I Chronicles 4:9–10 tells us, “Jabez was more honorable than his brothers… Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!’ And God granted what he asked.” Have you ever tried to read through I Chronicles? The opening chapters feel endless—page after page of genealogies. Hundreds of names we can barely pronounce most belonging to people we know nothing about. Lives lived long ago, quiet and forgotten, leaving no obvious imprint on history. If their names had not been recorded there, they would have passed into complete obscurity. And then, suddenly, something changes. In the middle of all those names, Scripture pauses. One man ... Read More about When God Meets Us Where We Are

II Kings 24:10-13 – “And at that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzer king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged…and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the kings house…AS THE LORD HAD FORETOLD.”   Wow! This passage records one of the darkest moments in Judah’s history. Babylon’s armies marched on Jerusalem. The city was surrounded. Escape was impossible. And then, in a moment of national humiliation, King Jehoiachin did the unthinkable—he surrendered. Not just himself, but his mother, his household, his officials, and the leadership of ... Read More about What Looks Like Failure to Us Is Never Failure to God

II Kings 18:1–5 introduces Hezekiah with breathtaking praise: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD… He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.” That is not faint commendation. Scripture places Hezekiah in a category all his own. And for good reason. Even Judah’s “good” kings usually hedged their obedience. They tolerated the high places. They allowed idols to linger. They compromised just enough to keep the peace. But not Hezekiah. He tore the high places down. He cut down the Asherah poles. He smashed the sacred pillars. He even destroyed the bronze serpent Moses had made in the wilderness—an object once used by God, now being worshiped as a god itself. Nothing was ... Read More about Faithful God, Flawed King

Ben-hadad, king of Syria, lay gravely ill. Fearing death, he sent his most trusted official, Hazael, to Elisha—the man of God—with a single question: Will I recover? Elisha’s response was unsettlingly complex. He told Hazael to assure the king of recovery, yet in the same breath revealed a darker truth—the king would, in fact, die. Then Elisha did something no one expected: he wept. Why would a prophet of God break down in tears over the fate of an enemy king? The answer unfolds with terrifying clarity. II Kings 8:12–15 records the moment: “And Hazael said, ‘Why does my lord weep?’ He answered, ‘Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel…’” Elisha saw beyond the present moment. God had shown him the future—burned fortresses, slaughtered young men, ... Read More about When Trust Is All You Have Left

II Kings 4:43 “But his servant said, ‘How can I set this before a hundred men?’ So, he repeated, ‘give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, “they shall eat and have some left.” So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.” Has anyone ever broken a promise to you? Perhaps it was spoken with sincerity—maybe they even intended to keep it—but the promise went unfulfilled. How did that affect you? Disappointment? Distrust? A quiet fracture in the relationship? And if we are honest, we have been on the other side as well. We have made promises we could not—or would not—keep. And the greater the promise, the deeper the damage when it fails. Broken words erode confidence. Over time, they weaken relationships. That ... Read More about Something You Can Count On