Passage, Paragraph, and Prayer

On Day 5, God creates for the first time what he calls “living life” or “animated life.” In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you think about the biblical concept of soul. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

Do you want the Lord’s discipline? In this psalm, David teaches us how to pray when we find ourselves in hardship and difficult circumstances. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

On Day 5, God began creating living creatures. In this episode, Pastor Biebert leads you in exploring a principle that even modern biology acknowledges: Life can only come from pre-existing Life. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

Do we *really* want God to search and examine our hearts? We do, the more we search and know God. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

When David looked up into the night sky, he asked, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4). Yet God does indeed care for us—and this is ultimately where God wants to leave us when we consider the vastness of outer space. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Lei...

Aren’t we supposed to love our enemies? And if so, then what does David mean when he says that he hates those who hate the Lord—yes, that he hates them “with utter hatred”? In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you to understand these difficult words of David. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

God says he placed the sun, moon, and stars in the sky to serve, in part, “for signs.” Does this mean that God approves of astrology? Not at all. In this episode, Pastor Biebert leads you in meditating on God’s purpose in placing the stars in the sky as signs. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

What are we to make of the psalms and Bible verses where the writer calls down evil, sometimes violent evil, on his enemies? In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you properly meditate on, and find value in, the imprecatory psalms. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

Starlight doesn’t only seem to take a long time to reach our planet, but it also contains intel suggesting events that took place much too long ago (when compared to the Bible’s chronology). In this devotion, Pastor Biebert helps you wrestle with this and reminds you of the ultimate reason we believe the Bible’s creation account. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Sch...

Are God’s purposes precious to you, or frustrating and repulsive? In this episode, Pastor Biebert leads you in meditating on what is needed in order to realize God’s innumerable precious purposes behind everything. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

If the light from a given star, traveling at light speed, takes billions of years to reach our planet, so that we can view it, then the universe must be at least that old, right? In this episode, Pastor Biebert leads you in meditating on the relationship between light and the light-bearers. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine S...

If God wove us together in our mother’s womb, does that mean that all of our habits, traits, and inclinations trace back to him? In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you to think properly about the way God made you. NOTE: Pastor Biebert mistakenly cites the same verses as last week’s devotion (Psalm 139:13–16), but this devotion only focuses on verses 13 & 14. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius...

The sun in the daytime sky and the moon and stars in the night sky are amazing things to behold. But even more amazing is the fact that God made everything that you can locate in the sky *for you.* Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

David already highlighted God’s all-knowingness and his omnipresence. Now he leads us to consider God’s just one aspect of his omnipotence—how he wove together each one of us in our mother’s womb. NOTE: In my prayer, I do not mean to deny the eternal existence of God’s Son. It’s just that this psalm leads us particularly to reflect on God’s wonderful work in giving his Son flesh and blood in the w...

The apostle Paul says that death entered the world through sin (Romans 5:12). How do we square that with the fact that God created fertile soil on Day 3, since soil is by its very definition the history of the death of organisms? In this episode, Pastor Biebert discusses possible answers to this difficult question, and the devotional value of the question itself. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eil...

David already highlighted God’s all-knowingness. Now he leads us to consider God’s omnipresence. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

How old were the trees and plants on Day 3? Only one day old. But they didn’t look that way. For instance, the trees presumably had age growth rings inside them, even though they weren’t even one year old. In this episode, Pastor Biebert introduces the concept of apparent age vs. actual age. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine...

Do we sometimes deceive ourselves into thinking that God isn’t paying attention to us, or that we can keep secrets from him? King David helps us to have a better grasp of God’s knowledge in Psalm 139. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

On Day 3, Moses is careful to state that God caused the land to produced vegetation “according to their various kinds.” The order, beauty, and stability of the natural world around us all hang on this clause. And, like it or not, it cannot be reconciled with the evolutionary theory. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” B...

In this episode, Pastor Biebert leads you in thinking about ways you can follow David’s encouragement to “let the King of glory in” today. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

Genesis 1:11 describes what God caused the land to produce. Have you ever stopped to think about all the blessings we enjoy on earth through trees, plants, and all of the natural world around us? Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you visualize and apply what David was visualizing—a powerful king of renown approaching a walled city filled with people ready to welcome him. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

Genesis 1:9–10 describes what God did with the waters beneath the sky. Side note: “Pangaea” is the term for the hypothesized single landmass that may have existed before the Flood divided it into its present-day continents. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).

“Who is this guy?” That’s a way of complimenting someone that doesn’t declare the tremendous thing the person has done, but focuses on the impressive doer of the accomplishment. It’s therefore the most appropriate victory chant for Jesus. Music Credit: Michael Praetorius, “La Canarie,” in _Terpsichore_ (Wolfenbüttel, 1612), no. 31.

Genesis 1:6–8 describes God’s creating of the sky on Day 2 of the world’s history. In this episode, Pastor Biebert helps you take a closer look and think a little more about the waters under the expense of the sky and the waters above it. Music Credit: J. S. Bach, “Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten,” aria from “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” BWV 78 (Leipzig, 1724).