Open the Bible UK Daily

If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed… your children. Psalm 73:15 You would think that the turning point of his life would begin when he gets some answers. But that’s not Asaph’s story. Asaph wants us to know that the first step to turning our lives around is not finding an answer but making a decision. His mind is driving down this dark road of despair, so he makes a decision....

If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed… your children. Psalm 73:15 Asaph was saying, “If I had followed where my confused thoughts were taking me, I would have let everybody down. I would have become the Judas of the Old Testament. I would have betrayed your children.” Asaph doesn’t want to go there, and so he takes himself in hand. Imagine spending a few days away, and the plac...

All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. Psalm 73:13 Maybe you have coworkers who have very little integrity, and yet they seem to be thriving. You, on the other hand, have tried to do business in a way that honours the Lord, but instead of thriving, you are facing all kinds of trouble. It leaves you saying, “What’s the point?!?” One of your coworkers, who was fooli...

I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Psalm 73:3 You can hear Asaph’s distress in his words, “I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” The wicked act as if no one can touch them, and God does nothing about it. But here I am trying to serve the Lord in ministry, and all I see is the agenda of those who hate God and despise His Word moving forward. Why does God allow it?...

Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. Psalm 73:1 This psalm begins with a statement of faith. It was like a creedal statement, the sort of thing you would recite every week at worship. It is rather like us confessing “Jesus is Lord” when we meet for worship. “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” Asaph was saying, “This is what I’ve always believed. T...

As for me, my feet had almost stumbled. Psalm 73:2 Psalm 73 is the personal testimony of a man who came through a great crisis in his life. He tells us how he nearly lost his faith, but God helped him, and he found his way through the crisis and into a stronger faith than he had before. If you look at the heading of Psalm 73, you will see that it was written by a man called Asaph. Asaph was one of...

"I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you… I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Ezekiel 36:26-27 When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God puts His Spirit within you. That’s His promise. The first evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life will be that you have a deep desire to please God and t...

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Philippians 3:4 You see what the apostle Paul is saying: “I saw myself as a morally upright person.” But then Paul says, “All that changed,” and he tells us what led him to a complete reevaluation of his position: “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (Rom. 7:7). This religious man had concluded th...

"You shall not covet." Exodus 20:17 Coveting happens in the secret places of your heart. It is known only to you and to God. Your neighbour would know if you stole his car, but he would never know if you coveted his car. Nobody knows the secret desires of your heart. Nobody knows your secret fantasies. The tenth commandment is the key to understanding the other nine. All the other commandments are...

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 The essence of lying is saying what will achieve the desired result, irrespective of whether it is the truth. Gossip: This involves passing on news about another person that may or may not be true. Someone has likened gossip to rip...

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Exodus 20:16 It’s good to remember that each of the Ten Commandments reflects the character of God. The Bible tells us that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), and that He always keeps His promises. When we come into a relationship with God, He calls us to reflect His character in the way that we live our lives, and that means we seek to be charact...

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." John 10:10 Satan is the great taker of what does not belong to him. He is always trying to get as much as possible, while giving as little as possible. He pays terrible wages—“the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). If you do his work, you will be terribly disappointed when you get your paycheck. But Jesus said, “I came that they may have life,...

"You shall not steal." Exodus 20:15 There’s a story about a thief who was serving time in prison. Stealing had become his lifestyle, and eventually the long arm of the law caught up with him. But while he was in prison, he heard the good news of Jesus Christ and was wonderfully converted. When the day came for his release, he knew he was in for a difficult time. Most of his friends were criminals,...

"You shall not steal." Exodus 20:15 Here is a definition of stealing that will get you thinking about the struggle of the eighth commandment: Stealing is trying to get as much as possible, while giving as little as possible. Remember, each of these commands speak not to one sin, but to a whole category of sins. We know this from Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. We also see this in the O...

Put to death… what is earthly in you. Colossians 3:5 When it comes to your battle with temptation, God does not say, “Pray about it.” He says, “Act against it.” The problem with praying about a temptation is that you end up focusing more attention on it, and that can have the effect of making the problem worse. Temptation is not an issue to passively turn over to God; it’s an issue to actively fig...

“How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9 The place to start in dealing with temptation is by recognising sin for what it is. The best example of this in the Bible is Joseph when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Here was this young guy in a foreign country and a powerful woman was trying to entice him. Instead of giving in, he called the temptation great wickedn...

"You shall not commit adultery." Exodus 20:14 Jesus described the times in which He lived as an “adulterous generation” (Mat. 12:39). That means it was a generation in which many people had become confused in their attitudes and disordered in their behaviours when it came to the whole matter of sex. There is no doubt that we too live in an adulterous generation. Over 14 million internet users in t...

“Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court.” Matthew 5:25 Jesus makes this application from the sixth commandment: Settle your disputes as quickly as you can. If there’s a way to settle with integrity, pursue it. Paul says the same thing: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18). Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is able to...

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment." Matthew 5:21-22 The scope of this commandment goes far beyond acts of murder. Jesus made this clear when He said that the sixth commandment searches out the thoughts, attitudes, and intent...

"You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13 Here are four examples of taking the life of another person that are clearly forbidden in the sixth commandment. Murder—Taking the life of your neighbour. One day you may come to the unimaginable conclusion that murder is not beyond you. An injury can be so great, and the desire for revenge so strong, that you feel you have the right to exercise justice and tak...

"You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13 The Ten Commandments show us what it means to live a life of love. The first four lay out what it means to love God, and the last six spell out what it means to love your neighbour. Here are six sacred areas of life marked with special value by God: (1) Family (honour your father and your mother); (2) Life (you shall not murder); (3) Marriage (you shall not com...

He does not deal with us according to our sins. Psalm 103:10 Some parents are not worthy of honour. Think of Saul and the mood swings, fits of rage, and irrational behaviour. Saul even threw a javelin at his son, Jonathan (1 Sam. 20:33). What kind of father throws a spear at his son? You may wonder if God knows about the pain of your experience. God knows. The Bible recognises the pain of bad pare...

“Honor your father and your mother.” Exodus 20:12 The word honour literally means “give weight to.” The commandment is telling us: “Give weight to your father and your mother.” When your father or mother says something, don’t take it lightly. Give weight to their words, to their advice. Don’t brush it off. Take it seriously. Give weight to what they say, to what they think, and to what they desire...

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 Your parents are the first authority figures God put in your life, and your first experience of authority tends to shape your reaction to other authority figures. If you’ve seen authority used well, you will tend to respect it, otherwise you will tend to be suspicious of i...

“Come to me… and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 Once you see everything that God has called you to do in the Ten Commandments, you may say, “But I haven’t finished!” We struggle to embrace God unconditionally. We struggle to worship God as He is. We have not honoured Him in all things. We have not finished the work of keeping God’s commands, and the longer we live the more obvious it becomes...