Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Read Hebrews 12:1–2
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was awarded many years ago to the iconic Ritz-Carlton Hotels. When I congratulated the owner of that outstanding organization, he told me that they would need to work even harder to earn the respect that comes with the prestigious honour. He also mentioned that the award declares that quality is “a race with no finish line.”
Read Colossians 3:1, 3
It happened to me last week. Isaac Watts did it again. One of his best hymns (he wrote over six hundred!) lingered in my head for more than an hour before I formed the words with my mouth. I suddenly listened to what Watts wrote over two centuries ago:
Alas! and did my Savior bleed? / And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head / For such a worm as I?
Read Isaiah 50:4
Many years ago, my brother, Orville, introduced a hymn to me I’d not heard before. Its moving strains often accompany me as I drive or walk in solitude or return late from a day of demands.
Art thou weary, heavy laden,
Art thou sore distressed?
“Come to me,” saith One, “And coming,
Be at rest.”
Growing weary is the outcome or consequence of many experiences, none of them bad but all of them exhausting. To name just a few...
We can be weary of waiting (Psalm 69:3).
Read Isaiah 43:19
Though I have walked with God for several decades, I must confess I still find much about Him incomprehensible and mysterious. But this much I know: He delights in surprising us.
Read 1 Samuel 15:22–23
Samuel was not impressed. Having discovered that the self-reliant king had once again disobeyed God’s command, the exasperated prophet rebuked the stubborn king as few men in Scripture were rebuked:
Read Luke 22:41–42
The psalmist was correct: the heavens do indeed proclaim the glory of God. The skies do indeed display his craftsmanship (see Psalm 19:1). And when you mix that unfathomable fact with the incredible reality that He cares for each one of us right down to the last, tiniest detail, the psalmist is, again, correct: “such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6).
Read 1 Samuel 17:50
Goliath reminds me of the cross-eyed discus thrower. He didn't set many records...but he sure kept the crowd awake!
Paralyzed and hypnotized, the camp of the Israelites sat in their tents. The only noise heard from their side of the valley was the knocking of their knees—in unison. Goliath was, up to that point, eminently successful with his strategy of intimidation. His threats came with regularity every day, producing the desired result—fear.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:13–15
There's a sucker born every minute. That isn’t funny; it’s tragic. Fakery draws its fuel from the pit. That’s what God tells us.
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ....Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Read Jeremiah 29:11
Being a prophet in Israel wasn’t an easy gig. That’s the understatement of the year. Most of the men God called were expected to boldly bear the bad news of God’s displeasure with the attitudes and sins of His people.
One such prophet often found himself in the pit of despair.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame. (Jeremiah 20:17-18)
Read Joshua 1:6–7, 9
I recall the first time I watched the children’s classic movie The Wizard of Oz. I was spellbound by the music and the enchanting way in which the simple themes of family, valuing home, and celebrating individual differences were on display. But perhaps the most hilarious character of all was the lion—the bumbling, wimp of a cat, who cowered in fear at the smallest threat. What he needed was courage!
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