“The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.”‭‭Exodus‬ ‭13‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Exodus 13:17-14:4 God has been intentional about leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. I’m so glad His intentionality did not stop in Egypt. God continued to lead them with a pillar...  Read More

““This is what you must do when the Lord fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live,” ‭‭‭‭Exodus‬ ‭13‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Exodus 12:29-13:16 Alas, the Israelites are leaving Egypt. We have just witnessed God fulfilling another series of promises. In chapter 4 verse 23, God told Moses that He would kill Pharaoh's firstborn son and G...  Read More

“Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12‬:‭17‬ Exodus 12:1-28 If you’re anything like my kids, you’re at the edge of your seat watching this battle of plagues, but you have a lot of questio...  Read More

However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth. Exodus 9:16 Exodus 9 A few years ago, I told a story about one of the most important nights in my life. The short version of the story one night on Spring Break in college, I took on multiple police officers in a physical altercation. And though that moment set in motion a series of de...  Read More

But then Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers—the magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same thing by their occult practices.Exodus 7:11 Exodus 7-11 Something interesting happens here for the first time in scripture.In Exodus 7, we see that Moses goes before Pharaoh and, empowered by God, performs a miracle. Yet instead of being in awe of Moses' God, Pharaoh calls in his wise men and sorc...  Read More

But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land."Exodus 6:1 Exodus 5-6 Have you ever tried to help someone only to make things worse?Maybe you tried to cut or style their hair and you butchered it.Maybe you tried to repair their brakes, only to break some other pa...  Read More

On the way to Egypt, at a place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him.Exodus 4:24 Exodus 4:18-31 What does it feel like to be confronted by the Lord? It is interesting that God orchestrated Moses’s life to be the perfect candidate for the job, yet, God was repeatedly frustrated by Moses. Earlier in verse 13, Moses kept protesting, a...  Read More

The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”Exodus 4:11-12 Exodus 4:1-17 From this week’s readings we have witnessed God see the affliction of the Israelites and share his action plan with Moses. In chapter 4, God equips Moses. God gives “power” to Moses...  Read More

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”Exodus 3:14 Exodus 3 Yesterday we looked at how our God sees everything. He’s omnipresent, everywhere, all the time. Today I want to focus on how providential God is as he acts. God says he is going to make something happen, and he does. God’s first action item is to show up in a burning b...  Read More

God saw the Israelites, and God knew.Exodus 2:25 Exodus 2 There’s something about this verse that God saw and God knew that brings to mind God’s omnipresence. He is everywhere all the time. He’s there during the good and hard times. When God was in the wilderness, Hagar called God, El Roi, the God Who Sees. In chapter two of Exodus, we see God with Moses as a baby in a basket. God’s with Moses as ...  Read More

A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.Exodus 1:8 Exodus 1 We have journeyed from the end of the story of Joseph to the beginning of the story of Moses. Scholars and Jewish descendants believe there is 64 years between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses. It took 64 years for Joseph to be forgotten. Sixty-four years for God to grow the Israelites to a number that ...  Read More

But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept.Genesis 33:4 Genesis 33-34 Forgiveness tends to fall into two categories. One is forgiveness that is independent of remorse. The other is forgiveness that is dependent on remorse.In today's reading we get an example of forgiveness that was independent of remorse which is often the forgiveness that is mo...  Read More

The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young.Genesis 30:39 Genesis 28-30 What if I told you that Charles Darwin was not the first to come up with the Evolutionary Theory?As we take a moment today and return our focus to the defense of the Bible as Trustworthy, consider this story from Genesis 30.Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane ...  Read More

She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.”Genesis 24:18-19 Genesis 25:19-Genesis 27 While there are so many different directions we could approach today's reading, I'm most struck by the influence of the past on the presen...  Read More

She replied, “Drink, my lord.” She quickly lowered her jug to her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they have had enough to drink.”Genesis 24:18-19 Genesis 23-24 What would it look like to be in a world where people readily shared their homes, land, and possessions? What would you think if you were walking the...  Read More

“After these things God tested Abraham…Genesis 22:1 Genesis 21-22 We don’t know why Abraham continues to move away from Canaan, the land the Lord promises to him, but he moves back to the Negev again. The end of chapter 21 tells us that this is the land of the Philistines. Once the disputes with King Abimelech are resolved, Abraham settles down and plants a Tamarisk tree. Of all the things that ha...  Read More

Do you think that I like to see wicked people die?, says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.Ezekiel 18:23 Genesis 17-18 A point of contention of atheists, is the prevalence of suffering in the world and genocide recorded in the Bible. Why would God encourage, assist, orchestrate, or allow whole populations of people to be annihilated? Does God en...  Read More

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.Genesis 17:1 Genesis 17-18 “When Abram was ninety-nine years old…” Ninety-nine! Abram was old. Even by cultural standards of that time, he was old. Twenty-four years have passed since Abram received the call to move to this previously unknown land. Thirteen years has pas...  Read More

Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your power; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.Genesis 16:6 Genesis 16 Genesis chapter 16 is messy. As Pastor Eric would say, “This is the first case of baby-momma drama in the Bible.” And trust us, there is more to come. Really, who needs TV when you have the Bible? Now, let’s look at the dra...  Read More

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”Genesis 15:1 Genesis 15 At first glance, we might wonder why God tells Abram not to be afraid. Abram had just emerged victorious from a battle, and he had received a blessing from a priest of God. These events would typically stir feelings of triumph, not fear. But God knows the deepest parts of our hearts—He understands our fears...  Read More

When Abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner, he assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan. Genesis 14:14 Genesis 14 In Genesis 14 we learn about the first ever war in the world! Apparently, this war has been named amongst bible scholars as the “War of Nine Kings”. After 12 years of being under the rule of king Kedorlaomer of Elam se...  Read More

“I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.”Genesis 13:6 Genesis 13 When God makes a promise, He keeps it. We see that in the first verses of Genesis 13. Abram has been blessed with riches of livestock, silver and gold. He has become so wealthy, along with his nephew Lot that the land could no longer hold the...  Read More

I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you,I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.Genesis 12:2 Genesis 12 Genesis 12: The Call Of AbramAbram is introduced to us in this chapter without much detail into his life outside of a brief genealogy we get from Genesis 11 and insight into his age and his wife's barren womb. Other than that we don’t know who he is or why God chose...  Read More

Who is this who obscures my counsel with ignorant words? Get ready to answer me like a man; when I question you, you will inform me.Job 38:2-3 Job 35-38 My wife knows I have this thing I do when the kids are supposed to be sleep at night time but are instead playing. I walk into their bedroom but make sure to open the door very suddenly as to startle them and let them know I mean what I'm about to...  Read More