Deus Misereatur

  Once, while I was stationed at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, I had to take up a position on top of the elementary school on the air base. It was nighttime, super cold, windy, and in the freezing rain. My job was to be on the lookout for bandits who would cut the wire fence around the base, sneak in, and steal whatever they could lay their hands on to go sell on the black market. Well, thankfully those days for me are long gone, but being on the lookout for little goodies, rather than thieves, is what I enjoy doing. I’m especially on the watch for resources to aid Christian families in drawing nearer to God. So, I was pleased when Crossway allowed me to obtain and check out “The Biggest Story Family Devotional”. This 432-page clothbound hardback is put together by Crossway, Douglas Sean O’Donnell, senior VP of Bible editorial at Crossway, and illustrated by Don Clark, cofounder of Invisible Creature. It has 104 stories (52 from the Old Testament and 52 from the New) that guide moms, ...

  This Sunday evening I will be tackling Daniel 10:1-11:2. It’s a striking scene, one that leaves a reader with lots of unanswered questions, but also gives rich encouragement. In this scene, Daniel has spent 21 days fasting, mourning, and praying. Suddenly, at the end of those long days of prayer and sorrow, a man appears in a vision to Daniel. He tells Daniel some very important, behind-the-scenes details.   First, he notifies Daniel that his coming, the vision he will rehearse, and the things he is doing is because Daniel prayed: “ Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words ” (10:12). So, God’s response to Daniel was already on the way from the first day Daniel began praying. And now, 21 days into his praying, he receives God’s response. Twenty-one days! Our timing and sense of urgency and God’s timing and sense of urgency are truly o...

O God of our salvation, who visits the earth and waters it; who greatly enriches it; who provides us grain, waters the furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth; who crowns the year with your bounty and makes the pastures of the wilderness overflow so that the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, and they shout and sing together for joy (Psalm 65:9-13). We join all creation remembering your rich goodness, and rejoicing! God of the generations, thank you for our forbearers in the faith who have gone before us, the examples they have left us, and the benefit of their wisdom they have bequeathed to us. Just as we honor our fathers and mothers, may we always honor our fathers and mothers in the faith, even with all of their shortcomings and sins. Brace and bolster your people who are presently walking in the path of martyrdom and maltreatment. Bring reformation, ...