Isaiah 51:1-16 | “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.” Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”

Born at 34 weeks, he was 3 pounds of miracle. Tubes and wires extended from his diminutive body to monitor his steady progress. His vision was restricted by a soft gauze eye mask to protect his eyes from the bilirubin light. He often became frustrated with all the equipment restricting his movement. But when his dad reached through the small opening in the incubator to gently cup his son’s tiny head in his large hand, the mighty warrior in baby form grew still and drifted off to sleep.

Scripture tells us, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” and “his intentions can never be shaken” (Proverbs 16:9; Psalm 33:11). But in a world where options seem to extend infinitely, we become convinced of our own infallibility. Constructing and deconstructing, we smooth out the roads of our lives as best as possible, and every turn in the journey leads back to our own abilities. Plans and backup plans, our ultimate goal becomes the elimination of unpredictability. We forget God’s sovereignty—until a crisis arises.

An untimely birth, an unexpected death, any number of changes we didn’t anticipate remind us of our frailty (Isaiah 51:6). We are not in control.

Like a premature infant—possessing what’s needed to thrive but not yet grown—we bear the image of what we will one day become. But while we wait in hope—often unseeing and confused—God reaches out to us in our deepest moments of need and cups us in His hand (Isaiah 51:12,16). Here, as we wait, we learn to rest in hope because “the Lord will work out his plans for [our lives]—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever” (Psalm 138:8; see also Isaiah 51:7-8,11). —Regina Franklin

MORE: Read Romans 8:10-28 and consider how we can experience a God-given, practical hope for what we can’t yet see.

NEXT: When did an event in your life seem premature? In what ways did God demonstrate His sustaining hope to you?

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics. We would like to thank Our Daily Bread Ministries for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://ourdailyjourney.org

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 | A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless. Extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart. The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

During the Middle Ages, some monks kept a skull on their desks to remind them of their mortality and eventual death. The bony paperweight was a vivid reminder that life is fleeting and that they needed to keep their priorities in line.

While the monks’ practice of staring at skulls and keeping their deaths ever before them seems depressing, both the psalmist and the teacher connect the practice of considering the fleeting nature of life with gaining true wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:4). The psalmist prayed, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (90:12). So does that mean we should be morbid and depressed all the time? No, the exact opposite!

The wisdom of remembering how little time we have on this earth enables us to love and cherish others and to be grateful for the moments we share with them (Ecclesiastes 7:2). Remembering our death can motivate us to celebrate life and to make good choices, to accept God’s plans and the things He allows to enter our lives (vv.13-14). Ideally, the practice of remembering the brevity of our lives will guide us in filtering out what’s important from what is not. It should drive us to Jesus and experiencing the abundant life He has provided to flow in and through us (John 10:10).

Have we been unwisely and perhaps ungratefully using our precious time on things that don’t really matter—that are “meaningless”? (Ecclesiastes 7:6). Instead, since we don’t know how many days we’ve been given, let’s ask ourselves, “What will we do with the life God has given us today?” For as James put into words, “[Our] life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:14). Now that’s perspective. —Marlena Graves

MORE: Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and consider what Moses said about life and death.

NEXT: What impact has the brevity of life been having on your priorities? How can thinking about death be good or bad?

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics. We would like to thank Our Daily Bread Ministries for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://ourdailyjourney.org

1 Kings 19:1-18 | Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The familiar darkness of clinical depression rolled over Leigh as she sat on the edge of the bed holding a revolver—tormenting voices urging her to pull the trigger. As a Christian wife and mom, she knew this picture was all wrong, but the consuming illness had clouded her mind. Apart from her husband and doctor, no one knew of the daily struggle she faced. Leigh slowly put the gun down, walked out the room, and chose to begin reaching out and sharing her story with others.

Following Elijah’s stunning victory over the prophets of Baal, Queen Jezebel threatened to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-2). Consumed by fear and disheartened at her words, he fled alone into the wilderness where he sat under a tree and begged the Lord to take his life. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life” (vv.3-4).

Elijah fell asleep, but an angel of God woke him, telling him to eat and drink. He did so, and then began walking for 40 days and nights to Mount Sinai (vv.5-9). God met with Elijah and told him to return through the wilderness, where He would anoint the future leaders (vv.15-16). The prophet had become depressed in his desperation and felt alone in his convictions, but God showed him that there were 7,000 others who had also remained faithful to Him (v.18).

When you’re at your wit’s end, spend time with God and have the courage to tell Him and others how you truly feel. Although Leigh continues to wrestle with dark thoughts, she has found comfort in other moms who also battle with depression. Together, they pray, hold each other accountable, and regularly remind themselves of God’s presence and promises. God doesn’t leave us alone. —Ruth O’Reilly-Smith

MORE: Read Deuteronomy 31:6 and consider what it reveals about God and His presence.

NEXT: Do you feel isolated and alone? Have the courage to be vulnerable with God and with godly people you trust. Know that you are not alone.

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics. We would like to thank Our Daily Bread Ministries for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://ourdailyjourney.org

Ruth 1:1-17 | In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

If there be any value in scaling the mountains, it is only that from them one can behold the plains.” —G.K. Chesterton

Those sentiments resonate. I’ve climbed some mountains during my lifetime—some real and some metaphorical. Pressing on ever higher can be hard and lead to suffering. But at the peak we can catch a view of what’s been hidden, a beauty that’s now made plain. There we can rest and experience a mysterious peace and joy, finding that we’ve been enriched and awakened by the journey.

Ruth didn’t see the jagged, foreboding ridge at first. Life was good. But then, after just 10 years of marriage, her husband and brother-in-law died (Ruth 1:4-5). A mountain of pain and disappointment shadowed her path. Living in a patriarchal society, she felt alone and vulnerable.

The journey up the side of her mountain had begun with grief. Then, because Ruth’s mother-in-law heard that the land of Judah was ripe with good crops—something that could help sustain them—Ruth left her family and homeland. Loss upon loss. A final, difficult rise in the path appeared: Naomi told Ruth and her sister-in-law to go back to Moab and not to follow her, for she was also a widow. Tears flowed as Naomi kissed the girls goodbye (v.9).

Ruth, however, stood tall on the mountain of pain and suddenly saw the “plains.” She saw what she should do—stay with Naomi and place her faith in God (v.16). The journey up the peak had led to a mountaintop experience of knowing and embracing the God who loved her.

Like Ruth, you too may be facing problems that loom like jagged peaks. Keep staying the course with your eyes on Christ. Soon you’ll “behold the plains” …the good God has planned for you. —Tom Felten

MORE: Read John 16:33 and see why we can experience peace even when mountains of pain come our way.

NEXT: What painful challenge are you facing right now? What “plain” of hope and goodness is God bringing into view?

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread. Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics. We would like to thank Our Daily Bread Ministries for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://ourdailyjourney.org

Leviticus 16:1-34 | The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel. “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the LORD commanded Moses.

A good friend broke my double bass—a large, expensive, stringed instrument used in orchestras and jazz bands. We were loading up the van before traveling to a gig and he carelessly set the bass down on an incline. The wind was blowing that night and the hollow, wooden instrument toppled, resulting in multiple breaks.

“I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed and assured me he’d find the money to fix it. He felt guilty and wanted to fix what he’d broken, but he couldn’t really afford the repairs. I couldn’t pay for them either, so my parents offered to have it mended. They paid a high cost for someone else’s mistake.

Leviticus 16 is about the Day of Atonement, an annual ceremony designed to cleanse the sins of the people of ancient Israel (vv.29-30). It was a day when goats were killed so that God’s people could know life (vv.15-17, 20-22). These animals died because sin, the people’s offenses against God, required the payment of death (10:1-3; Romans 6:23).

The same is true today. Sin still causes death, but Scripture reveals that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” and that Jesus’ blood is the “perfect sacrifice” for our sins (10:13; Hebrews 9:12-14). He’s paid the price for what we’ve broken (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Leviticus 16 is an easy chapter to overlook in our Scripture reading. It’s in the middle of a section of the Bible that can seem difficult to apply to our lives. But it’s also a glimpse into the work of God: He alone atones—pays the debt for our sins. It’s part of a theme that gets developed in the big story of the Bible: God is more powerful than death. Today, read Leviticus 16 with fresh eyes, and thank Jesus for your atonement. —Andy Rogers

MORE: Read Hebrews 9:1–10:18 alongside Leviticus 16 and consider the themes of atonement and sacrifice found throughout the Bible.

NEXT: Has anyone ever paid the cost of fixing something you’ve broken or destroyed? How does this experience help you better understand the atoning sacrifice of Jesus?

Devotional from YouVersion Bible App – Our Daily Bread.
Contact Pastor Rod Lindemann at RodL@TimothyLutheran.com on how to use the Bible App for additional readings and topics.
We would like to thank Our Daily Bread Ministries for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://ourdailyjourney.org