Year: 2022
December 2022
- Devotional Ruth 4: A Servant is Born
Christmas is a time when we reflect on God’s goodness to us in sending Jesus, our redeemer, to dwell with us. Jesus, though our…
- Devotional Ruth 3: Seeking a Redeemer
Life is not always black and white. We live in a world where through naivety or bad advice, we sometimes find ourselves in morally…
- Devotional Ruth 2: Kindness and Generosity
In Ruth 2, God starts to show Naomi his covenant love and goodness through that same covenant love shown to Ruth. A series of…
- Devotional Ruth 1:6-22 – Responses to Ruin
When bad things happen, there are three ways as professing Christians we can react. Firstly, we can abandon the faith and go to some…
November 2022
- Devotional Ruth 1:1-5: The Depths of Disaster and Despair
Sometimes a simple decision sets off a chain of events in our lives which can lead to disaster. This is especially the case with…
- Devotional Judges 21: Nobody Righteous
The final chapter of Judges shows a situation where nobody in Israel comes out smelling like roses. After nearly destroying one tribe of Israel…
- Devotional Judges 20: Judgement Among God’s People
Judges 20 shows the response of Israel to the appalling events of the previous chapter in Gibeah. The nation largely united to judge and…
- Devotional Judges 19: Depravity Amongst God’s People
We live in a terrible, sinful world. Sad and terrible things happen to people because of the sinful, callous, and selfish desires of other…
October 2022
- Devotional Judges 17-18: Right in Their Own Eyes
There is a Golden Age Fallacy; the idea that there was a time in our past better than now. Partly it is driven by…
- Devotional Judges 16:23-31: The Vindication of Samson
The Church is often closest to victory in God when it appears closest to defeat. The Gospel advanced like wildfire in the Roman Empire,…
- Devotional Judges 16:1-22: Samson’s Downfall
Sometimes in life, a person and the events that occur to them ends up being a picture of a group they belong to. In…
- Devotional Judges 15: Foxes, Fire, and Jawbones
Judges 15 continues the story of conflict between Samson and the Philistines. However, this conflict is driven not by ideology or devotion to God,…
September 2022
- Devotional Judges 14: Secrets and Agendas
In Judges 14, we are introduced to three people or groups with secrets and agendas. Samson has an agenda and secrets. The Philistines have…
- Devotional Judges 13: A Saviour From Birth
Samson, the final judge in the Book of Judges, grew up knowing he had a special destiny. In Judges 13, God’s dramatic power to…
- Devotional Judges 12:8-15: Power, Wealth, and Passing Mention
People like to gather power and wealth because it makes them notable, but in the end most will just become a passing mention at…
- Devotional Judges 12:1-7: Pride and Prejudice
statement is. Likewise, prejudice against those different to us is an ever present truth in this fallen world. In this passage, we see the…
- Devotional Judges 11:29-40: Jephthah’s Tragic Vow
e all say or do foolish things, or make stupid promises. Sometimes we wish we had stopped rebelling against God earlier, or paid more…
August 2022
- Devotional Judges 11:12-28: Knowing Your History
In our second look at Jephthah’s role as a Judge over Israel, we see the importance of history in the conflict between Israel and…
- Devotional Judges 10:17-11:11: Rejected Saviour
How often in life do we reject the help or advice of someone until it is past time that we need it? As a…
- Devotional Judges 10:6-16: Apostasy and Compassion
In Judges 10, we are exposed to the further decline of Israel’s attitude to God, and their increased apostasy. In the face of stricter…
- Devotional Judges 10:1-5: Majoring On Two Minors
Book of Judges is not like your standard history book. While it covers the high and low points of the Judges period of Israel’s…
July 2022
- Devotional Judges 9:22-57: Downfall of the Wrong Leader
God does not always strike with lightning or fire and brimstone. Sometimes, God judges through decline and self-destruction. Sometimes, God uses evil to destroy…
- Devotional Judges 8:33-9:21 – The Wrong Kind of King
Our National Anthem asks God (somewhat ironically perhaps, due to our pagan nature) to defend New Zealand. It includes a request to guard our…
- Devotional Judges 8:22-32: From Strength to Weakness
It is hard to stay strong. Harder still when you were never particularly strong to begin with, and when those around you are weak.…
- Devotional Judges 8:1-21: Weakness Through Status And Security
Why do people seek status and security? Usually, because it places you in a position of strength. With status, you can influence others for…
- Devotional Judges 7:16-25: Strength Becomes Weakness
There is truth to the saying that your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. In the areas you are most confident, pride…
June 2022
- Devotional Judges 7:1-15: Strength Through Weakness
or invading other countries who have something you would like. Weakness is not a virtue, or a place from which victory is expected. Those…
- Devotional Judges 6:33-40 – Strength and Weakness
The Christian walk can feel like a constant conflict between strength and weakness. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we step out in faith and…
- Devotional Judges 6:25-32: Cutting Down Idols
groups. Whether they are an ideology, a practice, or a physical object, idols are very precious to us. When they are shown to be…
- Devotional Judges 6:11-24: God Calls Gideon
Gideon in his weakness, commissions Gideon with a promise, and assures Gideon with a sign. Gideon realises the heights of God’s holiness and the…
May 2022
- Devotional Judges 6:1-10: Locusts and Learnings
You would think that after God’s mighty act of salvation, we would stay on the straight and narrow. Sadly, this is not what happens.…
- Devotional Judges 5: Praising God’s Deliverance
Singing praises to God was important throughout history, and in Judges 5 we see another song which sings praises to God for who he…
- Devotional Judges 4: Unlikely Vessels of Victory
Judges in Chapter 4 God further demonstrates his use of unusual means to save his people; two women. Where the men are weak, fearful,…
- Devotional Judges 3:31 The Curious Case of Shamgar
, what he did, and what effect it had on Israel. He only rates a one verse mention. But he is still important, because…
April 2022
- Devotional Judges 3:12-30: Comical Relief
Judges 3 contains a story which holds plenty of comical relief, along with an element of personal gorishness which surprises and shocks our sensibilities.…
- Devotional Judges 3:7-11: God Dramatically Saves Through Boring
In Judges there are exciting salvation stories, and boring ones. The first example, that of God’s saving Israel through Othniel, falls into the boring…
- Devotional Judges 2:14-3:6: Judgement And Deliverance
Jesus’ death and resurrection is the hinge of history. It is the point all of history builds towards, and it is the point of…
- Devotional Judges 2:6-13: Forgetfulness to Failure
children will. After Joshua died, that is what happened to Israel. They forgot God. They did not follow him. They failed. This passage emphasises…
- Devotional Judges 2:1-5: Repentance, Not Weeping
In the first chapter of Judges, we have seen sin and disobedience in Israel’s life. Despite God’s command to drive out the pagan nations…
March 2022
- Devotional Judges 1:22-36 – Tolerance for Sin
While in the south of Israel the military campaigns were largely successful, because they followed God’s leadership, the north of Israel was not as…
- Devotional Judges 1:1-21: Trusting in Divine Leadership
The Book of Judges chronicles the leadership of Israel after Joshua’s death, showing how when they sought to rule themselves, they descended into immorality,…
- Devotional Exodus 40: When God’s Glory Arrived
One year to the day after God led the Israelites out of Egypt, God instructed Moses to “erect the tabernacle of the tent of…
- Devotional Exodus 39:32-43: Quality Assurance
If quality assurance is something that’s essential for a mere road, then it should not surprise us that the dwelling-place of God with his…
February 2022
- Devotional Exodus 39:1-31: A Forgiving Outfit
Holy Place? By a Forgiving Outfit. An outfit which demonstrated the forgiveness he received, the forgiveness he sought on behalf of his people, and…
- Devotional Exodus 38: Landscape Design
The outside of God’s House was also carefully landscaped to reveal what is important to God and teach Israel what they needed to know…
- Devotional Exodus 37:1-29: Furnishing God’s House
In the previous chapter, we saw how the Israelites began constructing the tabernacle which was God’s dwelling-place with them on earth, pointing to the…
