Marriage – Page 2 – Teach What is Good

Angry with Man and with God – 2 Samuel 6 – 2025 Day 319

Published on November 13, 2025November 13, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 107, 2 Samuel 6.

Have you ever been mad at someone, not just for a few minutes, but for hours or days? Have you ever allowed your anger to stew like a 8-pound chuck roast left in a crockpot to bubble all day, causing a seed of bitterness to take root deep in your heart?

How did that effect your relationship with that person? How was your attitude toward them? Did that bitterness ever make it hard for you to think kind thoughts or speak kind words about them?

Now, how about your feelings toward God? Have you ever been mad at God for days or weeks? Have you ever felt like He didn’t treat you or a loved one the way He should’ve? Did you ever let that anger plant a seed, no matter how small, of contempt toward God?

How did that effect your relationship with or your attitude toward God? Did it make it hard for you to meet with Him or submit to His commands?

In my life, I’ve noticed that often my bitterness
toward a person is intimately tied to
my disappointment with God.

Maybe a friend, a parent, a sibling or even a spouse has hurt you deeply. They’ve let you down. They’ve attacked you and disappointed you. They’ve done you wrong. Maybe it’s substance abuse or pornography. Maybe it’s lying and deceit. Maybe it’s an emotional or physical affair. Maybe it’s a lack of regard for your thoughts and feelings.

How has that relationship with a human being effected your relationship with God?

How have your feelings toward a person effected your feelings toward God?

In today’s passage in 2 Samuel 6, we read about Michal, King Saul’s daughter and David’s first wife, who despised David in her heart when she witnessed his joy before the Lord. Michal had been hurt again and again by David, a man she had loved. David had taken other wives and then had allowed her to be sent away, only to be brought back after she’d married another man. I don’t know that Michal ever trusted in God. In fact, Michal may have been a pagan idol-worshipper, but we do know that it grieved her deeply to see David dancing with reckless abandon in the presence of God and all the house of Israel. Click here to read through an overview of Michal’s life in the scriptures.

Thinking through Michal’s response to David’s joyful worship, I asked myself these two questions:

When have my feelings of disappointment toward a fellow human being resulted in me treating them with disdain and contempt rather than love and forgiveness?
When have my feelings of disappointment with my Heavenly Father resulted in me turning my back on Him rather than turning my face toward His open arms?

Heavenly Father, Your ways are certainly not our ways. You are always holy and righteous and good, and we are not. You have told us what You require of us, yet we have disobeyed You again and again. We have shunned Your scriptures. We have mocked Your Words and Your workers. We have treated Your Creation and Your commands with contempt. We have blamed You for circumstances that we have brought upon ourselves. We have turned our backs to You instead of our faces. Please, Father, forgive us. Remove the root of bitterness from our hearts, bitterness toward our fellow sinful man and bitterness toward You, our perfect Father. Renew a right spirit in us. Give us a new heart, a new mind, and a new soul. Strengthen us to love others as You have loved us. Help us to love You, our Lord and God, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Help us to cast all our cares upon You and to trust that You care for us. Help us to fully believe that You are at work, working all things together for good for those who love You and have been called according to Your purposes, bringing beauty out of the ashes of our lives. In the Name of Jesus Christ who died in my place I pray. Amen.

Whate’er my God Ordains is Right – T4G live

What You “Say in your Heart” Matters! – 1 Samuel 27 – 2025 Day 312

Published on November 6, 2025November 6, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 100, 1 Samuel 27

Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

1 Samuel 27:1 ESV

Be careful what you allow yourself to say to your heart, those things that are too dreadful or foolish to speak out loud, things you’d never utter to your husband or sister or parent or pastor because you know they’re not true and not right.

Some of us are prone to saying discouraging words in our own hearts. We need to remember what the Lord said in Deuteronomy,

“If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out.”

Deuteronomy 7:17-19a ESV

Some of us are prone to saying boastful words in our own hearts. Again, we need to remember what the Lord said in Deuteronomy,

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ (Deuteronomy 8:17 ESV)
Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, “It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,” whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. (Deuteronomy 9:4 ESV)
Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, “I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.” This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. (Deuteronomy 29:18b-19 ESV)

Remember the warnings of Psalm 10. The wicked man says in his heart, “I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity,” renouncing God and saying in his heart, “You will not call to account”? while the helpless man says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Rather, let us say to our hearts these words of David’s son, Solomon, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding,” and “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”(Proverbs 3:5, 29:25 ESV)

Heavenly Father, help me to be careful what words I say aloud, but also what words I say to my own heart, those things that no human being will ever hear. You know them, and I know them. You know my thoughts before I speak them. Help me to guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life. Help me to think about what is good and excellent and true and praiseworthy. Help me to take sinful thoughts captive and make my thoughts obey you. I recognize that I am unable to do this on my own. I need Your strength. Please help me do it for Your glory and for my good. In the name of Jesus Christ who saved me and redeemed me and rules over me, I pray. Amen

Psalm 100 (Enter In) – People and Songs

When You Find Yourself Fighting the Wicked – 1 Samuel 26 – 2025 Day 311

Published on November 5, 2025November 5, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 99, 1 Samuel 26

Imagine for a moment being in David’s shoes. Your very life is in danger, as you’re being hunted down by the father of your best friend, a man who had once been your advocate, and was now your king.

I’ve been in some tough spots before, but never anything like that! Talk about fighting against the wicked.

But David handles this battle with patients, faith, humility and kindness. Once again David overcomes evil with good – like he had earlier against Saul and like Abigail had in the previous chapter.

Next time you find yourself locked in a battle with an enemy, whether with or without a spear, try killing them with kindness, try showing them grace, and see what happens.

Today’s reading in 1 Samuel really reminded me of Psalm 37. Hope this reading blesses you – or better yet, go read it for yourself!

Isn’t He Good? – Phil Wickham

When You’re Married to a Fool – 1 Samuel 25 – 2025 Day 310

Published on November 4, 2025November 4, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 98, 1 Samuel 25

Nabal is described as a rich man. David Guzik writes, “There are four kinds of riches. There are riches in what you have, riches in what you do, riches in what you know, and riches in what you are — riches of character. Nabal was a very rich man, but only rich in what he had. He had the lowest kind of riches.”

Abigail, on the other hand, was both “discerning and beautiful.” She was rich outwardly and inwardly. She was a wise woman married to a foolish man.

Many women find themselves in that position. Sometimes that happens because you came to faith in Christ after you’re married, but sometimes it happens simply because you were naive and chose a foolish man unwittingly. Either way, now you’re married. What are you going to do?

Humble yourself. Rather than focusing on that splinter in your husband’s eye, remind yourself of the log in your own. Matthew 5-7 is a great place to look.
Seek his good and not his harm. Leave vengeance up to God. Choose to overcome evil with good. Choose kindness. Choose to bless rather than curse. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 13 are good passages to study on this.
Trust God. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” The foolish woman tears down her own house with her hands. Be wise and put your trust in God – not in yourself, not in your husband, not in your wealth or position or family name. Trust in God.

My blog post titled Making and Keeping Vows from Judges 11 might be helpful, too.

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.

Psalm 37:1-5 ESV, a Psalm of David

Heavenly Father, I pray for my sisters all across my nation and around the world who are married to foolish men. Give them strength when they are weak. Give them discernment when they don’t know what to do next. Give them patience to wait upon Your deliverance and justice. Increase their faith. Help them trust in You and You alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. Amen.

Trust in God – Elevation Worship

Are you a FOOLISH woman or a WISE one? – Ruth 2 – 2025 Day 291

Published on October 16, 2025October 21, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 79, Ruth 2

“The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.”

Proverbs 14:1 (ESV)

Matthew Henry’s writes in his commentary on Proverbs 14:1,

“A good wife is a great blessing to a family. By a fruitful wife a family is multiplied and replenished with children, and so built up. But by a prudent wife, one that is pious, industrious, and considerate, the affairs of the family are made to prosper, debts are paid, portions raised.

Many a family is brought to ruin by ill housewifery, as well as by ill husbandry. A foolish woman, that has no fear of God nor regard to her business, that is wilful, and wasteful, and humoursome, that indulges her ease and appetite, and is all for jaunting and feasting, cards and the play-house, though she come to a plentiful estate, and to a family beforehand, she will impoverish and waste it, and will as certainly be the ruin of her house as if she plucked it down with her hands; and the husband himself, with all his care, can scarcely prevent it.”

This reminded me of the passage in Matthew 7:24-27 about the wise man who built his house on the rock, versus the foolish man who built it on the sand. In looking up Matthew 7, I came across the similar, though less well-known, passage in Luke.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Luke 6:46-49

The wise woman builds her house on the firm foundation of the rock, obeying God’s Word, so when the storms of life come, her house stands. The foolish woman builds her house on the sand. She does not trouble herself to dig down to the solid foundation. She cannot be troubled to obey God’s words. When the storms of life come, her house falls.

Yet, consider this, the foolish woman of Proverbs 14:1 is tearing down her OWN house with her OWN hands. She doesn’t need any storms to tear it down for she is tearing it down herself, knowing God’s Word, but not obeying it.

My prayer is that I will spend my days building my house, not tearing it down.

Heavenly Father, help us to know Your Word and abide in it, to trust and obey Your every command. Help us to build our house on the Lord Jesus Christ that when the storms come, we can stand firm. Help us to build our families with encouraging words and faithful lives of service for Your glory and our good. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

I Set My Hope

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LOVE your Mother-in-law. LOVE your Daughter-in-law. – Ruth 1 – 2025 Day 287

Published on October 12, 2025October 12, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 75, Ruth 1

Did you know that the famous words from Ruth 1:16, “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God,” were spoken by Ruth to her mother-in-law, not her husband? Well, now you do. In fact, Ruth said this to her mother-in-law after her husband’s death.

My grandma made this for me as a wedding gift. Ruth 1:16.

Little did my Grandma know when she cross-stitched Ruth 1:16 for a wedding gift for me, what an enormous impact my mother-in-law would have on my life. To be honest, as a young bride, I struggled in my relationship with my mother-in-law, but God… God used my mother-in-law’s patience, kindness, and forgiveness to draw me to better understand God’s patience, kindness, and forgiveness.

How’s your relationship with your mother-in-law? Rather than dwelling on all the things she’s done wrong, try dwelling instead on all the things she’s done right. You married her son. She must’ve done something well. Next time you start thinking about all the ways you’d like her to change, try looking at what you could change to improve your relationship with her. Could you be more patient, kind, and forgiving toward her? Start there and see what God does. And if you need to make a call or have a face-to-face chat about something that happened days, months, or years ago, do it. Today. Don’t let bitterness take root and spoil the good fruit that God wants to bear through you.

Baby #1 – very tired parents, very happy grandparents

Heavenly Father, Thank You, Lord, for the gift of a mother-in-law who loves You and who loves me. Help me to be grateful and to recognize that this truly is a gift. Thank you for blessing my son with a wife and my daughters with husbands. Give me the wisdom and strength I need to be a patient, kind, and forgiving mother-in-law myself. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

I Will Trust My Savior Jesus – City Alight

FORMERATHEIST58

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God Speaks to Women, Too – Judges 13 – 2025 Day 278

Published on October 3, 2025October 10, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 66, Judges 13

An angel appeared to Hagar in the desert (Genesis 16) and to Mary, the mother of our Savior Jesus (Luke 1). The Lord answered the prayers of Hannah when she asked for a son (1 Samuel 1). Abigail’s discernment and quick actions spared David from having revenge on foolish Nabal (1 Samuel 25).

Here, in Judges 13, the Lord has chosen Manoah’s unnamed wife, a barren, childless woman, to be His messenger to her husband.

Sisters, God wants to use YOU as a blessing to your husband, your children, your church, and your community. He has a purpose for YOU. If you’re married, encourage your husband as your head by sincerely, genuinely sharing your life with him. Whether you’re married or not, whether you have a house full of kids or not, if God has chosen you as His child, then He has chosen you to be His ambassador, a messenger of the most high God.

Brothers, God wants to use YOU as a blessing to your wife, your children, your church, and your community. He has a purpose for YOU. If you’re married, encourage your wife as your helper by sincerely, genuinely listening to her. If God has chosen YOU as His child, then He has chosen YOU to be His ambassador, a messenger of the most high God.

Heavenly Father, I pray that we would call out to You, seeking You, morning by morning and evening by evening and that we would hear Your voice as You answer me. Thank You for choosing me to be a vessel of Your grace. May that grace overflow to my husband and my children and their children. May that grace bring glory to Your Name. Give my husband and I discernment as we listen for Your voice. Help us to know when You are speaking and grant us unity in Your Holy Spirit. Help us both to be humble toward each other and to You. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

Give Me Jesus – Fernando Ortega

Does God only speak to MEN? – FormerAtheist58

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Making and Keeping Vows – Judges 11 – 2025 Day 276

Published on October 1, 2025October 10, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 64, Judges 11

On my wedding day, over 30 years ago, I vowed before God and a room full of witnesses, to love and cherish my husband until parted by death. I’m so thankful that the Lord has given me the strength to keep that vow.

Entering into the covenant of marriage is not something to be done lightly. If you are considering marriage yourself, please think seriously before vowing yourself to be faithful to another until death. Like Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth.”

Pray and seek wisdom from the Lord.
Seek counsel from believing friends.
Ask deep questions of your future spouse, making certain that they are committed followers of Jesus Christ before you enter into such a covenant with them.

When I started pondering this topic of keeping a difficult wedding vow, I started thinking about tough questions like these:

What if a husband is abusing his wife or his children? What if he is actively involved in an adulterous relationship and refuses to cut it off despite his wife’s pleas? What if he is destroying his family, squandering his health and his money on drugs or gambling? Would the Lord want a woman to remain with that kind of man in order to keep her marriage vows?

Charles Spurgeon said in his sermon titled, Retreat Impossible, “In Jephthah’s case there were good reasons for going back [on his vow]. He had made a rash vow, and such things are much better broken than kept…. If you have come under a rash vow, you must not dare to keep it. You ought to go before God and repent that you have made a vow which involves sin; but as to keeping the sinful vow, that were to add sin to sin.”

Do Spurgeon’s words apply to the marriage vows? Is it adding sin to sin to stay with an abusive spouse in order to keep your wedding vows or is it not? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I’m sure thinking about them. I want my thoughts to be God’s thoughts, rooted in the character of God and the Holy Scriptures.

But, for the rest of us, who aren’t facing those kinds of marriages, whose marriage struggles are more rooted in dealing with annoyances and irritations of two selfish humans living in the same house, KEEP YOUR VOWS!

Heavenly Father, I pray for my marriage. Give me the strength to love my husband and do good to him all the days of my life. Help me to see the log in my own eye. Give me a humble heart that I might live at peace with the husband that you have given to me. I lift up my sisters who find themselves in an abusive marriage. Please protect them and guide them. Protect their children. Protect their minds, hearts, and bodies. Help them to love their neighbor as themselves and do good to their enemies. Show them the way of escape that You have for them. I don’t have all the answers, but You do. Show us the way, Lord. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless Lamb, we pray. Amen.

In the Valley – City Alight

KEEPING VOWS when IT’S HARD – FormerAtheist58

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Who’s Fighting Your Battles? – Judges 7 – 2025 Day 272

Published on September 27, 2025October 10, 2025 by kendraskeLeave a comment

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 60, Judges 7

The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
Judges 7:2 ESV

This passage has had a special place in my heart since one night about twenty years ago when the Holy Spirit convicted me about how often I used manipulation to get my husband to do what I wanted. That night, the Lord opened my eyes to the importance of trusting Him to fight my battles, rather than trusting my own skills of argumentation to get my way. That night, I decided to quit fighting against my husband and to start praying for him. That night, I finally recognized that I might be winning these marital battles, but I was losing the war for my marriage.

Can any of you relate?

Ask yourself what weapons you’re using to fight your own battles: Nagging and complaining? Threatening and yelling? Silence and the cold shoulder? Put those weapons away, friends. They’re not the Lord’s weapons; they’re the enemy’s.

If the Lord can cause the entire Middianite army to kill one another, giving the Israelites success by merely blowing their trumpets, then surely He conquer the heart of your stubborn loved one.

Put on the whole armor of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. And take up your weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and start praying in the Spirit, asking Him to fight for you. (Ephesians 6:12-17)

Join forces with the Lord.
Remember who your real enemy is.
Quit fighting your spiritual brothers and sisters
and start fighting the spiritual forces of evil.

Heavenly Father, we need You to fight our battles for us. Open our eyes to see the spiritual battle that we are in. Make us soldiers in Your army, wielding that Sword of the Spirit, your Word, with excellence and accuracy, praying without ceasing, and seeking Your face for direction day after day. Let us not grow weary of well-doing. Give us clean hands and pure hearts. Help us to root out those spirits of bitterness and selfishness. Protect us from pride and manipulation. Make us more like You. In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Brother, we pray. Amen.