What comes to mind when you think about sin? Consider your emotions—does the thought of sin make you sad? Angry? Indifferent? To fully understand the beauty of salvation and the power of grace, you must take sin seriously.  Consider what our sin says about God. Sin says God may be powerful, but not enough to deserve ultimate authority in...

The ark of the covenant was a physical reminder of God’s tangible presence with His people. Rather than treat the ark with reverence, they treated the ark as a sort of good luck charm. In our Bible story today, we see what happened when the ark was taken from the people of Israel.   Except in times of war or...

When was the last time you prayed fervently to God? What did you need? Did He answer in a way you expected?  When Hannah wanted a baby, she cried out to God with great earnestness so much that the priest Eli thought she was drunk. Hannah had confidence that God heard her prayer. She understood that one of the...

The story of Ruth is an incredible story. We see how gracious and good God is. We see the providential care God has for a woman who was not Jewish. She was from Moab—a descendant of Lot, not a child of Abraham. Yet, she became a recipient of God’s promise to Abraham because salvation is a gift and is...

Samson is one of those characters in the Bible you don’t easily forget. He was strong, handsome, successful, and blind. He is what in literature is called an anti-type. He is a type of Christ in all the wrong ways. Samson was consecrated from an early age yet disobeyed his covenant promises and dishonored his parents. When tempted, he...

In the Book of Judges, we see a cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, rescue, obedience, and then back to sin. The condition of man’s heart when left to himself will “do what is right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Our own hearts lead us to sinful behavior that leads to enslavement to sin. Judges reveals who we are...