Daily Challenges Archive
“I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.”
With school starting soon, this seems like a fitting thought to ponder this morning. I live in a university town, and students are beginning to trickle back for a new semester. This verse speaks of sound teaching. I can’t help but ponder all the t...
“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart.”
This could come back to haunt me, but too many times lately I’ve looked at someone and tried really hard to remember their name. Sorry! Now, rather than test me, just say your name when you see me, and I’ll say, “I know.” The point is that my memo...
“He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,”
Success and protection. Two things God offers those who follow Him in this verse. In the business world, those are some pretty exciting promises. But in my family, I find them to be even more encouraging. Success, by God’s definition, often plays ...
“My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them.”
Along with counseling them to love Jesus and be kind, this would certainly rank high on the list of desires I have for my children and grandchildren to know and understand. If they—and really all of us—would learn to walk away from those who entic...
“Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!”
One of the saddest moments in my life occurred early in my ministry. I was working with teenagers and pursuing a strategy of praying for them. While talking with a ministry partner about it, he asked me if I had ever considered how many young peop...
“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!”
In the 15 or so years I’ve been doing these daily devotionals, I’m pretty sure I have only used this verse once—and that was during the years I went through every verse in Proverbs. I’ve always loved this verse. There is just so much in it. There ...
“Evildoers are snared by their own sin, but the righteous shout for joy and are glad.”
Is this verse encouraging us to celebrate when someone gets caught in their sin? Of course not. As a matter of fact, we should be brokenhearted when sin hurts or destroys someone else. The implication here is that those who avoid sin and live righ...
“When the righteous triumph, there is great elation; but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding.”
Over the years, I have seen, from the business world to the sports world to individual families, the difference that righteous or wicked leadership makes in the lives of those they lead. I’ve watched how people respond very differently depending o...
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
In the last two days, I’ve experienced this truth in some very poignant ways. Life is incredibly unpredictable. Transitions—whether involving life and death, careers, family, or any other adventure that comes with this thing we call life—seldom, i...
“Like the useless legs of one who is lame is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.”
I pause every time I read this verse, checking to make sure it doesn’t represent me. Hopefully, my time in Proverbs is not useless. In this chapter, Solomon spends much of his energy talking about how to handle challenging people. The lazy, the go...
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
I’m going to the memorial service of a friend today. Her husband is a close brother with whom I have worked side by side in ministry for a number of years. I love them both. I grieve with her husband as he ponders why God would take the love of hi...
“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
A number of years ago, I taught the career class at Auburn University. It was a fun experience, and I met some amazing students who were trying to figure out their journey. Many of them were wrestling with decisions about their major and their fut...
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