Jenny L. Hassell Samuel had been the one who anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. He had watched Saul begin his reign with promise, and he had also watched him repeatedly disobey God. Eventually, God told Samuel that He had rejected Saul from being king. Samuel was devastated. 1 Samuel 15 says Samuel was distressed over Saul and … Read more
Joshua had just watched Israel pull off an impossible victory at Jericho. The walls fell, the Israelites took the city, and everything appeared to be going exactly as God had promised. Their next target was Ai, a much smaller city. The spies Joshua sent ahead told him there was no reason to send the whole … Read more
Before Samson was born, the Angel of the LORD appeared to his mother and told her that although she had been unable to have children, she was going to have a son. He would be a Nazirite from the womb and would begin to save Israel from the Philistines. She told her husband, Manoah, about … Read more
Was he really a thief? We call him “the thief on the cross” so often that it sounds like Scripture explicitly gives us his occupation, but it doesn’t. Luke calls the two men crucified with Jesus criminals. Matthew and Mark call them robbers, a word often translated “thieves.” Christian tradition blended the accounts, and “the … Read more
When the Angel of the LORD found Gideon, Israel was having a rough time. The Midianites had been raiding the land for years, destroying crops and leaving the Israelites with very little to live on. Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press, trying to hide what little food he had left from the Midianites, … Read more
By the time Israel reached the plains of Moab, they had already defeated several kings on their way toward the Promised Land. That made Balak, the king of Moab, nervous. Instead of trying to fight Israel himself, Balak sent messengers to a man named Balaam and asked him to come to Moab and curse the … Read more
God had already promised Abraham that he would become the father of a great nation, but there was an obvious problem. Abraham and Sarah still had no children together, Abraham was nearly 100 years old, and Sarah was about 90. When God told Abraham that Sarah would have a son, Abraham laughed. Genesis 17 says … Read more
Cain and Abel both brought offerings to God. Abel brought from the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions, while Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground. God accepted Abel and his offering but did not accept Cain and his offering. Genesis does not explicitly tell us exactly why. Hebrews 11:4 … Read more
God’s first question after Adam and Eve ate from the tree was, “Where are you?” Adam and Eve had already realized they were naked, sewn fig leaves together to cover themselves, and hidden when they heard God walking in the garden. God knew where they were. He also knew what they had done. So “Where … Read more
✦ ✨ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✨ ✦ ✦ ✨ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✨ ✦ First, a word about Dolly… This is my first Still Waters since we lost Dolly Parton, and since I’m a Tennessean, I could not let the moment pass without saying something about a woman whose music, faith, humor, and … Read more