It is clear from Daniel two, verses 12 and 13, that Daniel and his friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), were considered part of this caste of men known as the Wise Men of Babylon who were to be advisors to the King on a great breadth of subjects, including religion, science, philosophy and politics.  They […]

I used to wonder why the angels did not appear to the “professional” religious folk in the Temple… why shepherds? That was the thought and question I circled my mental wagons around as I considered this aspect of the Incarnation. After wrestling with this, I have concluded that the shepherds were the PERFECT candidates for […]

Essay #2 on Christmas – Mary and Joseph. I focus on the humanity of Mary’s journey. What humanity, you might ask? Picture the scene. Mary is in her home in Nazareth when an angel—no ordinary angel, but Gabriel himself—appears. By the customs of the time, Mary was likely only fourteen to sixteen years old. Now, […]

Respect the Long Game In the midst of the Christmas devotionals this year, I have been asking myself repeatedly…  Apart from all of the interesting human and cultural details of the narratives surrounding Mary, the shepherds, and the Magi, what does this Christmas mean to me? I think perhaps the one sentence that comes to […]

What a happy ending to what could have been disastrous. I see a woman who was honest with herself, her neighbors, and God, confessing bitterness and no small amount of anger about what she had experienced. She had been taken away from her home and family by her husband to go to a land hostile […]

From loss and bitterness, Naomi’s family line is restored. From Ruth’s foreign origins, a future lineage is secured—one that would ultimately lead to King David and, generations later, to Jesus Christ, the ultimate Redeemer. The sandal, the witnesses, and the blessings together proclaim that redemption is not just a human arrangement but a divine act […]

  It is one thing to say something; it is another thing to do what you say you will do. Ruth followed up her words with proof of her new allegiance to Naomi and God – she went to live with Naomi in Bethlehem. This is possibly one of the more courageous acts in the […]

Remarkably, the person who so clearly embodies God’s love is a Moabite woman – she’s not Jewish. Ruth’s steadfast loyalty to Naomi and her wholehearted embrace of the God of Israel reveal her as a true daughter of Israel and a worthy ancestor of David. She is proof that entrance into God’s kingdom is not […]

There was an old saying I remember hearing years ago: “You never meet the devil when you’re going his way.” When you reach the point as a believer when you are no longer silent in your faith – when you begin to boldly proclaim your allegiance to the Prince of Peace, pointing to Him as […]

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (v.9). Having been emptied, cleansed, and filled with God’s righteousness, the disciple now becomes an instrument of His peace. The peacemaker carries God’s own heart into a fractured world, working to restore shalom—wholeness, harmony, and justice—between man and God. In doing so, […]