Latest Thoughts of the Day

Matthew 1:15

1/21/2026

...and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan the father of Jacob,...

This Jacob was the grandfather of Joseph, the husband of Mary. We know that Joseph and Mary were poor people because they could only afford doves as the sacrifice when Jesus was presented to the Temple. And carpenter was certainly not an exalted societal position. But all these men were significant because they descended from Abraham and on the way down, through David. The Jews were keeping track of the line of David because they expected the Messiah to descend from that line. All the records were lost when Titus destroyed the Jewish Temple in seventy A.D. But they were not needed anymore because Jesus had come. Great numbers of Jews will receive their Messiah one day, but it will be the One who has already come. It will be Jesus.

Malachi 2:1

1/20/2026

And now this admonition is for you, O priests.

The book of Malachi begins with challenges to the people concerning their attitude of heart as they bring their offerings to God. If they had treated an earthly ruler with such disrespect they would have felt the force of his indignation. They have not taken seriously who God is and how their offerings come across as they offer them to Him. In 2:1 God turns His attention to the priests and challenges them concerning their part in generating the attitude that God detests in the people. If they continue dishonoring God, they will be despised by those from whom they sought esteem. We have seen the like in our day. As clergy have lost respect for God people have lost respect for them. Help us, Lord, --people and leaders alike—truly and from the heart to honor Jesus.

Haggai 1:15

1/19/2026

...on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

For sixteen years the people who had returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple puttered around with getting themselves settled and organizing their own affairs, as the work of God lay almost unbegun. Haggai was raised up with a special anointing of the Spirit of God to inspire a coalescence of attitudes among the people that moved them actually to give themselves as a people to accomplish their grand purpose. Haggai notes the day that all these things clicked. Do we have important projects and goals that never seem to get off the ground? Are we distracted from things we are called of God to do? May that same Holy Spirit stir us deeply to give ourselves to the work of God! May we mark the day the people coalesced to serve Jesus!

Zephaniah 1:15

1/18/2026

That day will be a day of wrath a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.

On the day that God holds men accountable for their sin and pours out His unrestrained wrath, we break our vocabulary with its description. Zephaniah gathers one picture after another to shake us with the picture of the most dreadful and complete destruction. Most judgments are tempered with relief and ebbing, lest we be absolutely and utterly swept away; and mercy glimmers around the edges of most every judgment of God. But Zephaniah takes away all relief and displays the wrath of God trembling before us. King Josiah as a young man took this seriously, and instituted a national cleansing and return to God. May men in our day recognize God’s wrath and flee to Jesus!

Habakkuk 1:15

1/17/2026

The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and he rejoices and is glad.

Habakkuk thinks that he is pleading his case against the Babylonian invaders by simply reminding God how wicked and ruthless they are. Surely God will not allow such a nation to exercise power over His dear people! Of course, Habakkuk is quite wrong in this regard. God does use a fierce and wicked nation like a stick to discipline His people, and He does break the stick when He finishes with it. Habakkuk will stand on the rampart and wait for God’s answer, and God will answer him. God will complete the work needed in human history to bring into this world His Son. His plan is far greater than Habakkuk can conceive. God’s mind is on Jesus.

Nahum 1:15

1/16/2026

Look, there upon the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who procaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Juday, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed.

Nahum and Isaiah were contemporaries who speak a similar phrase, but may be referring to different enemies. They will both live to see the decimation of the Assyrian army by the Angel of the Lord. Isaiah may be looking ahead to the final destruction of Babylon, which in Jeremiah’s day will arise to take God’s people into exile for seventy years, and then be destroyed by Persia. Both prophets rejoice in the prospect of victory for God’s people. Each in his way looks forward to the coming into the world of God’s Messiah, our Redeemer. In seven hundred years God will visit His people in the person of His Son, Jesus.

Micah 1:15

1/15/2026

I will bring a conqueror against you wo live in Meresha. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

In order to punish Judah for the sins of idolatry, God has determined to bring a powerful nation against her in such a way as to utterly humble her. The sparkling ones in national leadership will flee to the caves to hide—even the cave that David occupied while he was fleeing from Saul. From the sublime to the ridiculous! God will restore His people when they turn from their sins and seek His face. He keeps on warning, and He keeps on promising. May God help us to see our idolatry, to turn from it, and to draw near to God! Our weaknesses and failures derive from our neglect of our God. In everything we need Him. Help us, Lord, to draw near to Jesus!

Jonah 1:15

1/14/2026

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboare, and the sea grew calm.

The first part of the account is over. God has accomplished what He designed for the people on the boat. Were any of them impressed with the reality of the God of Israel? Were any drawn truly to entrust themselves to this God and to know the forgiveness that it granted to those who entrust their souls to Him? We are left to speculate concerning God’s further dealings with the individuals who were with Jonah on the boat, but we know that every individual mattered to Him. And we leave them in God’s hands as we follow His purposes for Jonah. Wonders have been left behind, and new wonders await as we follow on with God’s dealing in Jonah’s life. In the swirling mass, God Omnipotent is entirely in control. We look ahead to Jesus.