“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near” (Exodus 13:17 ESV). Why did God lead the Israelites the long way around to the Promised Land? He wanted to give them time to grow in their faith before facing warfare with
‘And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once’ (Matthew 21:19 ESV). The morning after Jesus had overturned the tables of the money changers
“The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13 ESV). The Lord instructed Moses to have each household choose a male
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1 ESV). This psalm of David begins with an announcement of God’s ownership of everything and everyone. David declared that since God had created all things, He therefore owned all things. This meant that David saw himself not
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1 ESV). David, the shepherd-king, knew how sheep trusted their shepherd with every need. As he considered his relationship with God, he wrote of his total dependence and contentment to the Lord as his shepherd. He said that having the Lord as his shepherd meant
“Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” (Exodus 4:12 ESV). God rebuked Moses for saying he couldn’t obey God’s call because he wasn’t an eloquent speaker. “Who has made man’s mouth?” God asked him. The Lord wanted to move Moses’ perspective from his own abilities
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1 ESV). Moses had spent the first 40 years of his life as an Egyptian prince. Now, he would spend
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV). After Simon confessed Jesus as the “Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus blessed him and gave him a new name, calling him, “Peter,” or
“Judah is a lion’s cub… The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet” (Genesis 49:9-10 ESV). When Jacob, whom God named Israel, was on his deathbed, he called each of his twelve sons to his bedside that he might bless them. The blessing he spoke over his fourth
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:18 ESV). The Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t follow the tradition of the elders by washing their hands before eating. He replied that it isn’t what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what