Just a Minute
Just a Minute is a collection of brief but meaningful meditations on Scripture. BJU Press has published a book by the same name with 96 of these devotional articles. Each chapter focuses on a Scripture verse or two, blending key facts about context with meditations on the truth of the passage. Find out how taking just a minute each day can change your life!
If you are interested, you can purchase Just A Minute, containing the first 96 printed articles.
Mountain Claiming (Just A Minute #109)
"Give me this mountain." (Joshua 14:12)
Forty-five years before, Caleb had seen a mountain. He and eleven other men had spent forty days in a secret hike through what was then enemy territory. On the trek they had spied on the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites. But what most caught Caleb's eyes was a mountain where the gigantic sons of Anak lived in fortified cities.
The leader of the reconnaissance party had been Caleb's friend Joshua. Together they had felt the assurance of the Lord surge in their hearts as they quietly looked upon the doomed enemies. Their souls were alive with the optimism and certainty of a victory guaranteed by their almighty God.
By Faith the Harlot (Just A Minute #108)
"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." (Hebrews 11:31)
The previous individuals in the Hebrews list of the faithful are not really a surprise to us. They were unquestionably godly and became household names wherever God's people gathered.
But Rahab? At first glance, she really seems to break the pattern. Her story is prominent, for sure, but hardly seems worthy of standing on the same platform with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham.
The Stirring of Wisdom (Just A Minute #107)
And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: (Exodus 36:2)
When God gives a man or woman wisdom, the inevitable result is a stirring of the heart. After the heart is stirred, action will follow.
From a human standpoint, wisdom starts with a proper fear of God. But ultimately it is a divine gift. In a somewhat enigmatic sequence, the Lord looks for wise hearted children, and gives them wisdom! James simply describes it as an answer to prayer.
Good Ignorance (Just A Minute #106)
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
One of the first lessons God teaches man in the Bible is that there are things he is not supposed to understand.
Planted before the first man and woman was a live reminder that some things were meant to be in sight but out of reach. In other words, it is correct for them to exist before us, but not for us to comprehend. Unfathomable information was in fact available to Adam and Eve. They had the capacity to access the knowledge, but only by violating the command and desire of their loving Creator.
Turning to the Wall (Just A Minute #105)
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD. (Isaiah 38:1-2)
This reaction to bad news is unique in the Bible--not the praying part, but the turning to the wall.
Hezekiah had just received the terrible message from the prophet. Coming from God's man, the announcement of impending death could hardly be doubted. There was no chance of questioning a doctor's diagnosis or some family member's interpretation of symptoms.
He was going to die.