Daily Bible Devotionals
written by
Pastor Steve Wiggins
Daily Bible Devotionals
Deuteronomy 30
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Deuteronomy 30. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Deuteronomy 23
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Deuteronomy 23. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Deuteronomy 16
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Deuteronomy 16. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Deuteronomy 9
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Deuteronomy 9. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Deuteronomy 2
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Deuteronomy 2. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Numbers 31
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Numbers 31. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Numbers 24
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Numbers 24. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Numbers 17
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Numbers 17. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Numbers 10
Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Numbers 10. Click the links below to watch or listen now!
Psalm 50
“Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver: Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” Psalm 50:22-23 (NKJV)
The cultural era in which we live rejects established institutions and moral absolutes. If it has a place for ‘god,’ it is not the God of the Bible. The god this generation establishes is a god of love without judgment. This being the case, many so-called “believers” are rejecting the notion of a literal hell, a real place where real people who do not receive the real gospel will really go. To them, Jesus is the ultimate pacifist. Perhaps they simply ignore that Scripture says He made a whip and drove buyers and sellers from the Temple complex!
Today’s passage focuses on the Messiah and reminds us of a God of judgment and grace with limits. He says, “Consider, lest I tear you to pieces.” God communicates His desire to commune with His people while at the same time declaring a certain judgment if they do not repent. This is the same picture we get of Messiah Jesus from the gospels.
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all His angels are with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. The people of every nation will be gathered in front of Him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right but the goats on His left.” Matthew 25:31-33 (NKJV)
So, we have a picture of a God who will judge unrepentant sinners righteously yet will show salvation to those who “order their conduct” (repent). Notice this same message being preached by John the Baptist before Jesus’ public ministry began.
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:7-12 (NKJV)
But shortly, Jesus would arrive, whose Hebrew Name, “Yeshua” means “Salvation.”
“‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’” Matthew 1:20b-21 (NKJV)
Psalm 49
“This is the way of those who are foolish, and of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah. Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lives he blesses himself (For men will praise you when you do well for yourself), he, shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” Psalm 49:13-20 (NKJV)
In early 2016, Republican political outsider Donald Trump began amassing power. One by one, he took down establishment “shoe-in” candidates. His style was brash and unpredictable. His campaign slogan was simple: “Make America Great Again.” On an election night that stunned the nation, Trump won.
Donald Trump’s presidential victory was primarily because Americans were tired of politicians. They believed a billionaire (the man whose book “The Art Of The Deal” was a best-seller) could make us prosperous again. Time would tell whether Trump would bring back financial & military prosperity to the nation through shrewd business deals. Sadly, many Americans don’t read the Bible. If they did, they would have gleaned wisdom from today’s psalm entitled “Confidence of the Foolish .”Remember, God does not look at the outward appearance; He judges the heart.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV)
Based on today’s psalm, ask yourself what good it is for a nation to become financially & militarily prosperous yet lose its soul.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV)
Our nation should trust the Lord and, specifically, place its faith in the Messiah Jesus. Only He can redeem our souls “from the power of the grave.”
“If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:9-12 (NKJV)
Psalm 47
“Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted.” Psalm 47:1-9 (NKJV)
When we read, “Clap your hands, all you peoples…” we must remember that the psalmist is not speaking exclusively to folks within hearing distance, listening to the song. Different than when we go to a concert and the singer exhorts the crowd to clap along. For example, no singer at a concert in Memphis expects people in China to clap along. But that is exactly the intent of the psalmist here in Psalm 47. He is writing a song, not for the people, but for the PEOPLES…all people, everywhere. Why? Because God is not the creator of just the Jewish people. He is the creator of the whole earth! And there is inclusion with respect to worship. Even though the cultures are separated by geographical boundaries, God calls all men everywhere to worship Him! It is not an exclusively New Testament idea, but we see it articulated by Paul in the book of Acts, God’s heart for the Nations.
“Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “For we are also His offspring.” Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.’ And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, ‘We will hear you again on this matter.’ So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Acts 17:22-34 (NKJV)
Psalm 46
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. - Selah” Psalm 46:10-11 (NKJV)
Today’s psalm is subtitled “A Song For Alamoth.” That Hebrew word is a plural for “alma,” which means “virgin/young girl.” It is a song written to be sung by a choir of young girls. So, what can we learn from that? Quite a bit!
First, at a glance, in a Biblical worship sense, it appears that men dominated the landscape of Old Testament Jewish worship. Today’s psalm indicates that corporate worship for Biblical Israel was not an all-male event with women passively standing by. Women participated as well. At times, the spotlight was on the ladies, with songs written specifically for women to present to the congregation.
Second, the imagery is feminine.
“There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. - Selah” Psalm 46:4-7 (NKJV)
And lastly, the message of the psalm specifically resonates with a woman’s core spiritual and emotional needs. While men tend to need to be reassured of their significance, women typically express that feeling secure is atop their core needs. Can’t you just picture this psalm being presented by a choir of young girls declaring that their security does not come from their personal beauty or from the man they may someday marry? It must have had a profound ministry impact, not only on women in attendance but also on the men who were seeking a woman of God who had her priorities firmly aligned with God’s Word, His plan, and purpose!
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. - Selah” Psalm 46:1-3 (NKJV)
The imagery of today’s psalm reminds me of Jesus’ words, contrasting how wise and foolish men build their houses. Wind and rain (difficult seasons) beat against all men’s houses, but the home built on the secure foundation of God endures.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matthew 7:24-25 (NKJV)
Psalm 45
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions. All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house; so the King will greatly desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, worship Him.” Psalm 45:6-11 (NKJV)
Several years ago, while I was teaching Bible studies in coffeehouses around Southern California, a young man who was quite upset approached me. His rub was that I had taught how a particular Psalm was about the Messiah. He said, “The psalms don’t have anything to do with Jesus!” Short answer: he was wrong. Many of the psalms are about Messiah Jesus, and today’s psalm is directly attributed to Jesus by the New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews.
“But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’” Hebrews 1:8-9 (NKJV)
The fact that the psalmist addresses Messiah as “O God” is supporting evidence (like Isaiah 9:6 and Micah 5:2) of Messiah’s (Jesus’) deity and that He has existed forever. Furthermore, Psalm 45’s instruction of foreign “daughters” to “forget your own people also, and your father’s house” reminds us of the story of Ruth.
“Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.” Ruth 1:14-17 (NKJV)
God’s heart has always been for Gentiles to repent of pagan ways to follow Him.
“‘Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants - everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant - even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, ‘Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.’” Isaiah 56:6-8 (NKJV)
Psalm 44
“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. Arise for our help and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.” Psalm 44:20-26 (NKJV)
Today’s psalm is divided into three sections: past, present, and future. During a time of great distress, a small remnant in Judah has set their hearts toward revival. The psalm begins with God’s past faithfulness along with the admission that any past deliverance was solely the Lord’s doing and not their own. So, the psalmist does not petition the politicians, the merchants, or the army. He seeks the Lord, who fights on behalf of His own. He alone delivers! It is the same point the apostle Paul makes to the church in Rome, even quoting Psalm 44 to provide context for his faith.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV)
While the nation of Israel was being judged for having departed from God’s Word, the remnant of those who had returned to the Lord and committed to living according to His Word wondered if the Lord had noticed their repentance. They even asked if He was sleeping! It brings context to a New Testament account.
“But as they sailed He (Jesus) fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’” Luke 8:23-25 (NKJV)
Even if we feel God is asleep, He’s always in control. Rest and know that He’s got you!
Psalm 43
“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” Psalm 43:1-5 (NKJV)
You never know that God is all you need until God is all you have. It is one of the great lessons of the Psalms. Just as every Christian college Freshman away from home for the first time must learn to cope with the absence of familiar things and learn to rely on God, we must fight the urge to detach ourselves from (or skip past) the loneliness of the psalmists. They are speaking to each of us. We all feel alone and forsaken at times, but here in the Psalms, you can find comfort in both the brotherhood and the hope to overcome.
How should you respond if you find yourself in a situation where you are isolated and unjustly accused? Worse, what if you find yourself JUSTLY accused before God? That’s right. What if someone is casting accusations about you to God, and you know you have no defense because their facts are correct? Not only does that happen, but it is also happening against you in the heavenly realm right at this moment!
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.’” Revelation 12:10 (NKJV)
So, if Satan is accusing us day and night, who stands to vindicate us day and night?
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John2:1(NKJV)
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle - I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying - a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” 1 Timothy 2:5-7 (NKJV)
Jesus paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. We find hope in the psalms and can go to the altar with “exceeding joy,” not because we will be found innocent of the accusations against us, but precisely because we are GUILTY of the accusations, yet Jesus himself has delivered us! (Zechariah 3:3-4)
Psalm 42
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’ When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42:1-5 (NKJV)
You may not guess by looking at me today, but I used to be a college athlete. I recall those long cross-country workouts, seven or eight miles from my dorm room, thirsting for a drink of water! That memory of long-distance race training is how I picture the deer of the Ein Gedi, whose life depended on finding a random stream in the desert. It is also an excellent word picture of how we should seek the Lord, not as a RESOURCE for living, but as THE SOURCE of life. Jesus used the same image.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)
Exactly what is the psalmist thirsting for? God! But what aspect of God does he want? His protection? His prosperity? No, it is His proximity, His presence. More specifically, going to the temple and worshipping with others. The psalmist sought the presence of the Lord within the community of believers, the “multitude.”
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25 (NKJV)
The psalmist attended the temple at the appointed feasts: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) & Sukkot (Festival of Booths), but now his sin has forced him to stop. Many followers of Jesus become convinced that their sin separates them from the godly community. Satan whispers discouragement and counsels against approaching God. It is how the enemy isolates us from God’s merciful forgiveness and our rejoining the community of believers.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)
God is faithful and just to forgive those who ask. Experience His blessing again!
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, “This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”’” Numbers 6:22-26 (NKJV)
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