A few nights ago a massive windstorm blew through southern Missouri, where we happened to be sleeping at that exact moment. I woke up to bangs on the roof and wind whirling. Immediately I checked my phone for tornado warnings. Seeing none, I lay back, listened to the onslaught and fell asleep. Only in the morning did my wife and I see the damage wrought all around us.

Fallen trees littered the property, including four blocking the long driveway. The wind forced one huge tree (pictured above) over on its side, leaving a massive hole where its root ball once clung. With help of neighbors we cleared the drive, then spent hours and hours running a chainsaw and picking up branches.

I fell back to sleep the night of the storm oblivious. But my ignorance didn’t affect the chaos occurring all around me.

The ancient kings of Israel attempted to shut the mouths of the prophets, who spoke of chaos to come if the kings refused to turn to the Lord. Rolling over and going back to sleep didn’t serve those rulers any better than it served me. The storm raged on. The prophet spoke these words to the kings:

For the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?

The lion has roared—the Lord God has spoken. The words of the Lord God remain. I read some this morning. Who can peer into them and not fear?

Like the kings, it doesn’t serve me in the long run to stuff my head under the pillow. I still wake up to the aftermath of the storm. The secrets of the prophets await, if only I choose to turn their direction.

Amos 3 in reading the Bible in 2023

I shifted feet, my eyes flitting around the room. Our church’s youth choir practiced for weeks and tonight we showed our stuff. My friends and I sang to great acclaim among an audience of doting parents.

Most members of the choir sang a solo, a few more than one. The choir director asked everyone to sing individually for her, and every kid with even a semblance of tone garnered a few lines, my brother included. Not me, however. What came out of my mouth failed to meet even the indulgent standards of this small church youth choir.

While I stood nicely dressed and groomed, when I opened my mouth the choir director winched, then recovered nicely. Singing was not in my future—best pay attention to other subjects at school.

Jesus got at a similar point in a discussion on religion. In his culture pious people washed their hands before eating, following the law to avoid religious defilement. Jesus commented on the practice, along with the lack of character behind it:

What comes out the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.

Ritual religion fails to scrub the heart. What comes out of the mouth—our behavior and thoughts—exposes what’s going on in the soul. While we may present an acceptable facade, the Lord knows the corruption within.

Hypocrites appear just right on the outside but smell inside. I notice the hypocrisy in others, but often fail to take a deeper look at myself.

Learning of my lack of singing talent only bothered me for a few minutes. I happily accepted my place on the back row, grateful to not warble in front of a crowd. Life is better when our outside matches our inside.

Life really sings when we allow the Lord to work on the issues of the heart, when hand washing turns into soul washing.

Matthew 15 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Nathan Dumlao

Following the Super Bowl this year, when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, I savored the moment. Over the next several days I listened to commentators, read lots of articles, and watched the game again (without the commercials). As a long-time Chiefs fan I drank it in.

One thing I did not do was switch sides and suddenly become an Eagles fan.

Amaziah, king of Judah, won a marvelous military victory over the Edomites. God clearly intervened in the nation’s favor. Then Amaziah switched sides:

After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshipped them, making offerings to them.

No one switches allegiances in this way. Understandably, the Lord grew angry. Amaziah eventually lost his treasure, his position as king, and his life due to his foolish actions.

Something shiny in these gods caught Amaziah’s eye. Thanks to a newly inflated ego, Amaziah thought he might bend these gods to his will and put their powers to his use. He found gods he could control. In doing so, he flipped off the one true God who controlled the world around Amaziah.

The Lord controls the world around you and me as well. Sidestep the allure of shiny, pretty gods. Dance with who brung you.

There’s no need to switch sides.

2 Chronicles 25 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by matthew deltoro

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake the hope of steadfast love.

What idols tempt your regard?

Common idols include wealth, beauty, and popularity. Looking the right way and fitting in with the folks around us form a vain idol. I wonder if millions of people possessed a latent desire for a tattoo, or did the cool kids start inking and the masses discovered their desire for multi-colored skin art?

Social media and the pursuit of “likes” fashion a glittering golden calf. Studies show the detrimental effects of social media overuse, yet the allure remains too strong to temper its use.

Idols don’t spring from a vacuum. A good one fills an empty place in our life, and the best burrow deep into the soil of our nature. Where God intends so much more, idols drain our hopes into a cesspool of nothingness.

Idols shoulder out steadfast love. The reluctant prophet, Jonah ran from the Lord only to discover his penchant for idols in the belly of a fish, a stark circumstance in which to learn a valuable lesson. Idols disappoint and lead to disaster. Scripture, history, and life circumstances all point out this truth.

Which leads me to ask—what vain idols tempt my regard?

Jonah 2 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN