Walk in Wisdom
To receive these lessons by email, fill out THIS FORM and select "Daily Devotional" from the options.
These daily devotionals are written to help you remain rooted and grounded in God's Word each day. We have one devotional for each weekday, and one for the weekend.
-
Latest Devotional
Rebels All
Numbers 20:10b-12
“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”Moses doesn’t write his response into the biblical text, but I imagine it went like this: “But LORD, this isn’t fair!” That’s my initial response at least. How do these complaining pilgrims walk away from this scene without any heavenly rebuke, while Moses and Aaron take the fall? Mark this scene down as one of the great head-scratchers of the Pentateuch. God didn’t cast off Moses for initially refusing to go to Egypt, nor for failing to circumcise his son, nor for shattering testimonial stones in the gorge, but now Moses strikes a rock rather than speaking to it calmly and that’s what forfeits his commission? The same is true of Aaron. Doesn’t Aaron’s idolatrous crafting of that golden calf seem a far more reprehensible desecration of God’s holiness before the people than quietly standing by as Moses beats a boulder?!
As I ponder this mystery, I’m struck by the word Moses uses against these people: rebels. This might be the key here. Although Moses is a faithful man, and although he’ll die in the arms of God just as he lived, he’s a rebel too. We all are! That’s the bad news of the gospel, right? That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Adam ate forbidden fruit, Cain murdered his brother, Abraham adulterated with Hagar, Sarah laughed at the angels, Jacob stole Esau’s birthright, Judah sold Joseph into slavery, Aaron built a golden calf, and Moses, hero though he is, falls short of his divine commission as well. Which is why he, too, is incapable of delivering the people of God to the Promised Land. He needs someone to deliver him.
Oh how the gospel of our Lord gushes forth through these lines like living water from the Rock of Ages! And we’re drowning in that flood today.
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Mary D. James’ hymn ‘All for Jesus’)
-
Come to the Waters
-
Eulogies for the Living
-
Sin is Oh So Draining
-
In Christ Alone
-
Guardians of the Gift
-
Sabbath Psalm (From E. W. Blandy’s hymn, ‘Take the World but Give Me Jesus’)
-
A Sappy Symbol
-
Rhetorical Righteousness
-
A Powerful Posture
-
Making Memories
-
Tribes and Tongues, pt. 2
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Philip P. Bliss’s hymn, ‘Let the Lower Lights be Burning’)
-
Tribes and Tongues, pt. 1
-
Stop the Rot!
-
Jesus Love the Little Children
-
Beating Hearts
-
One-Sided
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Joseph Scriven’s hymn, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’)
-
The Beginning of Wisdom
-
The Grasshopper Principle
-
Do You See What I See?
-
Time Out
-
A Reconciling Rebuke
-
Sabbath Psalm (From Fanny Crosby’s beloved hymn, ‘Near the Cross’)
-
Unrighteous Rhetoric
-
A Story Shared
-
Moses’ Complaint pt. 2
-
Moses’ Complaint pt. 1
-
Famished
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from George Matheson’s hymn ‘O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go’)
-
Burning
-
High Notes and Low Notes
-
Silver Chords
-
The Waiting Room
-
The One and the Many
-
Sabbath Psalm (A revision of John W. Peterson’s hymn ‘A Student’s Prayer’)
-
Transitions
-
The Gold Standard
-
Between the Angels
-
An Acceptable Approach
-
Waxing Lyrical
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of John W. Peterson’s hymn, ‘Just One Step at a Time’)
-
Locks of Love
-
A Nazirite New Year
-
Love is Jealous, Love is Kind
-
Get Your Hard Hat Ready
-
Blue Collar Cloth
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Fanny Crosby’s hymn ‘All the Way My Savior Leads Me’)
-
Beyond the Blue
-
A Most Sacred Order
-
Awaiting the Dawn
-
Tribal Standards
-
Count Me In
-
Hallelujah!
-
Servant Status
-
Enduring Love
-
Don’t Light the Fuse!
-
The Last Word
-
Don’t Wait . . . Sing Now!
-
God Knows Best
-
Gunning for Bear
-
Parental Endowment
-
Steadfast, Immovable
-
Paying Penance?
-
Stone-Blind
-
Going the Extra Mile
-
A Priceless Pearl
-
Revenge Denied
-
Trying Your Patience
-
By Faith, Not by Sight
-
Begging Your Pardon
-
Lift That Weight!
-
Keep Swinging
-
The Heavens Declare
-
Let’s Go Fishing!
-
Parking Space #23
-
Measureless Grace
-
No Man Left Behind
-
Completing the Puzzle
-
Skeletons in the Closet
-
Deposits and Investments
-
Piercing the Darkness
-
You’re on Candid Camera!
-
Dry Bones
-
Without Love
-
Father Knows Best
-
Putting on the Dog
-
The Dreaded Word: Practice!
-
Walking in the Spirit
-
Down Memory Lane
-
The Stops of a Good Man
-
Truly Good News
-
The Good Shepherd
-
People of the Word
-
Imitating Christ
-
The One Left Standing
-
Invisibly Involved
-
“Not Guilty!”