Latest Thoughts of the Day

Nahum 3:19

3/23/2026

Nothing can heal your wound; Your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you claps his hands at your fall, for who has not felt you endless cruelty?

Nahum has the privilege of announcing the utter defeat of a powerful terrorist nation that has spread its cruelty to every other nation. In its overwhelming push to dominate, cruelty has been a chief weapon for this evil regime. People have been terrified before the battles even began. They were invincible until God was ready to deal with them, and when God began to move they began to collapse. 186,000 Assyrian troops had been slain by the angel of death sent against them as they assembled around Jerusalem. The commander went home in disgrace and was soon assassinated. Lord, Your judgment is awesome. Thank you that You chose to have mercy upon us. For us You sent Jesus.

Micah 7:19

3/22/2026

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depth of the sea.

A true believer, no matter how bad he has been, cannot but say this. If a believer sins, God will chastise him, perhaps with a chastisement that is severe. A believer may pass through physical suffering, financial disaster, relationship dissolution, personal pain and permanent disability, but he will never pass beyond the boundary of God’s love; for God’s love is not a result of any of his works. God loves him because He loves him. Lord, grant us the grace that will keep us from the path of disobedience so that we will not need Your chastening hand. But thank You, that even when we fall, You will have compassion on us and rescue us, casting our sin into the sea because of Jesus.

Jonah 3:2

3/21/2026

Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.

Dealing with Jonah’s refusal to obey God’s command has been a very complicated distraction, but when we get back to ground zero, the command is exactly the same. Go to Nineveh (which God calls a “great” city) and declare its utter destruction in forty days. Militarily and culturally and socially Nineveh was the hub of civilization, something like calling out in Lincoln Center. It was not even a command to repent. Repentance was an idea that came to the minds of the leaders and caught on with the people. Jonah’s message did not include repentance because God had not specifically included it and Jonah did not personally want to see it. But repentance was in God’s mind. Mercy is never far from the mind of the Almighty, because always He remembers Jesus.

Obadiah 19

3/20/2026

People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields pf Ephraim and Samaria

In Acts 17 God says that He has determined the exact time and place for everyone who lives on His earth. Here, almost six hundred years before Luke writes, God is declaring to whom He will give the land forever taken from the people of Edom. He will not just take Edom out—He will replace them with people He has chosen. God finally will judge. It will be final and complete. Real estate will change hands. But God will take what we own and give it to someone else, too. God judges all men and removes them. Jesus has taken our judgment and we are transferred to a better land. We are deeply thankful for Jesus.

Amos 8:10

3/19/2026

I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and end like a bitter day.

Rejoicing and weeping are from the Lord. The very things we expected to give us happiness can be the source of deepest pain, and the grief we thought would kill us can fill our hearts with joy. God gives us perspective. Our verse does not say that God will take away our comfortable things and give us bitter ones in their place. It says that the response we hope to get from the things we prepared can be the very opposite of what we planned for them to produce. Lord help us walk steady in joy or pain because of our relationship with Jesus.

Joel 3:19

3/18/2026

But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

Vindication from our God and His punishment of our enemies is a theme that occurs time and again in the scripture. Very often there is political or military cruelty to the Jewish people, and it is clear that God takes vengeance on those who abuse them. But the promise of vindication shines bright for the spiritual children of Abraham. We are thankful that when we sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One. And He is the propitiation for our sins. We are acquitted before the bar of judgment because our debt is paid in full, and none can now lay a charge against God’s elect. Nothing changes God’s determination to punish the guilty. Thank God for Jesus!

Hosea 4:19

3/17/2026

A whirlwind will sweep them away and their sacrifices will bring them shame,

Israel, under the name of Ephraim here, has rushed into enthusiastic worship of the false gods of the land. God threatens utter destruction that makes all their false worship of false gods to be an embarrassment. In the context, God warns Judah not to follow their example. God is able to pick them up and remove them like a tornado lifts and destroys everything in its wake. And such will be the case for those who abandon God and seek refuge and strength elsewhere. But God does not stop pleading. His judgment will last until they respond in repentance and faith. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Let them look ahead to the Savior God is promising in the person of His Son! God moves history toward the coming of Jesus.

Daniel 11:19

3/16/2026

After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country, but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more.

Daniel is given a vision of a powerful king who will arise in the north with what appears to be invincible power. He hardly know which way to turn, he is so successful. But the tide turns. His ambitious new venture does not succeed, his “insolence is turned back”, he tries to retreat to his home base, but stumbles and falls and is no more. We are not sure who this king is and where to place him historically. But we see God’s tremendous power to utterly humble the one who makes everybody on earth tremble. God is able to turn the tide. We have seen this in history many times, O Lord. We marvel at Your mighty power and we worship Your Son, Jesus.