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How awful it is when the church is led by people who do not believe. How awful when priests use their position to exploit and abuse those they are meant to serve. Tragically it’s nothing new. In yesterday’s reading from 1 Samuel 2 we read what the priests were up to, and today we find…

Hannah suffered for years with the pain of childlessness. It was so hard, everyone else seemed to be having babies, and then there were the insensitive comments by others. There was no anniversary to grieve, but a continual emptiness. What made it even harder was that her husband had taken a second wife and she…

Ruth had been left a childless widow, she was in a foreign land and had sought the protection of the LORD. Our Psalm (written by one of her great grandchildren!) for today tells us “delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4) and “those who wait…

Naomi had troubles that you would not call light and momentary. She had lost her husband and 2 sons, faced famine and returned to Israel empty and bitter. Empty, apart from her wonderful daughter-in-law Ruth who is loyally clinging to her. And there is another ray of sunshine, it was the time of the barley…

Judges 19-21 is no laughing matter. It is men behaving badly in some of the worst ways. They were dark days. The beginning and end of the reading tell us what the problem was – Israel had no king, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes, (19:1, 21:25). Doing right in their…

Where do you look for strength? Do you sometimes think, if I could just have that, then I’d be ok? In Judges 17-18 we see the folly of idolatry. An idol is anything we turn or trust in apart from God. It can be a good thing that then takes God’s place and becomes harmful…

He’s almost a superhero with his super strength. I’m sure many young boys are impressed by him, it’s hard not to be, as we hear of him grabbing a donkey’s jawbone and defeating God’s enemies! And yet, Samson shows us how flawed human leaders are. It wasn’t so much that power went to his head…

“Keep me as the apple of your eye” – what an amazing thing for David to pray to God (Psalm 17:8). What does it mean? It’s an expression Moses had prayed about God’s love for His people Israel (Deuteronomy 32:10). To be the apple of God’s eye surely means God has His eye on you…

God had been so clear. He had picked a weak man from a weak clan. He had reduced the army down to 300 to show the victory had come from the Lord and not from their strength and yet something seemed to go to Gideon’s head. I wonder if we get a hint of it…

God’s people had turned away from Him again, so God handed them over to the Canaanites who oppressed them for 20 years, then God gave them rescue through very unlikely rescuer and means, a woman and a tent peg (see Judges 4-5). Surely God’s people would learn not to turn away from Him after this?…