Author: Dave

Daily Scripture Reading – January 27, 2026

Exodus 4:1–6:12; Matthew 19:1–15; Psalm 17:1–5

Exodus 4:1–6:12
Moses struggles with fear and obedience, yet God remains patient and committed. Pharaoh’s resistance intensifies the hardship, testing Israel’s faith. God reassures His people of His covenant faithfulness.

Matthew 19:1–15
Jesus upholds God’s design for marriage and honors childlike faith. Entrance into the kingdom requires humility and trust. God values dependence over self-sufficiency.

Psalm 17:1–5
David appeals to God’s justice and protection. His confidence rests in God’s righteous care. Trust is anchored in God’s faithful character.

Together
God remains faithful amid resistance, doubt, and testing. He calls His people to humility, trust, and reliance on His promises. Faith grows as we rest in His righteous care.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 26, 2026

Exodus 1:1–3:22; Matthew 18:10–35; Psalm 16:1–11

Exodus 1:1–3:22
Israel multiplies under oppression as God’s promise continues. Moses encounters God in holiness and compassion at the burning bush. The Lord reveals Himself as the faithful deliverer who hears His people’s cries.

Matthew 18:10–35
Jesus teaches the value God places on the vulnerable and the lost. Forgiveness is essential, reflecting God’s mercy toward us. Kingdom life flows from grace received and extended.

Psalm 16:1–11
David expresses confident trust in the Lord as his refuge and joy. God is the source of life, guidance, and eternal hope. His presence brings fullness of joy.

Together
God reveals Himself as a compassionate deliverer and gracious forgiver. He draws near to the oppressed, values every soul, and offers joy in His presence. Trust deepens as His mercy is experienced and shared.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 25, 2026

Genesis 49:1–50:26; Matthew 17:14–18:9; Psalm 15:1–5

Genesis 49:1–50:26
Jacob blesses his sons, revealing both consequences and hope. Joseph responds to betrayal with forgiveness, affirming God’s good purposes. Faith looks forward, trusting God beyond one lifetime.

Matthew 17:14–18:9
Jesus highlights faith, humility, and seriousness about sin. True greatness is marked by dependence, not status. God calls His people to wholehearted trust and careful obedience.

Psalm 15:1–5
The psalm describes the character of those who dwell with the Lord. Integrity, truth, and faithfulness mark a life pleasing to God. Such a person stands secure.

Together
God values faithful hearts shaped by humility, forgiveness, and integrity. He works through generations and calls His people to reflect His holiness. Stability comes from walking closely with Him.

Lesson 16 Outline – Brett Cushing

  1. Assurances During God’s Apparent Absences
    1. Lesson focus: Esther 7–8 shows God’s providence amid His apparent absence, mirroring times when believers feel abandoned or “in exile” in their own lives (Esther 7–8).
    2. Apparent absence is a normal part of the Christian life, not a sign of abnormal or “bad” faith, but a common experience for followers of Jesus.
    3. Psalms of darkness and confusion (Psalm 88; Psalm 73; Psalm 42; Psalm 44; Psalm 13) are given to normalize and validate believers’ pain, questions, and struggle to keep believing when God feels distant.
    4. Big idea: During God’s inevitable apparent absences, believers need assurances that He is still present, still protecting and providing, and has provided Someone and prescribed helps to sustain their faith (Esther 7–8).
    5. Illustration: the “missing arms” college nap—limbs felt utterly absent yet were still there—parallels how God can feel absent while truly present and active, and the question becomes: how do we gain assurance of that reality?
  2. Assurance One: God Is Present with Us Somehow
    1. Feeling exiled and undeserving:
      1. Like Israel in exile, believers can feel that God is distant, unhappy, or disappointed because of their sinful desires and circumstances (Ezra–Esther context).
      2. Examples include job loss, medical crises such as cancer, chronic pain, financial strain, family issues, or simply a loss of desire for God, leading to the question, “Where are You, God?”
    2. God’s desire to dwell with His people:
      1. Esther 7–8 reveals that, even when God’s name is not mentioned, He is orchestrating everything providentially for His people’s deliverance (Esther 7–8).
      2. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s heart is to dwell with His people; even when they do not desire Him, He continues to desire them and takes initiative to be with them (Genesis 3:8; Revelation 21:3).
    3. Only seeing a sliver of God’s work:
      1. The Max Lucado “sliver” story (horse, wild horses, broken legs, spared from war) illustrates how people wrongly label events as “good” or “bad” based on limited perspective.
      2. Likewise, Esther’s story is a roller coaster of apparent blessings and curses, yet Scripture shows that God is working through the whole sequence, not just the sliver believers can see (Esther 2–8).
    4. Key truth: Even when God seems absent, His desire to be with His people and His providential care remain unchanged.
      1. Believers can have assurance that God is still present and still desires them, even when feelings and circumstances strongly suggest otherwise (Psalm 73:23–26).
      2. Esther 7–8 is given as part of Scripture to assure exiled and struggling believers that God is with them in their darkness and confusion (Psalm 88).
  3. Assurance Two: God Protects Us from Something and Provides Us with Something
    1. Protection and provision embedded in God’s commands:
      1. Throughout Scripture, God’s commandments carry a double purpose: protecting His people from something harmful and providing something good and life-giving (Deuteronomy 10:12–13).
      2. This pattern runs from Genesis to Revelation and continues in Esther’s context, where God is both protecting and providing even in exile.
    2. Examples of God’s protection and provision:
      1. Garden of Eden: Expelling Adam and Eve protects them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in sin, and God provides eternal life later through Christ, the promised offspring (Genesis 3:22–24; Genesis 3:15).
      2. Egypt and the first Exodus: God establishes Israel as His people, protecting them from surrounding nations and providing Himself as their King and a priestly vocation to bless the nations (Exodus 19:4–6).
      3. Sinai and the Law: The law protects from destructive practices and provides a framework for holy living, revealing God’s character while exposing sin (Exodus 20; Romans 7:7–12).
      4. Wilderness: God protects Israel from returning to Egypt and from their own self-sabotage, while providing manna, water, His presence, and a daily lesson in dependence (Exodus 16–17; Deuteronomy 8:2–3).
    3. Protection and provision in Esther’s Second Exodus:
      1. In Esther, God protects His people from their independence streak that led to exile by letting them feel the consequences of sin (exile) and by intervening to prevent their annihilation (Esther 3–8).
      2. He provides them with an impending incarnate Savior foreshadowed in the “second exodus” theme—pointing ahead to Christ’s exodus described at the Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah speak about His departure (Greek: exodus) that will bring salvation (Luke 9:30–31).
    4. Key truth: During apparent absences, God is still at work protecting His people from unseen dangers and providing deeper blessings than they can yet discern.
      1. Believers are called to trust that God’s commands and providential dealings are guarding them from something destructive and leading them toward something better (Romans 8:28).
      2. Esther 7–8 displays how God turns a path of destruction into a path of life through surprising, sovereign reversals (Esther 7–8).
  4. Assurance Three: God Has Provided Someone – Esther as a Type of Christ
    1. Seeing Jesus in Esther 7–8:
      1. Scripture ultimately points to Christ; Jesus taught that the Old Testament speaks about Him, so readers must look for Him even in Esther (Luke 24:25–27).
      2. In Esther 7–8, Esther functions as a Christ-figure, foreshadowing Jesus as the Messiah who leads His people out of the exile of sin.
    2. Esther’s threefold role:
      1. She willingly identifies with her people, revealing herself as a Jew and tying her fate to theirs (Esther 7:3–4).
      2. She embraces the prospect of death for her people, having already said, “If I perish, I perish,” and risking her life before the king (Esther 4:16; Esther 7:3–4).
      3. She intercedes repeatedly to the king on behalf of her people, pleading for their lives and seeking their deliverance (Esther 7:3–6; Esther 8:3–6).
    3. Reversal in Esther 7: exposure and execution of the enemy:
      1. Through Esther’s identification, willingness to die, and intercession, Haman’s hidden plot to destroy the Jews is exposed before the king (Esther 7:3–6).
      2. Haman is revealed as the true enemy of both the king and God’s people, and is executed on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:7–10).
      3. The vulnerable people of God, who seemed condemned, are exonerated, while the apparently secure Haman is condemned.
    4. Christ’s greater threefold role and the deeper reversal:
      1. Jesus identifies with humanity by taking on flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:14).
      2. He embraces and undergoes death for us, suffering once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
      3. He intercedes for believers at the right hand of God, continually representing them before the Father (Romans 8:34).
      4. Through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, the true enemy—human sin and the sinful heart—is exposed and judged, not merely external power structures (Matthew 5–7; Romans 1:21–25).
      5. Jesus, who knew no sin, becomes sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, effecting a far greater reversal from guilt to righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).
    5. From expiation to imputation: more than forgiveness:
      1. Expiation describes how Christ’s sacrifice removes sin, guilt, and shame from believers (Hebrews 9:14).
      2. Imputation means God credits believers with Christ’s righteousness, treating them as if they had always perfectly obeyed, so they move not just from guilt to innocence, but from guilt to perfect righteousness (Philippians 3:9; Romans 5:19).
      3. Because of this imputed righteousness, believers can be assured that God is not perpetually disappointed and will not abandon them, even amid ongoing struggles with sin (Romans 8:1).
    6. New position and identity:
      1. Because of Esther’s actions, Mordecai is elevated to Haman’s position, gaining a new role and identity, moving from certain death to honor and life (Esther 8:1–2, Esther 8:15).
      2. In Christ, believers are raised with Him, given a new position, purpose, and identity as those united to the exalted Lord (Philippians 2:9–11; Ephesians 2:4–6).
    7. Key truth: God has provided Someone—Jesus—who secures believers’ standing from guilt to perfect righteousness, giving deep assurance even when God feels absent.
      1. Because righteousness is Christ’s gift, not the believer’s achievement, ongoing sin struggles do not overturn their justified status (Romans 5:1).
      2. This reality frees consciences and strengthens assurance that God will not leave or forsake His people (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 13:5).
  5. Assurance Four: God Has Given a New Decree and Prescribed Helps for Our Assurance
    1. From old decree to new decree in Esther 8:
      1. Esther again intercedes in chapter 8, pleading with the king to avert the disaster planned against her people (Esther 8:3–6).
      2. The first genocidal decree cannot be revoked, but a new decree is written allowing the Jews to defend themselves and destroy those who attack them (Esther 8:8–13).
      3. The outcome is a movement from despair under the old decree to joy, feasting, celebration, and honor under the new decree (Esther 8:15–17).
    2. Law and gospel: Christ as the new decree:
      1. In Scripture, the law functions like the first decree—it is good and stands, but reveals sin and brings death, not salvation (Romans 3:19–20; Romans 7:10–12).
      2. God does not abolish His law, but adds a new “decree”: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which sets believers free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
      3. Jesus fulfills the law perfectly and brings life and delight to those who trust Him, turning their despair under the law’s condemnation into joy under the gospel (Matthew 5:17; Romans 8:1–4).
    3. From despair to delight in Christ:
      1. As Esther’s new decree leads to joy and feasting, Christ’s work leads believers from the despair of condemnation to the delight of justified, adopted life with God (Esther 8:16–17; Romans 8:14–17).
      2. Because Jesus has “done everything for us,” the believer’s status before God is secure, free, and permanent by faith in Christ alone (John 19:30; Romans 5:1–2).
    4. God’s prescribed helps to strengthen assurance in apparent absence:
      1. God’s people, the church: regular gathering in corporate worship keeps believers tethered to God and His promises, especially when emotions are low (Hebrews 10:24–25).
      2. God’s promises in Scripture: immersing in God’s Word, including Psalms of lament and hope, feeds assurance and reorients perspective (Psalm 42:5–8; Romans 8:31–39).
      3. God’s presence in prayer: praying the Psalms and honestly bringing emotions to God cultivates experiential awareness of His nearness (Psalm 62:8; Philippians 4:6–7).
      4. God’s person—Jesus and the Spirit: focusing on Christ’s finished work and the indwelling Holy Spirit reinforces identity and security (Romans 8:9–11; Galatians 2:20).
      5. God’s plan—loving God and neighbor: living into God’s mission of love keeps believers engaged in His purposes rather than spiraling inward (Matthew 22:37–40).
    5. Contemporary illustration of providence and reversal:
      1. The “Captain America shed” story: public humiliation and exposure of a man’s addiction became the doorway through which a believing friend reached out, shared Christ, and walked with him into sobriety and ministry to others.
      2. What seemed like the worst day of his life becomes, in Christ, the best day, as he sees beyond the sliver of his experience to God’s larger redemptive work, mirroring Esther’s pattern of providential reversal (Esther 7–8).
    6. Final assurance: Nothing can separate believers from the love of God in Christ.
      1. Because Jesus identifies with His people, dies for them, and intercedes for them, no sin, failure, darkness, or circumstance can sever them from God’s love (Romans 8:31–39).
      2. Esther 7–8, read through the lens of Christ, assures believers that even in apparent absence and exile, God is present, protecting, providing, and working all things toward a joyful, Christ-centered outcome.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 24, 2026

Genesis 47:13–48:22; Matthew 16:21–17:13; Proverbs 3:1–10

Genesis 47:13–48:22
Joseph manages Egypt’s crisis wisely, preserving life through disciplined stewardship. Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, emphasizing God’s long faithfulness across generations. The future rests not in position but in God’s promise.

Matthew 16:21–17:13
Jesus openly teaches that suffering precedes glory. The transfiguration reveals His divine identity, affirming the path of the cross. God confirms that listening to His Son is central to faith.

Proverbs 3:1–10
Wisdom calls for trust in the Lord with wholehearted dependence. Honor and provision flow from surrender and obedience. God directs paths for those who rely on Him.

Together
God leads His people through trust, obedience, and revealed glory. He is faithful across generations, purposeful in suffering, and worthy of complete reliance. Blessing flows from trusting His ways over our understanding.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 23, 2026

Genesis 45:1–47:12; Matthew 16:1–20; Psalm 14:1–7

Genesis 45:1–47:12
Joseph reveals himself with grace, naming God’s sovereign purpose behind years of suffering. Restoration replaces fear as the family is reunited and provided for. God turns what was meant for harm into preservation and blessing.

Matthew 16:1–20
Jesus warns against hardened unbelief and reveals His true identity to the disciples. Peter’s confession declares Jesus as the Messiah, a truth revealed by the Father. God establishes His kingdom on revealed truth, not human insight.

Psalm 14:1–7
The psalm exposes humanity’s tendency toward corruption and denial of God. Yet hope remains as the Lord is the refuge of His people. Salvation ultimately comes from Him alone.

Together
God reveals Himself as sovereign, faithful, and saving. He opens eyes to truth, restores what was broken, and anchors hope in His redemptive plan. His purposes stand firm despite human failure.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 22, 2026

Genesis 43:1–44:34; Matthew 15:10–39; Psalm 13:1–6

Genesis 43:1–44:34
Famine presses Jacob’s family back to Egypt, forcing old wounds into the open. Judah steps forward with responsibility, offering himself in place of Benjamin, revealing a transformed heart. God is quietly reshaping this family through testing, sacrifice, and truth.

Matthew 15:10–39
Jesus clarifies that true defilement comes from the heart, not external rules. He responds to persistent faith with mercy and power, feeding multitudes with compassion. What looks insufficient in human hands becomes abundance when entrusted to Him.

Psalm 13:1–6
David voices honest anguish, feeling forgotten and overwhelmed. Yet he chooses trust, anchoring his hope in God’s steadfast love. Praise rises even before circumstances change.

Together
God works deeply in hearts through pressure, faith, and waiting. He invites honest cries, transforms character through sacrifice, and reveals His compassion in moments of scarcity. Trust grows as His purposes unfold beneath the surface.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 21, 2026

Genesis 41:41–42:38; Matthew 14:22–15:9; Psalm 12:1–8

Genesis 41:41–42:38

Joseph’s rise to authority fulfills God’s earlier promises and places him in a position to preserve life. His brothers’ guilt begins to surface as God initiates a work of repentance. The famine becomes a means of both provision and confrontation.

Matthew 14:22–15:9

Jesus reveals his authority over nature and human fear. Peter’s wavering faith highlights the tension between trust and doubt. Jesus also confronts empty religious traditions that mask disobedient hearts.

Psalm 12:1–8

The psalm contrasts deceptive human speech with the purity of God’s words. The Lord promises protection for the faithful amid corruption. His truth remains untainted and trustworthy.

Tying it together

God’s word and authority stand firm amid fear, guilt, and human failure. He uses both abundance and trial to reveal hearts. His truth preserves and guides those who trust him.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 20, 2026

Genesis 40:1–41:40; Matthew 14:1–21; Proverbs 2:12–22

Genesis 40:1–41:40

Joseph’s gifts create opportunity, yet fulfillment comes only in God’s timing. From prison to palace, the Lord orchestrates events for his purposes. Wisdom and humility prepare Joseph to steward authority faithfully.

Matthew 14:1–21

John the Baptist’s death reveals the cost of truth in a broken world. Jesus responds with compassion, feeding the crowds and meeting their needs. The miracle highlights dependence on God’s provision rather than human resources.

Proverbs 2:12–22

Wisdom protects from corrupt paths and destructive influences. It preserves integrity and leads toward life and stability. God’s guidance separates the righteous from the way of ruin.

Tying it together

God exalts wisdom, compassion, and trust in his provision. He works through faithful obedience rather than impulsive power. His purposes advance through patience and dependence.

Daily Scripture Reading – January 19, 2026

Genesis 38:1–39:23; Matthew 13:36–58; Psalm 11:1–7

Genesis 38:1–39:23

Judah’s moral failure contrasts sharply with Joseph’s integrity. Joseph remains faithful in temptation and injustice, trusting God even in prison. The Lord’s presence with Joseph does not remove hardship but sustains him through it.

Matthew 13:36–58

Jesus explains the separation that will occur at the end of the age, where true and false are revealed. His hometown’s unbelief limits their experience of his power. Familiarity becomes a barrier when faith is absent.

Psalm 11:1–7

The psalm affirms that God’s throne is secure even when foundations seem shaken. The Lord tests the righteous and opposes violence. His justice is sure and his gaze is discerning.

Tying it together

God values faithfulness over popularity and righteousness over appearances. He sees clearly and judges rightly. Trust in his rule steadies the heart when circumstances are unjust.