Walk in Wisdom
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These daily devotionals are written to help you remain rooted and grounded in God's Word each day. We have one devotional for each weekday, and one for the weekend.
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Latest Devotional
From Immanuel’s Veins
Leviticus 4:34
“Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.”I’ll never forget sitting in a doctor’s office getting ready to have blood drawn, when a bubbly nurse walked in, strung that tourniquet on my forearm, watched my veins bulge, and then excitedly exclaimed, “Oh, you have such beautiful veins! I bet you don’t hear that often!” I certainly didn’t; but we laughed about it, and I remember thanking God in the quiet of my heart for wiring people like her to enjoy the necessary and bloody work of health service. That’s a prayer I continue to repeat every time fortune leads me back to a doctor’s office or an Emergency Room.
The fact is, unless blood is being used symbolically as in my favorite hymn ‘There is a Fountain Filled with Blood,’ I refrain from thinking about and writing about and talking about it as much as possible, because the topic makes me queasy. Yet, that poses a problem when journeying through Leviticus, doesn’t it? There’s no way around the blood here. It’s all over the place! On the priest’s hands and feet, on the altar, on the floor, in the basin; as if the entire parchment has been drenched in the red cloud of condensation, with blood particles in every jot and tittle of the narrative. In a literal sense, I’m just as paradoxically awestruck and simultaneously put-off by Aaron’s priestly ministry as I am the ministries of doctors, nurses, and surgeons in my own society. The Tabernacle is like a spiritual hospital. Though the operations performed herein are vital for the health and wellbeing of the people, they’re the sort I wish we could do without.
That is, till I consider that this gory, priestly ministry of Aaron is only a precursor to our Lord’s victory over sin and death at Calvary. These archaic rituals are but shadows of the Form of our atonement, leading us to that basin at the foot of a cross, to that baptismal pool surrounding Heaven’s throne—a River of Life as it’s often called! Oh how beautiful the veins of our Immanuel!
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Sabbath Psalm (from William Cowper’s hymn, ‘There is a Fountain Filled with Blood’)
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Grace is More
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A Little Clarity
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Buried in the Sinews
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Cometh the Tide
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Better than BBQ
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Sabbath Psalm (A revision of A. Cleveland Coxe’s hymn, ‘O Where are Kings and Empires Now?”)
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Picture Perfect
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Pressing Onward
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Unwritten Prayers
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Blood on Our Hands
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Goodness: the Greatest Blessing
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Frederick Brewster’s hymn, ‘Lord God, Our Thanks to Thee We Raise’)
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Shimmering in the Fire
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On Holy Ground We Tread
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You, Me, and Other Gemstones
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Self-Sacrifice
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Faith, Worked Out
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Mary Ann Lathbury’s hymn, ‘Break Thou the Bread of Life’)
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Love—in Excess
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A Hand-Me-Down Art
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Gendered Language
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The Afterglow
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Moses and the Red Letters
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of John Peterson’s hymn, ‘Holy Spirit, Now Outpoured’)
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Crime and Forgiveness
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Unbreakable
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On the Face of It
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The Distinguishing Mark
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A Plot Twist
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Sabbath Psalm (Revision of Frank Bottome’s hymn, ‘The Comforter Has Come’)
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Come Away with Me
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A Critical Departure
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Down with the Ship
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The Good Fight
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A Horror Story
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Sabbath Psalm 47 (Revised from John Peterson’ hymn ‘Jesus is Coming Again’)
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Come All Who Thirst!
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A Reassuring Truth
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What's On the Menu Today?
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Choices and Consequence
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What Have We Become?
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Sabbath Psalm 46 (Revision of John Bakewell’s hymn ‘Hail, Thou Once-Despised Jesus!’)
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When Adjectives Fail
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Epics and Epitaphs
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A Team Effort
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What a Guy!
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A Holy Touch
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Sabbath Psalm 45 (Revision of Thomas Kelly’s hymn ‘Hark! Ten Thousand Harps and Voices’)
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Name Your Price
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Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Smell
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A Most Fulfilling Prophecy
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Marked by the Blood
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Dressing the Part
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Sabbath Psalm 44 (Revision of John Peterson’s hymn ‘Open Wide, Ye Doors’)
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Facts and Feelings
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Priesthood: A Balancing Act
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Beautiful Glory—Glorious Beauty
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Lamplighters
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A Mobile Home
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Sabbath Psalm 43 (Revision of Giovanni P. Da Palestrina’s hymn ‘The Strife is Over’)
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An Open Door
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Gold Rush
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Practicing God’s Presence
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An Ark Like No Other
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A Heavenly Contribution
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Sabbath Psalm 42
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A Crackling Fire
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Picnic Time!
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There is a Fountain
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A Book Signing
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A Recurring Theme
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Sabbath Psalm 41
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Are You Listening?
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Almighty Love
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Got Justice?
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A Song to Share
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Fable of Farce?
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Sabbath Psalm 40
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A Revolutionary Idea
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The Avenger
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A Silver Lining
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Liberty by Submission, pt. 2
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Liberty by Submission, pt. 1
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Sabbath Psalm 39
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A Bit More Context
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Laws on Slavery (An Introduction)
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The Art of Worship
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A Deep Light
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A Word on Honor
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Blessed Rest
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What’s in a Name?
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The Law in Essence
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Further In
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Lead Me to Calvary
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The Gospel Call
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Supreme Court Justice
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An Intervention
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The Tie that Binds