Passage, Paragraph, and Prayer

On what ground do you connect with others? Sports? University? Hobbies? In this verse, the psalmist speaks of the greatest bond we can have with others.

Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from …

“My punishment is too great to bear!” Cain told the Lord. Was it too harsh and unfair?

Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,…

You’ve maybe heard a guy tell a girl, or vice versa, that he would cross the ocean for her, or got to the moon for her. In other words, he loves her so much he would do anything for her. How much do …

In Genesis 4:11, we hear God specifically tell a human that he is “cursed” for the first time. Why? And what did the curse consist of?

Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen …

Many Christians are frustrated with the direction our country has been heading for a while. While some of that is righteous disgust, could some of our frustrations also reflect a fear that if the wic…

Abel's blood cried out to God against his brother Cain. How many people have blood that is crying out to God against me? Is there any blood that cries out *for* me that is stronger than that crying o…

The church father Augustine  famously prayed in his early years, “Give me sexual purity and self-control, but not yet.” Psalm 119 tells us to take the opposite approach—not to delay the keeping of Go…

“Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground,” God told Cain. In this episode, we listen to Martin Luther tell us what a comfort this is.

Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit …

One way to think of the purpose of God’s law is to think of it flooding the course of our life with rain, so that all of our tracks, everywhere we have been, is now visible in the mud. What should we…

When we read of Cain murdering his brother Abel, we are confronted for the first time, historically speaking, with the mystery of why God allows such unspeakable evil to occur on earth, even to peopl…

In this verse, the psalmist portrays us as peasants entering the massive, ornate throne room of the King of kings. How should we do so?

Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Conce…

God had already warned Cain before he murdered his brother, but Cain had gone and done it anyway. But God still didn’t give up. He came to call Cain to repentance after he murdered his brother. No si…

In this episode, we begin looking at the eighth stanza of Psalm 119. As the psalmist has regularly done, the first verse of this stanza connects us back to the last verse of the previous stanza. In P…

It didn’t take long after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin for the new sinful condition of humanity to reveal itself in a shockingly deceptive and horrifying way.

Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit …

What do you cherish? Chances are that it’s what you jealously say, “Mine!” about, what you jealously guard. Is that something earthly or heavenly?

Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brande…

When someone points out your wrong, how do you react? Do you get angry, or do you seek to remedy what is wrong? God pointed out Cain’s wrong, and warned him of the consequences if he didn’t master si…

The psalmist says that he remembers the name of the LORD at night. Why does he specify that specific time of day?

Music Credit: Johann Sebastian Bach, Trio from Brandenburg Concerto, No. 1, Movement 4

Adam’s family began bringing offerings to the Lord not long after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. But God looked with favor on some of the offerings, but not on others. Why?

Music Credit: J. …

What do you sing, or sing along to, at home? In Psalm 119:54, the psalmist encourages us to remember that whatever we sing, we are singing in a temporary lodging-house, and to let the songs that we s…

Genesis 4:1–2 tells us that the first human family engaged in the pursuits of farming and shepherding. In this devotion we explore what that would have all entailed, and seek to appreciate the blessi…