Category: Daily Readings

September 30 (Daily reading: Malachi) The Lord declared through Malachi: “I have loved you.” He illustrated this by contrasting his feelings toward Esau and Jacob: “I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau” (1:2-3). When Esau despised his birthright (Gen. 25:34), he chose going his own way instead of following the way God had…

September 29 (Daily reading: Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126) The theme of joy continues in today’s reading. When the time came for the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah organized a joyful celebration. He brought Levites “to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs” (12:27).…

September 28 (Daily reading: Nehemiah 8-10) We can learn from the way God’s people responded to His word. When Ezra opened the book, the people’s first response was respect; they stood and lifted their hands, then “bowed low and worshiped the LORD.” Their next response was weeping: “All the people were weeping when they heard…

September 27 (Daily reading: Nehemiah 6-7) The opposition to the wall project illustrates how Satan opposes God’s work and exposes him as “a liar and the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44). Nehemiah’s response to his enemies guides us as we resist our enemy, Satan. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were the principal leaders of the opposition.…

September 26 (Daily reading: Nehemiah 1-5, NIV) Nehemiah had not joined the first returnees to Jerusalem. He had become King Artaxerxes’s cupbearer, a position of great honor. When Nehemiah heard about the condition of the walls around Jerusalem, he grieved, fasted, and prayed. God gave him an opportunity to ask the king for permission to…

September 25 (Daily reading: Ezra 7-10) Fifty-eight years passed between the dedication of the temple in Ezra 6 and the return of Ezra to Jerusalem in Ezra 7. Ezra was a scribe, an expert in the law, and “the good hand of his God was upon him” (7:9). He brought with him a letter from…

September 24 (Daily reading: Esther 6-10) When King Xerxes received Esther and offered her up to half of his kingdom, the door was opened for turning the tables on Haman’s proposed genocide of the Jews. First, in God’s timing, Haman was forced to honor Mordecai because Mordecai had revealed a plot to assassinate the king.…

September 23 (Daily reading: Esther 1-5) The book of Esther is named after a beautiful Jewish girl who was chosen by the Persian king, Xerxes (Ahasuerus), to become his queen. His magnificent palace occupied two and a half acres in the Persian capital of Susa. The book was written, author unknown, after the return of…

September 22 (Daily reading: Zechariah 10-14) In the final chapters of Zechariah, God revealed future events. Because Israel was wandering like sheep without a shepherd, He would restore them. “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have had compassion…

September 21 (Daily reading: Zechariah 5-9) Zechariah’s prophecies came at a critical time for those who were working on the temple. A second letter had been written to King Darius, and it is not clear how long it took him to reply. There must have been high tension between those who were working faithfully on…