Author: Dave

Ultimately: Destined for Holiness

Monday, October 12, 2026

We have to ask this question, why did God create man in the first place? Why are we here? Why does God bother to set man on this planet? Well, we notice in Genesis 3:2 the following words, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which he had created and made.”

Now, you would think that if the sixth day is the pinnacle of this seven-day period of creation; that if the sixth day is the ultimate day of creation, the day where the crowning act of glory is brought to pass with the creation of man in God’s own image, that that would be the day that God would bless and hallow and sanctify. But that’s not where the Old Testament places the accent. The blessing, the consecration, the hallowing takes place on the seventh day.

Now, what does that mean? …

Read the full text and listen at Ligonier Ministries: Destined for Holiness

Sources & attribution

Daily Devotional: Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

Monday, October 12, 2026

Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

Reflection

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Read that command again this morning, because if you’re anything like me, it’s hard to obey. Stillness doesn’t come naturally to a heart that’s been trained by anxiety to keep moving, keep fixing, keep controlling. We tell ourselves that if we just manage hard enough, worry enough, plan enough, we can hold our little world together. But God’s call to stillness is really a call to remember who’s actually holding it together, and it isn’t us.

The psalm doesn’t invite stillness as some kind of spiritual self-help technique. It’s rooted in a flood of promises just before it: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, so we will not fear though the earth gives way. Stillness is possible only because God is sovereign. We can rest our grip because he never loosens his.

Here’s the grace in this: God doesn’t wait for us to get calm before he’s willing to be our God. He’s already enthroned, already exalted, already ruling over the nations and over your Tuesday-sized troubles, whether you feel still or not. Your peace doesn’t create his sovereignty. His sovereignty is what makes your peace possible.

So today, when your hands want to grab the wheel again, remember Christ has already secured everything that ultimately matters. Rest isn’t earned. It’s given.

Lord, quiet my striving heart. Help me know you, not just know about you, so I can finally be still.

Sources & attribution

Devotional from Morning Selah.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Attributes of God — Creator

Monday, October 12, 2026

Definition

God is the sovereign originator and maker of all things, bringing the universe and everything in it into existence out of nothing by His powerful word. He alone possesses the authority and power to create, and all creation displays His glory and depends entirely upon Him.

Old Testament Support

Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 40:28 — “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

New Testament Support

Colossians 1:16 — “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
Revelation 4:11 — “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Theological Implications

God’s identity as Creator establishes His absolute authority over all creation and distinguishes Him from all false gods. Through Christ, the eternal Word, God spoke all things into being ex nihilo (out of nothing), demonstrating both His unlimited power and sovereign purpose. Creation reveals God’s glory and wisdom, calling all humanity to worship Him alone.

Recognizing God as Creator transforms how believers view themselves and the world around them. We are His creatures, accountable to Him and dependent upon Him for every breath. This truth humbles human pride, fuels worship and gratitude, and reminds us that our lives have divine purpose, designed to glorify the One who made us.

Prayer

Lord, in the beginning You spoke, and out of nothing the heavens and the earth came to be. I stand in awe before You, for there is no power like Yours, no word like Your word, no wisdom like Yours that stretched out the skies and set the stars in their places. You are the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, and You do not grow weary or faint. My mind cannot search out Your understanding, yet my heart delights to try.

I worship You, Jesus, through whom all things were created, things visible and invisible, thrones and powers and dominions, all things made through You and for You. Every mountain, every breath of wind, every beat of my heart exists because You willed it. You are not a distant maker who walked away from Your work; You uphold all things, and You hold me too, even now, in this moment of prayer.

I confess that I am Your creature, formed by Your hand, dependent on You for every single breath. My pride has no place here. I did not make myself, and I cannot sustain myself. Every good thing in my life flows from Your generous, creative hand. Teach me to hold my days loosely and my gratitude tightly, remembering that I was made for Your glory, not my own.

Worthy are You, my Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created. I join the song of heaven with my small voice today, declaring that You alone are worthy. Let my life, Your handiwork, reflect back the beauty of the One who made me.

Creator God, keep me in wonder. Keep me humble. Keep me worshiping You all my days.

Daily Devotional: 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

Sunday, October 11, 2026

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Reflection

Fear has a way of settling into the corners of your heart that you didn’t even know were empty. It shows up in the quiet moments when you’re tempted to think the worst about your future, your health, your children, your marriage, or your own usefulness in God’s kingdom. And once it moves in, it tends to rearrange everything. It makes you small. It makes you guarded. It makes you forget who holds you.

Paul wrote these words to Timothy, a young pastor who was tempted to shrink back, to let fear write the story of his ministry instead of grace. And Paul reminds him (and us) that the Spirit God gives his children is not a trembling, timid spirit. It is a spirit of power, because our strength was never meant to come from ourselves. It is a spirit of love, because fear is self-focused, but grace turns us outward toward others. It is a spirit of self-control, because panic never leads to wisdom, but the Spirit’s steady presence does.

Here’s the gospel comfort in this: your calling was never sustained by your own courage. It is sustained by the indwelling presence of God himself. He has not abandoned you to face today’s uncertainties alone. Christ’s finished work secures your standing, and his Spirit supplies what you lack.

So when fear whispers that you’re not enough, remember: you were never meant to be. He is.

Lord, when fear rises, remind me again that your Spirit lives in me, and that is more than enough for today.

Sources & attribution

Devotional from Morning Selah.

Attributes of God — Unfathomable

Sunday, October 11, 2026

Definition

God’s unfathomable nature means His being, wisdom, and ways are infinitely beyond human comprehension and cannot be fully measured or understood by finite minds. While God reveals Himself truly in Scripture, His essence and purposes remain ultimately beyond exhaustive human knowledge.

Old Testament Support

Job 11:7-8 — “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?”
Psalm 145:3 — “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”

New Testament Support

Romans 11:33 — “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
Ephesians 3:8 — “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

Theological Implications

God’s unfathomable nature is foundational to biblical faith, distinguishing the infinite Creator from His finite creatures. Scripture consistently affirms that while God has revealed Himself sufficiently for salvation and godliness, His thoughts transcend our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:9). This attribute humbles human pride and calls believers to worship rather than comprehensive understanding.

Recognizing God’s unfathomable nature produces appropriate humility in the Christian life, preventing presumption and cultivating reverent trust. When facing suffering or unanswered questions, believers rest not in their ability to explain God’s ways but in His revealed character and promises. This attribute invites continuous wonder, deeper study of Scripture, and confidence that our infinite God is wiser than our finite understanding.

Prayer

Lord, You are higher than my thoughts can climb and deeper than my mind can reach. I ask with Job, who can find the limits of the Almighty? And I find none, for You have no edges, no boundaries, no place where You run out. Your greatness is unsearchable, and still You let me praise it. I come to You not to master You with my understanding, but to marvel at the One I will never finish discovering.

Oh, the depth of the riches of Your wisdom and knowledge. Your judgments are unsearchable and Your ways past tracing out. I confess how small my mind is before You, how quickly I reach the end of what I can grasp. Yet this does not frighten me, it humbles me and makes me glad, because I was never meant to hold You in my hands. I was meant to kneel before You.

Thank You that though You are unfathomable, You are not unknown. You have spoken, You have revealed Yourself in Christ, and You have given me, least of all Your saints, the unsearchable riches of Your Son. I do not need to comprehend every depth of Your being to trust the goodness I have already seen in Jesus.

When life brings questions I cannot answer and sorrows I cannot explain, let me rest not in my explanations but in Your character. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts, Your ways higher than my ways, and that is my comfort, not my complaint. I would rather have an infinite God I cannot fully understand than a small one I could.

So I worship You, unsearchable Lord. Keep me humble, keep me hungry for Your Word, and keep me in wonder all my days.

Our Daily Bread: A Sound Mind

Saturday, October 10, 2026

As a player for the San Francisco Giants baseball team, Drew Robinson knew mental highs and lows. Whenever injuries demoted him to the Giants’ minor league affiliate, he’d fall into a depressive state. Will I be replaced? Will I recover? At home, watching teammates playing on TV, “I just felt completely isolated, alienated and lonely.” After a suicide attempt during the pandemic, he shared his troubles with the Giants’ team psychologist. He got so much help he urged other players to come forth with their mental struggles. Now he’s the Giants’ full-time mental health advocate, urging physically tough players to seek strong mental health too. After surviving his worst, Robinson believes his purpose is to encourage others.

The Bible regards a sound mind as a wise goal but also a gift from a loving God. In song, the prophet Isaiah said of Him, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (26:3 nlt). …

Read the full text and listen at Our Daily Bread Ministries: A Sound Mind

Sources & attribution

Daily Devotional: Psalm 40:1–3 (ESV)

Saturday, October 10, 2026

Psalm 40:1–3 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.

Reflection

You probably don’t like the word “waited.” It feels passive, like something you endure rather than something you do. But here is David, pulled out of a slimy pit, standing on solid rock, and he tells us how it happened: he waited. Not in resignation, but in hope. He cried out, and he trusted that God would eventually turn to him. That kind of waiting takes everything you’ve got.

Maybe you’re in the pit right now. Maybe it’s grief, or a relationship in ruins, or a sin pattern you can’t seem to break, or just the slow grind of a hard season that won’t let up. You cry out and it feels like heaven is silent. Here’s the good news: God’s timing is not God’s absence. He heard David’s cry, but he didn’t necessarily rescue him instantly. There was waiting involved. And in that waiting, something was being worked in David that only waiting could produce.

Here’s what anchors this psalm, and what anchors you this morning: the solid rock under David’s feet is a shadow of the Rock who would come. Jesus himself was plunged into the ultimate miry pit, the pit of our sin and God’s wrath, so that you could be set on solid ground forever. Your feet are secure not because your waiting was perfect, but because his suffering was complete.

So keep crying out. Keep waiting. He hears you, and he will give you a new song.

Lord, when I’m in the pit, remind me that you are near, even in the silence. Thank you for Christ, my solid Rock.

Sources & attribution

Devotional from Morning Selah.

Attributes of God — Unsearchable

Saturday, October 10, 2026

Definition

God’s unsearchable nature refers to the infinite depth and incomprehensibility of His being, wisdom, and ways that transcend human capacity to fully investigate or understand. While God reveals Himself truly in Scripture, the fullness of His perfections remains beyond exhaustive human comprehension.

Old Testament Support

Job 11:7 — “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”
Psalm 145:3 — “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”

New Testament Support

Theological Implications

God’s unsearchable nature humbles us before His infinite majesty and reminds us that He is the Creator while we are creatures with finite minds. This attribute does not mean God is unknowable, but rather that He cannot be known exhaustively—we can know Him truly through His revelation in Christ and Scripture, but never completely. The unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, power, and riches should evoke wonder and worship rather than frustration.

Recognizing God’s unsearchable nature protects us from intellectual pride and fosters humble dependence on divine revelation. When we encounter mysteries in Scripture or providence that exceed our understanding, we can rest in the knowledge that God’s ways are higher than ours. This attribute also assures us that we will never exhaust the glories of knowing God—eternity itself will be an endless exploration of His infinite perfections.

Prayer

O Lord, my God, how great You are, and how far beyond my reach. I stand before You like a child before the ocean, able to wade into the shallows of Your truth but never able to touch the far shore of who You are. Job asked if anyone could find out the deep things of God, and I confess I cannot. Your greatness, O Lord, is unsearchable, and my heart delights that it is so. I do not want a god small enough for me to master. I want You, infinite and high above all my thoughts.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge that are in You. Your judgments are unsearchable, Your ways past finding out. I have tried, at times, to trace the reasons behind Your providence, to demand explanations for what You have allowed in my life, and I have come up empty every time. Yet I do not grieve this. I worship You for it. You are not a puzzle I can solve but a glory I can adore forever.

Thank You that though I cannot know You exhaustively, I can know You truly. You have spoken in Scripture, You have shown Yourself in Christ, and in Him I have found unsearchable riches, grace lavished on one as unworthy as me. I did not earn this knowing. You gave it freely, opening my eyes to see even a glimmer of Your beauty.

Keep me humble, Lord. When mysteries arise that I cannot untangle, when Your providence confuses me, let me rest in who You are rather than demand what I cannot grasp. Guard me from the pride that thinks my small mind could ever contain Your vastness.

And Lord, I rejoice that eternity will not be long enough to exhaust You. I will spend forever discovering more of Your glory, and even then I will have only begun. How great You are. How unsearchable. How worthy of all my worship, now and without end.

Daily Devotional: Psalm 34:18 (ESV)

Friday, October 9, 2026

Psalm 34:18 (ESV)

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

Reflection

You probably came into today’s reading carrying something. Maybe it’s a sorrow you haven’t told anyone about, a disappointment that still stings, or a weariness of soul that makes even small tasks feel heavy. If that’s you, this verse was written for you.

Notice where God chooses to dwell. He is near to the brokenhearted. Not distant observers of other people’s pain, but the ones whose hearts feel shattered, whose spirits have been crushed under the weight of loss, failure, or grief. This is startling grace. We tend to think God draws near to the strong, the composed, the spiritually impressive. But the Bible tells a different story. God is irresistibly drawn to weakness, because weakness is where His strength gets to shine.

Here’s the good news embedded in this promise: your brokenness is not a barrier to God’s presence, it’s an invitation to it. You don’t have to clean yourself up before you come to Him. You don’t have to pretend your heart isn’t crushed. He meets you in the actual condition you’re in, not the condition you wish you were in.

And He doesn’t just draw near, He saves. He doesn’t leave you in your brokenness; He enters it to rescue you, to bind up wounds, to breathe hope into despair. This is the gospel in miniature: a God who comes close to the broken and saves them through Christ.

Lord, meet me in my brokenness today, and let me rest in Your nearness rather than hide from it.

Sources & attribution

Devotional from Morning Selah.

Attributes of God — All-sufficient

Friday, October 9, 2026

Definition

God’s all-sufficiency (often called ‘aseity’) means He is completely self-existent and self-sustaining, needing nothing outside Himself to exist or be complete. He alone possesses all resources necessary to fulfill His purposes and meet every need of His creation.

Old Testament Support

Exodus 3:14 — “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”‘”
Psalm 50:12 — “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”

New Testament Support

Acts 17:25 — “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 — “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

Theological Implications

God’s all-sufficiency establishes Him as the fountain from which all existence flows, owing His being to no one and lacking nothing. Unlike creation, which depends utterly on Him for continuation in existence, God is eternally complete in Himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing in perfect, self-sustaining communion. This attribute grounds our worship, for we bring nothing to God that He needs, yet He graciously invites us into relationship with Him.

Because God is all-sufficient, believers can trust Him completely to supply every spiritual and physical need according to His perfect wisdom. Our sufficiency is not found in our own resources, talents, or efforts, but in Christ alone who makes God’s infinite resources available to us. This truth liberates us from self-reliance and anxiety, anchoring our hope in the One who needs nothing yet generously gives everything.

Prayer

I AM WHO I AM. You spoke that name to Moses from the fire, and it still burns in my heart today, for You alone are the One who simply is. You owe Your being to no one. You draw Your life from no source outside Yourself. Before anything existed, You were already complete, Father, Son, and Spirit, in perfect communion, needing nothing, lacking nothing. I bow before You not because You require my worship to be whole, but because You are worthy of it, and because in Your great kindness You have invited me into the fullness that is Yours alone.

Lord, every animal in the forest is Yours, every hill, every breath I take is a gift from Your hand. I bring You nothing that fills a need in You. I have no resource that adds to Your glory. And yet You stoop to call me Yours. This humbles me. You are not served by human hands, as though You lacked anything, for You Yourself give life and breath and everything to me. What do I have that I did not receive from You?

Because You are all-sufficient, I can lay down my anxious striving. My worth was never meant to rest on my own strength, my talents, or my cleverness. My sufficiency is found in Christ alone, who opens to me the treasury of Your infinite grace. You are able to make all grace abound to me, so that having all I need, in every season, I can abound in every good work You set before me.

So I worship You, Fountain of all being, Source of all life, the One who needs nothing yet gives everything. Let my heart rest fully in Your sufficiency, not my own. Let my anxious self-reliance melt before Your all-sufficient glory. I AM has spoken, and I stand in awe, grateful and satisfied in You alone.