Join our email list and receive two gifts!
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
Mercy Rule
Deuteronomy 22:6-7
“If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go …”On the face of it, what makes this mercy rule of Deuteronomy 22:6-7 so peculiar is just how particular it is, that in a chapter where God decries abominations like transvestitism and adultery and child sacrifice, He gives provisions for the sparrows too. But there’s a wonderful principle here that stretches beyond the realm of momma birds in their nests, which we could put this way: let mercy rule over your appetites.
We need to eat, right? Yes, And God has given us an array of meats and a botanical garden of garnishes for our nourishment according to Genesis 2, correct? Okay. But animals aren’t merely here for our appetites either. God didn’t create the multivalent species of birds, from cardinals with their fiery red hues to peacocks with their coat-of-many colors to parrots with their imitative voices, just so we could have a wider variety of dishes for our palette. They struggle to survive in this world and fight to feed and protect their young just as we do, which is a testament to God’s creative handiwork.
Effectively, Moses tells the people that when they encounter a mother bird nesting on her young, they shouldn’t look and say, “Aha, jackpot!” But, as stewards of the earth, they have an obligation to show compassion, as do we. In other words, there’s something more vital to our wellbeing than mere survival. Sometimes the fleshly part of our humanity must go hungry to preserve the spiritual part of our humanity—the part that most bears the image of God.
You may shudder to read this, but a few minutes ago, I just helped a neighbor get a black rat snake out of the corn bucket in her chicken coop right before coming down to the creek to write. Although it took me a while, I was finally able to carry the snake far enough away from the chicken coop to preserve its life along with the chicken eggs. The point: all life is a gift from God. Let’s preserve life where we can in honor of Him.
-
Latest Devotional
Mercy Rule
Deuteronomy 22:6-7
“If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go …”On the face of it, what makes this mercy rule of Deuteronomy 22:6-7 so peculiar is just how particular it is, that in a chapter where God decries abominations like transvestitism and adultery and child sacrifice, He gives provisions for the sparrows too. But there’s a wonderful principle here that stretches beyond the realm of momma birds in their nests, which we could put this way: let mercy rule over your appetites.
We need to eat, right? Yes, And God has given us an array of meats and a botanical garden of garnishes for our nourishment according to Genesis 2, correct? Okay. But animals aren’t merely here for our appetites either. God didn’t create the multivalent species of birds, from cardinals with their fiery red hues to peacocks with their coat-of-many colors to parrots with their imitative voices, just so we could have a wider variety of dishes for our palette. They struggle to survive in this world and fight to feed and protect their young just as we do, which is a testament to God’s creative handiwork.
Effectively, Moses tells the people that when they encounter a mother bird nesting on her young, they shouldn’t look and say, “Aha, jackpot!” But, as stewards of the earth, they have an obligation to show compassion, as do we. In other words, there’s something more vital to our wellbeing than mere survival. Sometimes the fleshly part of our humanity must go hungry to preserve the spiritual part of our humanity—the part that most bears the image of God.
You may shudder to read this, but a few minutes ago, I just helped a neighbor get a black rat snake out of the corn bucket in her chicken coop right before coming down to the creek to write. Although it took me a while, I was finally able to carry the snake far enough away from the chicken coop to preserve its life along with the chicken eggs. The point: all life is a gift from God. Let’s preserve life where we can in honor of Him.
-
Hate Speech
-
Your Neighbor
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Fanny Crosby’s hymn ‘Able to Deliver’)
-
A Curious Curse
-
Modern Protest—Missing Perspective
-
Scorched Earth Policies
-
In His Hands
-
Red Letters
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Grace Weiser Davis’ hymn ‘A Better Day Coming’)
-
Painted Red
-
Rocks of Offense
-
Alpha
-
Broken Branches
-
Sovereign Simplicity
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of John Peterson’s hymn ‘When We All Get Home’)
-
The Messiah Complex
-
An Out-Pouring
-
Start with a Song
-
Redeeming the Grinch Heart
-
A Mighty Mirror
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Fredrick Blom’s hymn ‘He the Pearly Gates Will Open’)
-
The Substance of Signs
-
Righteousness in Ruins
-
The Passion, The Privilege
-
The Same Old Story
-
The Higher Country
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Samuel Stennett’s hymn, ‘On Jordan’s Stormy Banks’)
-
The Law of Empathy
-
Top of the List
-
Uplifting Love
-
Get a Grip
-
A Call to Pray
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Franklin Mason North’s hymn, ‘Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life’)
-
Two Sides of Stubbornness
-
Dividing Lines
-
A Sacred Affluence
-
The Bountiful, The Beautiful
-
Simple Math
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Frances R. Havergal’s hymn ‘Another Year is Dawning’)
-
The Wolves We Don’t See
-
Unsung Heroes
-
Good in Both Senses
-
For the Love of God!
-
Cardiac Check
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Anne Ross Cousin’s hymn, ‘The Sands of Time are Sinking’)
-
Today’s Chronicle: Constancy
-
A More Consuming Fire
-
About a Burning Fire
-
Against the Winds
-
Hide-And-Seek-Chase
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Carrie Breck’s hymn ‘Face to Face’)
-
Dummies
-
Visual Words
-
A Double Standard
-
Actions Speak
-
A Great Co-Mission
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Edward Mote’s hymn, ‘The Solid Rock’)
-
Passing the Baton
-
Divine Devotion
-
King of the Grasshoppers
-
Holy Dread
-
Blaze of Glory
-
Sabbath Psalm (Adapted from Mary Kidder’s hymn ‘Is My Name Written There?’)
-
Outliers
-
The Father’s Arms
-
The Prepositions of Providence
-
The Grace of Problem Solving
-
Make Me a Sanctuary
-
Sabbath Psalm (From Fanny Crosby’s hymn ‘Blessed Assurance’)
-
Spiritual Scars
-
Better Judgment
-
A Roll Call
-
Kingdom Rising
-
A Tale of Two Pilgrims
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revised from Charles Wesley’s hymn ‘Depth of Mercy’)
-
A Leprous Colony
-
Word Spreads
-
Dry Seasons Pt. 2
-
Dry Seasons
-
For the Record
-
Sabbath Psalm (From Priscilla Owens’ hymn ‘Jesus Saves!’’)
-
Monumental Letters
-
A Second Impression
-
Fighting Words
-
Either-Or
-
Striking Justice
-
Sabbath Psalm (From Lidie H. Edmund’s hymn ‘My Faith Has Found a Resting Place’)
-
The Fall of Balaam
-
Justice—A Double-Edged Sword
-
Spoken For
-
A Divine Intervention
-
Promises Performed
-
Out of the Ordinary
-
Dying Request
-
Hand in Hand
-
When God Speaks for You
-
A New Genesis
-
Sabbath Psalm (Revised from John Peterson’ hymn ‘A Flag to Follow’)
-
In Broad Daylight