The Creek

09/02/2026

As we're worshiping and studying our way through the Book of Ruth over the next few weeks, we're reminded that God can take situations that look hopeless and fill them with gladness and blessing. Naomi ended up in a dark place of emptiness in a pagan land with no husband and no sons to protect or provide for her.

God has a way of stepping into situations where all hope seems lost. With God on our side -- as we saw in Romans 8.31 -- who can be against us. The Widow of Zarapeth discovered this for herself when she used the last of what she had to feed the prophet Elijah. Because she obeyed the word of the Lord, God's miraculous provision was hers day after day. It never ran out.

His provision is with us at Hollow Creek. There's not a resource He does not have at His disposal. There's not a need He can't meet. Let's continue believing that "God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us --- to Him be glory in the church through Christ Jesus!" (Eph 3.20-21)

09/02/2026

But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren.… Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together… to go to battle against the children of Israel. (Judges 20:13–14)

The events at Gibeah horrified all of Israel. With a unified voice, they demanded that Benjamin surrender the guilty men so that justice might be done and evil removed from the nation. “But the children of Benjamin would not listen.” (20.13). Rather than condemning the wickedness committed among them, the Benjamites decided to defend the guilty. The sin of a few men became the wicked cause of an entire tribe. Loyalty to their own people became more important than loyalty to God and His truth.

Benjamin may have viewed Israel’s demand as an attack upon their tribe. Pride often responds that way. When confronted with sin, we turn attention away from what was done and resent the person who exposed it. We defend ourselves when we should humble ourselves. We protect reputations when, instead, we should pursue repentance.

Consider Benjamin’s downward spiral: (1) surface religion without obedience to God’s word, (2) hard hearts and degrading morals permeated the people, and (3) Benjamin fought fiercely to protect what they have chosen for themselves. The rejection of God’s authority hardens into resistance against correction.

The greatest danger is not merely that we may fall into sin. God offers mercy to those who confess and turn from it. The greater danger comes when pride persuades us to excuse our sin, defend it, and fight against anyone who calls us to repentance. Benjamin could have judged the wickedness within its borders. Instead, the tribe nearly destroyed itself protecting it.

REFLECT: Has pride ever caused you to defend your actions rather than to listen to God’s voice of correction? Where did that lead? How would you respond today if the unified voice of God’s people shined the light of His Word on your sin and pride.

09/01/2026

And it was so, in those days, when there was no king in Israel…No such deed has been done or seen from the day that…Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day.” (Judges 19:1, 30)

Judges 19 shows what happens when everyone becomes his own spiritual authority. A Levite and his concubine entered Gibeah expecting hospitality among their own countrymen. Instead, wicked men demanded that the Levite be surrendered to them for their homosexual gratification. To save himself, the Levite sent his concubine outside. While he slept, she was abused through the night and found dead on the doorstep at morning.

The Levite then divided her body and sent the pieces throughout Israel. Even in a nation accustomed to sin, the horror of this deed generated outrage: “No such deed has been done or seen” (v. 30). Let’s remember how they got there.

After Israel invented their own worship in Chapter 19. Next, they redefined morality and societal norms (Ch 19). Once they rejected true worship, they soon disregarded God’s truth about marriage, sexuality, hospitality, justice, mercy, and human life.

“There was no king in Israel” (v. 1) – a parable for our day. “No King” means more than the absence of a sovereign leader on an earthly throne. Israel had rejected the rule of God Himself. Each person became his own authority, following human desire rather than divine revelation. When God’s authority is removed, human dignity soon disappears with it. The concubine was treated less than someone made in God’s image. She was used, discarded, and exploited—even after death.

A society cannot reject God’s rule and retain God’s order. When everyone becomes his own authority, spiritual chaos ensues.

REFLECT: Do you sometimes want to take matters into your own hands rather than prayerfully searching the scriptures to see what God says should be done? Why might we be so prone to act rather than to pray? How can you overcome that tendency?

08/31/2026

So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. (Judges 18.31)

Today’s scripture gives us a look at the spiritual condition of the three final, terrible chapters of Judges. Before Israel’s moral decline unfolds in Chapter 19, today’s verse exposes the reason for it: the people had rejected God’s authority and established religion which they had customized for themselves.

If we were to go back to Chapter 17, we would see that the Tribe of Dan now had a carved image, a priest, and a place of worship with all the outward appearances of devotion—but it was built around an idol stolen from Micah and a Levite who had sold his ministry to the highest bidder. “…They set up for themselves” something God had never commanded. Meanwhile, “the house of God was in Shiloh.” God’s tabernacle was present, His law had been given, and His appointed worship was available. Yet, the people preferred a religion they could control, amend and use as they saw fit.

The same danger confronts God’s people today. We may retain religious language and observe appointed times of worship while quietly reshaping our faith around our preferences. It’s possible to desire to be known as people of God to the world around us and, at the same time, never bowing our hearts before the God of heaven. Sunday morning becomes a fellowship event rather than submission and praise to the Lord of Heaven. But worship made by and for ourselves will never restrain the sin within us.

Israel worshiped what was right in their own eyes in a manner that was convenient for themselves. But worship affects daily life. Any who fall into that pattern will find that the next easy step is going astray in their daily walk and decisions.

REFLECT: When you meet with God’s people for worship, what are your attitude and expectations? What sacrifices do you bring? ”The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart…” (Psalms 51.17)

08/30/2026

08/28/2026

“Nothing in all of creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8.39)

Paul searched the entire universe for something capable of separating God’s children from His love—and has found nothing.
He has considered trouble on earth: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. He has looked beyond this world to death and life, angels and principalities, powers and things yet to come. He has measured height and depth and then gathered everything else beneath the phrase, “any other created thing.” His conclusion remains unchanged: nothing can separate us from God’s love.

This does not mean that Christians will never feel lonely, frightened, or forsaken. Paul wrote these words as a man well acquainted with suffering. The assurance of God’s love does not rest upon what we presently feel, but upon what God has permanently accomplished.
His love is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” At the cross, God gave His own Son for us. Through Christ’s death, our sins were condemned; through His resurrection, death was defeated; and through His intercession, every accusation against us is answered. The love that saved us is the love that holds us.

Our circumstances may change suddenly. Friends may disappoint us, health may fail, and tomorrow may bring trials we cannot foresee. Yet nothing we encounter lies beyond the reach of God’s love, and nothing has the power to remove us from it.

Our confidence is not that we will always hold firmly to Him, but that His love in Christ will always hold firmly to us.

REFLECT: Remember a time when you were not very lovely in a spiritual sense. Do you know that God loved you immeasurably, even so? What are some of the evidences of God’s love for you and what is your response to His love today?

08/27/2026

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Rom 8.35, 37)

We are blessed with so much abundance – comfort, provision, loving relationships and personal fulfillment – just to name a few. God’s blessings are gracious and too many to count. But our repeated experience is that nothing here below creates an unbroken stream of happiness. We have our joys and triumphs, but the setbacks remain. We spend time on the mountaintops of life. But our path leads down into valleys, valleys with shadows, even valleys filled with the shadow of death.

Yet, God planted a truth deep in Paul’s heart to share with us: In every struggle of this life, we have already been crowned as “more than a conqueror”. The battles are not won today. They were all won 2,000 years ago, one dark Friday afternoon.

Between verses 35 and 37 quoted above, Paul refers back to the words of the Psalmist – “…for your sake, we are killed all day long [and] led like sheep to the slaughter” (Psa 44.22). When Jesus was led up Calvary’s mountain, he took with Him all the struggles, betrayals, failures and disappointments we face in our lifetimes. And by virtue of His death, WE are made to be conquerors!

In the messy everyday world of falling short of God’s glorious purposes … and in the all-to-often challenges to victorious faith, we have a trinity of consolation to encourage our souls: (1) v. 26 – the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, (2) v. 31 - God the Father declares He is for us, and (3) v. 34 – Jesus is interceding for on our behalf. Satan is no match for the Trinity of God; his schemes and purposes fail in this life and in eternity! We are conquerors!

REFLECT: Is there some struggle you’re facing today, some trial or even some persecution? Prayerfully, will you picture Jesus taking it up Calvary’s hill to the cross? Let Him defeat it there.

08/26/2026

The Book of Ruth is an outstanding reminder how God restores that which has become broken and empty. It reminds us how He blesses those who have found themselves astray from His perfect path. And it shows how persistent faith and reliance upon His promises leads to eternal blessings. Let's get ready for Sunday!