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 […]

 I can see where Paul got some of his ideas about our sin and the salvation God offers to us. This Psalm is chock full of great material on the subject of forgiveness, our iniquity, our transgressions etc. It’s all here. Here is the video link: Psalm 32 – Blessed is the Man… Audio links […]

This Psalm has so many powerful moments in it. While reading it, memories flooded in, causing me to remember a very terrible period in my life and also remembering how God delivered me from it. The audio links i.e. Spotify and iTunes are to the right, and the video link is here: Psalms 33 Here […]

The Psalmist has gone through a time when he thought he was going to die, and apparently, God was silent. What did the Psalmist do? Here is the video link: Psalm 30… What to do when God is silent The audio links are to the right. Here is the transcript used for today’s podcast: Psalm […]

It’s interesting that the Psalmist uses the violent aspects of nature to represent the voice of God – thunder, lightning, stormy seas, earthquakes, and tornados. Is there a subliminal message here? The video link is here: Psalm 29 – the Voice of God The audio links are to the right… i.e. Spotify and iTunes Here […]

Sometimes God takes me on a tangent when I read His Word. I will read a passage and it triggers something in me that causes me to chase down a thought or two that may or may not be related to the passage at hand. Here is the video link: Psalm 27:4-13 The audio links […]

“Strike me down, Darth, and I will become more powerful than you can imagine.” What do these words uttered by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars Episode IV) have to do with these verses in Psalm 27? The fictional character, Obi-Wan, understood the bigger picture where Darth Vader, his former pupil now turned adversary, was concerned only […]

What does David mean when he claims to be “Blameless”? Hint: He is not saying he is sinless. This Psalm was a real eye-opener for me and took me three days to complete. Not gonna lie… David’s claim of being “blameless” caught my eye. Because I KNOW David was NOT sinless.  I took my time […]

In this Psalm, David implores God to teach him. In this Psalm David points to the fact that Who the teacher is impacts the content the teacher brings into your classroom. Here is the video link: Psalm 25 The audio podcast links are to the right (Spotify and iTunes). Below is the transcript I worked […]

I hesitated to do a devotional on this classic Psalm. There is so much stuff out there about this Shepherd’s Psalm, that I considered NOT doing a devotional on this Psalm. But …. God showed up and granted me one of the most rewarding times as I went through these verses. Here is the Video […]

Whereas Psalm 21 was titled “Outside Looking In” written from the viewpoint of the author/observer observing the King’s actions and reactions to a coming battle, Psalm 22 gives us the “Inside Looking Out” point of view i.e. the kings own point of view. I doubt if they are talking about the same conflict – but […]

The writer of Psalm 21 is someone I have chosen to call “The Observer”. He is recording his thoughts as he observes the king and the king’s relationship with God. I again refer to that period in my life when I was unemployed and facing disaster. What I was feeling and saying in the privacy […]

When reading this Psalm I chuckled, thinking that it was incredible that over 2500 years ago, someone actually prayed for ME! This Psalm is a song or prayer for the king as he goes out to battle. I am in a battle every day against the enemy of my soul and the principle in this […]

One of the things I used to forget is that the apostles and the teachers of the 1st century weren’t making things up when they taught and when they wrote to the various church communities scattered around the Mediterranean. Their source of information for their sermons and their writings was the Torah –  what we […]

Many times we are all brag until faced with reality. That was me when I was a child in Alaska – I used to brag about how I would respond if I ever saw a bear in the wild. All those visions of myself vanished when a bear actually showed up. That is also the […]

Genuine faith isn’t demonstrated until all hope appears lost. This is an incredible Psalm, with a TON of meaning wrapped up in just a few verses. Here is the video link: Psalm 13 – Genuine Faith The audio links for Spotify and iTunes are to the right. Here is the transcript used for today’s podcast. […]

This is the most political you will ever see me get. But after watching our two Presidential candidates speak recently, Psalm 12 took on a very contemporary feel. Here is the video link: Psalm 12 The audio links for Spotify and iTunes are to the right. Here is the transcript used for today’s podcast: Psalm […]

It’s amazing what a difference in perspective can look like. David’s counselors see an overwhelming enemy. David sees God. David’s counselors want him to retreat to higher ground. David, apparently, sees things differently, because he knows God, and sees God’s hand  in his current situation. The Psalm doesn’t giver us David’s final decision, but it […]

I am sure the Psalmist didn’t have schoolyard bullies in mind when he wrote this… But as I read these words, they dredged up memories from nearly 60 years ago when I was terrorized by schoolyard bullies. Maybe David was talking about wicked men like Goliath. But where he saw Goliath, I saw my bullies. […]

Another favorite stop on our Roadtrip through the Psalms. Here is the video link: O Lord, our Lord! Audio links are to the right, and the transcript is below. Psalm 8… O Lord our Lord Introduction Just because I am a skeptic doesn’t mean I don’t believe something when it happens right under my nose. […]

To make this a bit more relatable, consider the external context of this Psalm. This is the last Psalm in a series of three (3,4,5) that occur within the events surrounding Absalom’s usurping of his father David’s throne. David has been betrayed not only by his son Absalom, but by one of his closest advisors […]

In these three verses, David describes the enemies of God. Personally, I find similarities between David’s words and what Paul says in Romans 3 and 6 when he describes the nonbelievers. An old preacher once told me that the “Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” I […]

In these opening verses I see two types of prayer spoken to. The formal, perhaps memorized prayers and the “off the cuff” spontaneous prayers in a time of crisis. Here is the video link: Prayers The Audio links to Spotify and iTunes are to the right. Here is the transcript used to record this podcast. […]

Psalm 3 comes out of the backdrop of David’s failure as a father and a king. Absalom his son has successfully completed a four year plot to usurp the throne. David is fleeing Jerusalem with almost everyone in Israel against him. He has failed as a father and a king – and is facing the […]

The Psalmist uses the picture of harvesting grain to describe what the ultimate end of the wicked is. The video link is here: Psalm 1:4-6… The Wicked The audio links are to the right (Spotify and iTunes). Below is the transcript used for  today’s podcast: Psalm 1:4-6 The Wicked 4  Not so the wicked! They […]

What do the tree, water, and fruit mean? What does the “prosperity” spoken of in this verse look like? I discuss all of this in this very powerful verse. When you “delight in the Law of the Lord” and “meditate day and night” on it, true Biblical prosperity is the result. Here is the video […]

Give a listen as I share exactly WHY Psalm 1 is my favorite Psalm and why my favorite verse is verse 2. My view towards the Bible has totally changed because of this Psalm.   Here is the video link: Delighting and Meditating The audio links to Spotify and iTunes are to the right, and […]

Welcome to the new series “Road Trip!” as I walk through my favorite Psalms. Today it is verse 1 of my absolute FAVORITE Psalm. In fact, this Psalm is the primary Scripture passage that kickstarted the Podcasts I have been doing for the last 3 + years! In this first verse, the Psalmist contrasts the […]

Get set for another journey… through my favorite Psalms. Here is the video of this introduction: My Favorite Psalms Introduction There is no “audio-only” for this Introduction, as this introduction will be repeated on the first episode of the series – Psalm 1. Here is the transcript for the short video: Introduction “I’ll let you […]