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111 illustrations
When God needed a warrior to accomplish His purposes, He qualified David for the work.
When you sit before your meal, you behold a creature that once swam freely in waters or soared through heavens—now placed there by your authority.
God adorns the lilies and tulips with gorgeous apparel for a single day's duration, spun by divine providence, surpassing the tracery of the most splendid court—such magnificence that Solomon himself, with all his wisdom and wealth, could not match them.
As sap flows from roots through trunk, branches, and the remotest leaf, so genuine piety pervades the whole life of the godly man, imparting its spirit and character to everything he does.
The word *purse* (*zone*) referred to the hollow girdles Jews wore to carry money—yet the disciples were sent out stripped of such security.
This declaration concerns the body's care and furnishes arguments against fear.
Exell observes three dimensions of Elohim's redundant blessing: First, natural blessing exceeds mere utility.
Adonai alone possesses power to send forth laborers into His harvest—we rely too heavily upon our own agencies.
The structure of this obligation reveals three essential truths.
Divine interpositions manifest throughout Scripture as providential rather than miraculous rescues.
They walk uprightly—their goodness is not stationary but progressive—and are consecrated to God's service, living temples of the Holy Ghost.
When a man looks downward at his feet, his circle of vision measures mere inches—encompassing only small details and fragmented parts whose purpose remains obscure.
John Trapp's commentary drives this home—one portion of wood serves its *proper* purpose, the other becomes an object of futile worship.
The Psalmist's exultation in verse 4 reveals how the Divine presence transforms desperation into joy, even before deliverance manifests physically.
The first figure—the shepherd—depicts Yahweh's intimate care over the soul's journey.
First, wealth itself is good—Elohim commands humanity to possess the earth and subdue it, and Scripture approves righteous acquisition.
First, it is profoundly *personal*—not abstract truth, but living communion.
When Herod sought the young child's life, evil demonstrated its relentless persistence against innocence itself.
How easily the Word of Elohim slips from sight when unestimated!
When the psalmist declares, "There will I make the horn of David to bud," he employs a vivid metaphor drawn from nature itself.
The gospel offers milk for babes and meat for strong men; the ordinances present a feast of fat things.
Yet God commanded Gideon to steal into the enemy camp on the very night his army felt their weakness most acutely.
Even such magnificent power proves utterly futile for deliverance.
These arms include their valor, their power, their wit, their wealth, their abundance.