Latest Thoughts of the Day

Obadiah 7

6/30/2025

All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it,

Obadiah’s mission is not salvation, but the declaration of doom. The day of grace will pass, and the guilty will reach a point of no return. Esau always hated Jacob, and millennia of enmity will bring final and complete destruction. Allies will force you to make the wrong decision, friends will stab you in the back, your best customers will contribute to your bankruptcy. God gave you every blessing you had, and He will take them all away. Lord, we are in Your hands, and we are guilty. You have promised us deliverance, and by Your grace we have been enabled to receive it. You did not want us to perish, and you sent Jesus.

Amos 3:5

6/29/2025

Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground where no snare has been set? Does a trap spring up from the earth where here is nothing to catch?

The people of Israel feel secure and safe because they are prospering materially, but their behavior toward God is setting them up for destruction. And it won’t just be bad luck. A bird is not snared out of nowhere. Traps don’t spring up of themselves. Amos will go on to say, “When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?” Do we think we will escape the consequences of our evil? Are we trusting to luck? What we sow, we reap, and everything will be judged. Lord, help us to see Your hand and take seriously Your word. Help us see obvious and necessary connections. Help us draw near in repentance and faith to Jesus.

Joel 1:7

6/28/2025

It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving the branches white.

A plague of locusts has devoured everything edible in the land of Judah. Joel sees this for what it is—the hand of God bringing the people to absolute devastation, that they might repent of their sins and seek Him for mercy and rescue. When God saves an individual He makes him to feel desolate, with absolutely no resources to render unto God. Denying self, embracing mercy and offering ourselves, weak and helpless, to serve God in any way He chooses, is the spiritual state we feel when God grants His Spirit. This attitude of heart God richly promises to bless. Joel will speak wonderfully about the outpouring of God’s Spirit. God gave us this when He brought us to trust in Jesus!

Hosea 5:5

6/27/2025

Israel's arrogance testifies against them; the Israelites, even Ephriam, stumble in their sin; Judah also stumbles with them.

God has allowed Israel to prosper materially, and they have taken that as some general approval of behavior that is an abomination before God. Their arrogance makes clear their departure from God, so that even the best of them, Ephraim, have gone very far astray. Rather than hold fast to God’s truth, Judah is drifting likewise into unbelief and pride. They bring their flocks to sacrifice to God, but their hearts are far from Him, and they will not find Him as they search for Him in such a way. Judah is not faithful to the Lord, and they are raising a generation of children who will continue their rebellion. Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Help us recognize our danger and flee to Jesus.

Daniel 4:12

6/26/2025

Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches. From it every creature was fed.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream presents this “before” picture that will be wondrously changed as the dream is fulfilled. Daniel will find it hard to interpret the dream simply because such terrible things are warned that it is hard to speak about them to the one they represent. We can see how clearly God has exalted Nebuchadnezzar so that He may bring glory to Himself in the way He deals with Him. But doesn’t every human life tell a story.? Lord, may our lives tell the story of a sinner saved by grace who brought glory to Your Name by the way You used Him. May all the glory go to Jesus!

Ezekiel 16:21

6/25/2025

You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.

God is declaring to the people now under His judgment in Babylon the reason they are where they are. Lest they forget the sins that brought this judgment upon them, Ezekiel is raised up among the captive people as a voice to declare God’s purposes in doing this to them. Nevertheless, before the end of this lengthy tirade, God will make reference to the fact that notwithstanding their vile offending, God would not abandon them, but would ultimately bring them back to their land. For the glory of His Name, God would yet show mercy and return His people to their land. God would have them see their sin, and yet not lose hope. Lord, You have shown us our sin, and yet you have given us hope. Your purposes have ever been focused upon Your Son, Jesus.

Lamentations 2:7

6/24/2025

The Lord has rejected His altar and abandoned His sanctuary. he has handed over to the enem the walls of her palaces. They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord as on the day of an appointed feast.

The mercy that the altar represents has been rejected by God, and the place where His glory dwelt has been abandoned. The palaces still stand, but they have been given to enemies to use. And a godless horde raises a shout of triumph in the place God’s people should be shouting. What a terrible situation! Jeremiah leads the people in a song of woe. This is what comes, not only to Israel, but to every man who abandons God. Defeat, shame and utter loss will be the end result. Lord, help us to understand, and move us by Your Spirit to find refuge in Your Son, Jesus.

Jeremiah 17:9

6/23/2025

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

The passage is an extended appeal to Israel to draw near to God and to seek His way. In the midst of the appeal is this warning not to lean on their own understanding. The heart cannot be trusted. It does not understand itself. We can tell ourselves that we are trusting God, when we know than we are trusting something else. God sees the truth in all of this, and His warning is that we should hear His word and walk in His way. Lord, we have seen our own hearts deceive ourselves. We are tempted every day to lean on our own understanding. Thank You for revealing to us the deceitfulness of our hearts. Thank You for deliverance from our own folly when deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.