Why was the ark of God captured? The Philistines gave the credit to themselves, to their own military prowess or the power of their gods. After all, they knew that the God of the Israelites was real, and that He had sent all sorts of devastating plagues on the Egyptians…

Corruption in the Church anywhere can easily cause people to lose faith in the Church everywhere. Every time a priest molests an altar boy or a preacher leaves his wife to run off with the church secretary, you can hear folks say, “Well, that’s what all those preachers are like…

Corruption among religious leaders is nothing new. From the days of Eli’s sons to today, pastors and priests continue to take more than they should from the offering plate (verse 14) or even get caught up in sexual sin (verse 22). And just as Eli’s sons rejected what the Law…

If you had just been given your heart’s greatest desire, how would you pray? Wouldn’t you thank God for the particular blessing you had received? On the other hand, if you had just performed some great service for the Lord, how would you pray? Wouldn’t you be tempted to point…

Have you ever been in an impossible situation, faced with a problem completely beyond your control? Maybe you’ve been praying for a job, or a better way to make ends meet. Maybe you’ve prayed for a loved one to be healed, or to be released from an addiction. Hannah would…

Hallelujah! That’s an ancient Hebrew word that has entered our English vocabulary, and it means, “Praise the Lord.” But this psalm doesn’t just begin and end with this summons. No, it summarizes so much of what the entire psalter tells us about the worship of God, and thus forms a…

Can the psalmist be serious? Should God’s people really worship Him by bringing vengeance and executing judgment upon the unbelieving rulers and nations around us (verses 7-9)? This sounds more like the sort of thing that modern jihadists or medieval crusaders did. So are we supposed to follow their example,…

Why have Americans’ political disagreements recently become so strident? It’s not just because our debts have increased to the point where all of us can’t have everything we want. And it’s not just because our moral and ethical standards have diverged to the point where they have become mutually exclusive….

It’s easy for success to go to your head, isn’t it? It’s easy to pat yourself on the back and take the credit for all your achievements. David certainly could have done that. As a shepherd, he protected his flock from all sorts of wild animals (I Samuel 17:34-36). As…

When crying out for God to help you, do you ever stop to wonder why He should? After all, David admits that in God’s sight, “no man living is righteous” (verse 2). And so when his enemies persecuted him (verse 3), even when his heart and spirit were overwhelmed and…