Latest Thoughts of the Day

Song of Songs 4:8

7/23/2026

"Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest f Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lion's dens and the mountain haunts of the leopards."

As the bridegroom woos his beloved, he characterizes her former life as high and secluded, but lonely and dangerous. “Come down with me to safety and community and fellowship with those who love God.” He will go on to speak of his special love and affection for her person and the desire to have her as his own. The Bridegroom’s words of tender love have moved our hearts to come down from our lofty superiority and surrender our beloved seclusion. We are amazed that He has loved us and we willingly give ourselves to be the possession of our Lord. We are honored by Your love, Lord Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 6:6

7/22/2026

--even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

Solomon is contrasting existence and non-existence and saying that the latter is superior to even a very long life if all you have is hassle and stress. He gives himself two options and concludes that they equal one another in meaninglessness. Let us leave him alone and let him think. Solomon will reason himself out of most of his nonsense and ultimately resolve the issue with “Fear God and keep His commandments.” We would all get there if we did not detain ourselves with details of our existence. God has put eternity in our hearts and at the very center we long to know Him. Remarkable resources will be wasted as many of us work at resisting the call to our souls of Jesus.

Proverbs 16:17

7/20/2026

The highway of the upright avoids evil; he who guards his way guards his soul.

“Be careful, little feet, where you go”. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time has ended in tragedy for many, and being there is a matter of choice. May the Lord help us to guard our way! Why do we want to go there? What is the good we seek? Whose influence draws us there? How is the Devil trying to use this to destroy us? God can use personal disaster to correct and teach me, but He would prefer to use tender and gentle means. A lot depends on me. Help me today, Lord, to avoid evil. Help me to guard my soul. The easiest and most comfortable way for You to do this is to send Your Spirit to keep me close to Yourself. Keep me close to Jesus.

Psalm 75:5

7/19/2026

do not lift your horns against heaven; do not speak with an outstretched neck.

In the last stanza of this poem Asaph happily declares his personal agreement with the word of God in this psalm. God challenges men and women, boys and girls to humble themselves in His presence. Don’t shake your fist to God, don’t steel yourself to get your own way. Repent! Surrender! God determines who shall be exalted and who shall be humbled, who shall win and who shall lose. Our place is to humble ourselves and receive the place and portion He has assigned for us. Asaph happily agrees and volunteers to help humble the proud and exalt the righteous. In light of this challenge we look to our Lord. He did not think equality with God a things to be gripped, but humbled Himself, taking the place of a servant. This was Jesus.

Job 21:17

7/18/2026

"Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allows in His anger?"

Job’s friends must be deeply shocked to hear him talk this way. One is supposed to take God’s side in every argument and try always to get God off the hook, as it were. Job is unabashedly pointing out that God usually does not punish the wicked in this life. We feel like He ought to—but He doesn’t. God deals a heavy blow to the believer and then gives him grace to rise to the occasion. Job battles with cynicism, but he is tired of hypocrisy. Job is like us. Or like our Savior when He asked,”Why have you forsaken Me?” God’s greatest work in us is done as He helps us deal with injustice. Then we can be most like Jesus.

Esther 5:7

7/17/2026

Esther replied, "My petition is this..."

We are made to wait for Esther’s answer, and we wonder why. What about the vibes in this interchange made waiting until tomorrow better? What did Esther perceive in the looks between the men, or what background information did she have in mind, or what arrangements needed to be made before she ought to reveal her request? The king and Haman must have been wondering the same things as they went along with Esther’s request. Whatever it was, the Lord had presented it to Esther and she followed His lead. We can see why God waited. We can see the part that the building of a gallows would have. We can see the pinnacle of pride to which Haman must come. Esther just minded the Lord. Help us to mind You, Lord, the way we always see in Jesus.

Nehemiah 6:10

7/16/2026

One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the Temple, and let us close the Temple doors by night because men are coming to kill you--by night they are coming to kill you."

Shemaiah is a false prophet who is trying to discredit Nehemiah by getting him to meet secretly in a room in the temple. Non-Levites were forbidden by the Law of Moses to enter the private areas of the Temple. If Nehemiah had done so, his enemies would use the occasion to discredit the leadership of Nehemiah. Shemaiah has invented an assassination plot to frighten Nehemiah into complying with the plan. The Lord Himself had enemies who tried to trick Him into sin. Nehemiah stood firm, even like our Lord Jesus.