Ecclesiastes 11:2 “Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster might come upon the land.” Observation: In this and surrounding verses, Solomon presses me to be liberal to the poor, generous in meeting the needs of others. Verse 1 tells me...

Psalm 20:3a “May He remember all your sacrifices.” Observation: Psalm 20 opens as a prayer for David. We aren’t told who is doing the praying. It may be priests who regularly surrounded David, or perhaps family and friends. But their prayers were the sort of thing I...

Genesis 4:7 “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Observation: God here addresses Cain, who had become “very angry” with God because God...

Genesis 2:3b “on it (the seventh day) He rested from all His work.” Observation: In six days, God had unleashed unimaginable creative powers. Things inanimate that had never before existed…earth and sky, dry land and seas, stars sufficient to fill the eternally...

Genesis 15:6 “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Observation: The Lord in verse 1 had come to Abram to assure him that “I…am your very great reward.” Abram’s response was to ask how that was possible since Abram had no heir. When God...

Genesis 12:1 “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’” Observation: The family into which Abram was born had already done one leaving. Genesis 11:31 says that Abram’s father Terah...

Genesis 11:2 “…they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.” Observation: This is how the story of the tower of Babel is introduced. The previous verse reveals that the whole world had one language and a common speech. This is reasonable, given that the setting is...

Genesis 12:16 “Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.” Observation: God had supernaturally led Abram to migrate to Canaan with his entire household. As famine there became severe, Abram decided on his own to...

Genesis 14:13 “…he was living in Sodom.” Observation: Abram and his nephew Lot had come to an amicable parting once it was apparent that their holdings were too vast for them to live near one another. Large herds needed expansive lands, so Lot had chosen to occupy the...

Genesis 9:22 “Ham…saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.” Observation: Genesis 9:19 states that from Noah’s three sons “came the people who were scattered across the earth.” Along with their wives, each had experienced God’s deliverance through...