Pursuing God with Gene Appel

After Joshua's generation passed, something went wrong. The next generation grew up without the story. They didn't know what God had done, and within one generation, Israel was back in idolatry and bondage. That cycle repeated itself 13 times over 330 years, and only 110 of those years were lived in peace with God. Sin, slavery, repentance, rescue, repeat. Like Groundhog Day. And here&ap...

The enemy has five words too. "You'll never be good enough." "Your gift is not needed." "You'll always be that woman." Simple, devastating sentences that people carry for years, sometimes decades, that strip the strength right out of their stories. But God has five words of His own. He said them to Joshua before the most impossible assignment of his life. Je...

The first generation of Israelites stood at the edge of the Promised Land, looked at the giants, looked at themselves, and decided the math didn't work. They all died in the wilderness. Joshua's generation wasn't stronger. The walls weren't shorter. What changed was their focus. They stopped looking at who they were and started looking at who God is. Isaiah asks it this way: Wh...

Before a single step was taken around Jericho, God told Joshua something remarkable. Not "I will deliver Jericho." He said "I have delivered Jericho." Past tense. The walls were still standing, the army was still inside, and God was already speaking of it as done. That is who God is. He sees the end from the beginning and He is not stressed about your situation even when you ar...

Rahab was a prostitute living inside the walls of Jericho. And when Joshua needed his city taken down, God's first move was to use her. She hid the spies, misdirected the soldiers, and made a way where there was no way. But her story doesn't end there. In the New Testament she's listed in the Hall of Faith alongside Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. And in Matthew chapter 1, she shows up...

After the death of Moses. Don't blow past those five words. For forty years he had been their leader, their anchor, the one who stood before Pharaoh, parted the Red Sea, and brought water from a rock. And now he was gone, and Israel was standing at the edge of the Promised Land without him. Joshua had to step into those shoes with no roadmap and no guarantee, just a God who said move forward....

An eleven-day trip became forty years. And yet the pillar of cloud never disappeared. The manna never stopped. The sandals never wore out.  Here's what the desert was actually doing: separating a people from the only culture they had ever known, slowly and patiently forming them into a people who could be trusted with what came next.  God is never in a hurry. And the waiting is always doing s...

Forty years passed, and almost nothing changed. A brand new generation, the same complaints, word for word. That's what repetitive sin patterns do. They don't just affect you; they get handed down through families, communities, and generations if they're never interrupted. And here's the hard truth: you can spend forty years in the wilderness and come out the other side doing e...

Israel was genuinely close to the Promised Land. The spies came back with an incredible report: a fertile land, oversized grapes, and everything God had promised. But ten of the twelve couldn't get past the giants, and fear started doing what fear always does. It exaggerated the obstacle, minimized what God had already done, and called it a realistic assessment. However, Caleb and Joshua saw...

An eleven-day trip turned into forty years. And one of the biggest reasons why is that Israel couldn't stop complaining. God was providing manna every morning, leading them with a pillar of fire, and they were romanticizing life as slaves in Egypt. That's what whining does. It rewrites history, edits out the suffering, and makes the place God delivered you from sound better than the plac...

There was a perfectly good road from Egypt to Canaan. A direct route. A few weeks of walking, and Israel could have been home. But God took them south, deep into the desert, for an entire year. Not because He was lost, but because He was more concerned with who they were becoming than how fast they arrived. That pattern shows up everywhere in Scripture. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David. The round...

Most of us know we haven't kept all ten. And that's actually the point. The Ten Commandments were designed to show us who we really are and how desperately we need grace. Think about how you use a mirror in the morning.  The mirror just shows you the truth. The commandments hold up a reflection, not a ladder to climb. And when you look honestly, they don't lead to condemnation. They...

The Hebrew word for glory literally means weight or heaviness. It is God's full reality pressing into the world, and it is what filled the tabernacle so completely that even Moses couldn't enter. When was the last time you were genuinely struck by who God is, not what He's done for you, but just who He is?  Pursuing God with Gene Appel is designed to help you pursue God, build commu...

Even after the golden calf, even after the rebellion, God's response wasn't to pull back. It was to draw closer. He gave Moses detailed instructions for building the tabernacle, a portable sanctuary right in the middle of the Israelites' camp, because He wanted to dwell among His people, not just visit from a distance. Every piece of furniture, every curtain, every offering pointed...

It only took forty days. Forty days since the mountain shook, since they heard God's voice, since they trembled at His presence and begged Moses to speak for them because they were too afraid. And now they're melting down their gold and building something they can see, touch, and control. The golden calf wasn't just an act of rebellion. It was what happens when impatience wins. When...

God didn't climb Mount Sinai to make life harder; He went there to move in. When He gave the Ten Commandments amid thunder, lightning, and smoke, it wasn't a power play. It was a covenant. The first four commandments shape how we relate to God; the next six shape how we treat each other. And when Israel responded with one voice, "Everything the Lord has said, we will do," it wa...

After delivering His people from slavery, parting the Red Sea, and providing daily bread in the wilderness, God gathered Israel at Mount Sinai and gave them the Ten Commandments, not as a burden, but as a blessing. These commands weren’t meant to restrict freedom but to protect it, like guardrails on a dangerous road. They reveal what life looks like when love for God and love for others shape eve...

Fresh off the miracle at the Red Sea, the Israelites quickly traded celebration for complaining when the wilderness exposed their hunger, thirst, and fear. Yet again and again, God responded not with anger, but with provision, turning bitter water sweet, raining down manna from heaven, sending quail at dusk, and bringing water from a rock. Through every need, He was teaching them a deeper lesson:...

Just days after their miraculous escape from Egypt, the Israelites found themselves trapped with Pharaoh’s army closing in behind them and the Red Sea blocking their path ahead. Fear replaced celebration, and freedom suddenly felt fragile. But in that impossible moment, God revealed once again who He is: the One who fights for His people and makes a way where there is no way. As the waters parted...

When Moses stood before Pharaoh and declared, “Let my people go,” it set off more than a political showdown—it revealed a spiritual battle over who truly holds power. Through the ten plagues, God wasn’t just punishing Egypt; He was exposing the emptiness of false gods and declaring His authority over creation, life, and death. And in the final plague, He provided a way of rescue through the blood...

No season of waiting, setback, or suffering is wasted in God’s hands. The story of Joseph reminds us that even what feels like a delay is often divine preparation. The pit wasn’t the end. The prison wasn’t permanent. And the promotion didn’t come a moment too soon. When God rewrites a life, He uses every chapter, every disappointment, every injustice, every unseen tear, to position us for a purpos...

 After 22 years of betrayal, slavery, prison, and waiting, Joseph finally sees how every painful chapter fits into a bigger plan. When his brothers, the very ones who sold him, stand before him in fear, Joseph doesn’t choose revenge. He chooses perspective. What they meant for harm, God meant for good. In one powerful moment of forgiveness, the upper story becomes clear: God had been positioning J...

After two long years of being forgotten in prison, everything changes for Joseph in a single day. When Pharaoh’s troubling dreams leave Egypt’s wisest men speechless, Joseph is suddenly summoned from the dungeon. Instead of promoting himself, he humbly points to God as the source of wisdom and insight. In one breathtaking turn, the prisoner becomes the second most powerful man in Egypt. Joseph’s s...

Joseph’s journey takes him even deeper into adversity as he sits in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused, and now seemingly forgotten, he has every reason to grow bitter and give up. Yet even in the darkest place of his life, Scripture quietly reminds us that the Lord was with him. While doors seem closed and promises go unfulfilled, God is still working b...

Joseph’s story takes another sharp turn as betrayal gives way to temptation. Rising from slave to trusted servant in Potiphar’s house, everything seems to stabilize—until he’s pressured to compromise his integrity. In a moment where disappointment could have justified disobedience, Joseph chooses honor over impulse, faithfulness over feeling. Even when doing the right thing lands him in prison ins...