From: February 12, 2026
“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Exodus 34:27 ESV).
In Exodus 34:27, the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai following Israel’s sin with the golden calf. Moses received God’s command to record the covenant words for Israel. Earlier, God Himself had written the Ten Commandments on the original stone tablets (Ex. 31:18). However, those tablets were shattered when Moses witnessed Israel’s idolatry, symbolizing the nation’s covenant failure. In this passage, God instructed Moses to write the words of the covenant that He gave him. The second giving of the law demonstrated that although Israel had broken the covenant, the LORD graciously restored it through Moses’ intercession. This episode emphasized Moses’ unique mediatorial role as he stood between a holy God and a sinful people. The event foreshadowed the greater mediation of Christ, who would perfectly secure and fulfill the covenant through His obedience and sacrifice.
We recognize that God’s standards of holiness never change, even when we fail to live up to them. Like Israel, we often break fellowship with God through sin, yet we see His grace displayed in the renewal of the covenant. We are reminded that restoration with God requires a mediator. Just as Moses interceded for Israel, Jesus intercedes for us perfectly and permanently. We are encouraged to respond to God’s grace with repentance, gratitude, and obedience. When we fall short, we can trust that God remains faithful to His promises and invites us back into fellowship through Christ. As we submit our lives to God’s Word and rely on Christ’s mediation, we experience the mercy and faithfulness of God’s grace.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we praise You for Your holiness and unchanging truth. We confess that we often fail to live according to Your Word. Thank You for Your grace that restores us when we fall and for providing Jesus as our perfect Mediator. Help us to cherish Your commands, walk in obedience, and live in grateful response to Your mercy. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: February 12, 2025
“So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:28 ESV).
Moses communed with the Lord for 40 days, during which time he fasted from food and water, having no need of them. For the Lord was his food and drink. Certainly, this was a miracle of God. For although one might fast from food for 40 days and live, no one can fast from water for that long and survive. Yet, Moses’ fast was not accomplished by his own strength, but by the Lord’s. And the miracle of Moses’ fast, was a sign, pointing to the reliability of Moses’ testimony that the law had been given him by God.
Yet, we cannot read of Moses’ fast without thinking of Christ’s, who also fasted for 40 days. Moses’ fast marked the giving of the covenant of law, but Christ’s fast marked the beginning of His public ministry and covenant of grace. When the devil tempted Jesus, He responded with the words first given to Moses, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3). And surely this Word was sufficient for both.
Today we sometimes fast as a spiritual discipline, in order to focus our minds on the Lord that we might hear a word from Him. It helps us recognize how weak we are and how dependent we are on God. Bread, we need, but God’s Word, we need even more.
PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to remember that You made us and designed us so that just as we need food and drink for our bodies, so we also need Your Word for our souls. We live by Your Word. Fill us with understanding today. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: February 12, 2024
‘Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”’ (Matthew 27:22 ESV).
The Roman Governor Pilate asked the crowd to answer this question for him. He sought to avoid making a decision about Jesus, but his plan backfired. The crowd’s surprising support of the criminal Barabbas left Pilate still responsible to answer the question of what to do with Jesus. Pilate gave the paid-off crowd the answer they wanted. Crucify him.
Pilate still insisted that he had nothing to do with Christ’s death, washing his hands of the Innocent One’s blood. Of course, this symbolic act in no way minimized Pilate’s responsibility. He could blame his decision on the crowd, but the decision was still his.
Pilate isn’t the only one that must answer the question, “What should I do with Jesus?” It remains the singularly most important question of all time. How have you answered it?
PRAYER: Dear Father, give us the grace to put this question before everyone we know. We would not have anyone go into eternity without grappling with what they should do with Jesus. As for us, we have believed and received His sacrifice for our sins. We are thankful for His redemption. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
From: February 12, 2023
“Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.” (Exodus 34:28 NLT).
Moses communed with the Lord for 40 days, during which time he fasted from food and water, having no need of them. For the Lord was his food and drink. Certainly, this was a miracle of God. For although one might fast from food for 40 days and live, no one can fast from water for that long and survive. Yet, Moses’ fast was not accomplished by his own strength, but by the Lord’s. And the miracle of Moses’ fast, was a sign, pointing to the reliability of Moses’ testimony that the law had been given him by God.
Yet, we cannot read of Moses’ fast without thinking of Christ’s, who also fasted for 40 days. Moses’ fast marked the giving of the covenant of law, but Christ’s fast marked the beginning of His public ministry and covenant of grace. When the devil tempted Jesus, He responded with the words first given to Moses, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3). And surely this Word was sufficient for both.
Today we sometimes fast as a spiritual discipline, in order to focus our minds on the Lord that we might hear a word from Him. It helps us recognize how weak we are and how dependent we are on God. Bread, we need, but God’s Word, we need even more.
PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to remember that You made us and designed us so that just as we need food and drink for our bodies, so we also need Your Word for our souls. We live by Your Word. Fill us with understanding today. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: February 12, 2017
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had a custom of releasing a prisoner during the feast of Passover. He gave the unruly crowd a choice between Barabbas and Jesus, thinking they would choose Jesus and let him off the hook. But at the urging of the chief priests and elders, they chose Barabbas instead. Ironically, “Barabbas” is from the Aramaic, which means, “son of a father” (“bar” = “son of” + “abba” = “father”). So, the guilty “son of a father,” representing fallen humanity was released. And the innocent and holy, Son of the Father, was condemned in his place.