Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 6—Verse 64So the people of Israel gave the Levites the cities with their pasturelands.When the Israelites took possession of the Promised Land, and the land was portioned out among the tribes, every tribe except Levi received an allotment of land. Was this a punishment to their tribe for some reason? Not at all. God required the other tribes to provide cities for...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 4--Verse 10Jabez called on the God of Israel The name Jabez means pain. Apparently, his mother wanted her son to have a constant reminder that he caused her pain on the day of his birth. How is that for a stigma!? “You cause pain.”“You make me sad.”“You will never bring joy to anyone’s life.” Most of us know about the devastating effects our words can have on a y...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 1 Chronicles 1--Verse 34Abraham fathered Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.Reading these genealogies is like a recap of all we’ve read this year. As you read, stop at the names you remember from past reading and reflect on their story. These first two chapters of 1 Chronicles remind me of learning about my own family history. As a kid, I loved hearing my grandparents’...  Read More

Today we strike out for the book of Chronicles. And although we are only midway in our annual reading (journey), we have almost covered the entire chronology of the Old Testament! As we will see, the time of the prophets takes place during the time of Kings/Chronicles.1 Chronicles is mainly a retelling of the life of David. And 2 Chronicles is a retelling of the story of Kings, but only David's de...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 24--Verse 2And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets.God always keeps His Word and sometimes He even brings calamity to people. This is a concept that is hard t...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 22--Verses 10-11 (NIV)Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.King Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. As he was working out payment for some workers, the Books of the Law were foun...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 20--Verse 17Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.King Hezekiah was dying and prayed for healing. God heard his prayer, promised to add fifteen years to his life and deliver Jerusalem from attack by Assyria. These promises ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 19—Verse 30And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.Most people go through times in life when they feel like they have been uprooted and misplaced, and are unfruitful. This happens to us as individuals, as families, sometimes as whole organizations or even nations. But those times are usually temporary. God c...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 17--Verse 18None was left but the tribe of Judah only. In chapter 17, the nation of Israel came to a complete and total collapse. Nothing was left, but the tribe of Judah only. And there will be a day when this world will look a lot like Israel. Completely devastated. God will have issued his warnings (as he did in verse 13), but sinful humanity is bent on its own way...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 14--Verse 4But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.In our passage we see kings that “did what was evil” and kings that “did what was right.” But, those doing right always had one downfall—letting the worship of false gods continue. The kings could have torn down the high places of false worship, but they ...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 12--Verse 2And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him.As I was reading, this verse stood out to me. It could have just said that Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and left it at that, but instead it chose to tell us he was instructed by Jehoida. This just brought me to think how nece...  Read More

Daily Devotional from 2 Kings 10--Verses 28-29 (CSB)Jehu eliminated Baal worship from Israel, but he did not turn away from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit—worshiping the gold calves that were in Bethel and Dan.Reading through 1 & 2 Kings is rough. The consistent downfall of each generation of kings (who led Israel into sin) is frustrating as a reader. We want to ye...  Read More