms writes, “In a sense, it (Psalm 81) is the central psalm in the book of Psalms.  Of course, it does not stand at the numerical center of 150 Psalms.  But it is the central psalm in the central book of the Psalter.  And at the center of Psalm 81 are these words: “O Israel, if you would but listen…

Psalm 80 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence This psalm is another psalm of lament.  After an initial invocation by the psalmist calling for God’s help, in vv. 4-6, Asaph voices his complaint.  God seems angry with Israel and is not listening to their prayers.  They have wept deeply because of their many sufferings, and their enemies are laughing in scorn over their humiliation.  But then, in vv.8-13, just as in other psalms of lament, the psalmist…

Psalm 79 by Pastor David Groendyk It’s clear that this psalm was written during some great disaster that fell upon Israel. The sheer brutality of this event stands out. The temple has been defiled (v. 1), Israelite corpses were being eaten by birds (v. 2), blood flowed in the streets like water (v. 3). It may be that this psalm was written around the time of Babylon’s final conquering, destruction, and exile of the nation…

Psalms 78 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             This long Psalm (72 verses) is called a parable which a flexible term in the Bible.  This use is more of a true story since this is a history lesson.  One would hope this would be the last time this history would be recounted.  But alas, this is a history that was true, is true, and sadly will be true in the future.  Witness the unfaithfulness of…

Psalm 76 Devotional by Pastor David Groendyk One common literary device in Hebrew poetry is called ‘parallelism’ where an author describes one thought in two different ways in back-to-back lines. Verse 1 of today’s psalm is a great example. The phrase “In Judah God is known” is parallel with the next phrase “his name is great in Israel.” God being known is synonymous with God’s name being great. God is made great when his people…

Psalms 75 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             This is not a Psalm that is well-known or as popular as Ps 23, 51, 73, 119, etc. but this is still a Psalm of great insight, warm-hearted devotion, and theology that both harmonizes with the entire Bible and makes us sit up straight and ponder deeply the majesty of God.             These were written as songs, a veritable hymnbook of the church.  Words matter in the…

Psalm 74 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            Asaph begins this psalm with a heart-wrenching question: “O God, why do you cast us off forever?”  Of course, the Lord had not cast off Israel forever, but it certainly did feel that way to the psalmist.  “Why does your anger smoke against us?” he said.  We don’t know all the specific sins that Israel had committed at this time, but it is clear that they had broken…

Psalm 73 by Pastor David Groendyk Right above Psalm 73 in my Bible is a header that says BOOK THREE. The Psalms are broken down into five Books. The first three Books get progressively darker in tone until we get to Psalms 88–89 which are some of the darkest chapters in Scripture. Then the last two Books begin to pick up again as we see God respond to the problems and laments in Books 1–3.…

2 Thessalonians 3 by Pastor Mark Hudson I would like to concentrate our attention to the section beginning  with chapter 3 verse 6.  The church in Thessalonica possessed definite opinions about the return of Christ.  Some of them were so convinced Christ was returning quickly that they stopped earning a living and fulfilling their financial obligations.  In one sense, it makes sense.  If a believer really thinks Christ is returning in the next few weeks…

2 Thessalonians 2 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence                 Because Paul and Silas were forced to leave the city of Thessalonica early due to persecution (see Acts 17), they were not able to spend as much time teaching and equipping the saints as they would have liked.  And soon enough, false teachers had already filled the void seeking to mislead God’s people.  Paul had already written them at least one letter to continue teaching and encouraging…

2 Thessalonians 1 by Pastor David Groendyk This second letter written to the church in Thessalonica bears many striking similarities to the first letter. Paul gives thanks for the Thessalonians’ faith, hope, and love in both letters (1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:3–4). He also commends them for their steadfastness amidst persecution in both letters (1 Thess. 1:6; 2 Thess. 1:4). We can tell that the persecution this church is enduring has not gone away…

Leviticus 27 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson We have read every chapter of Leviticus and some of you have read the devotions for every chapter.  Here is an attempt to remind you of some of the themes we have considered.  A word or phrase will start each paragraph. Each topic is worth a book-sized treatment.              Orderliness. Organization, even precision.  This is something we see throughout Scripture.  God brings order out of chaos.  God is…