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Gleanings From The Word

Category: Scripture Index

  • When You’re Drowning in Sin, Call on Your Heavenly Lifeguard

    When You’re Drowning in Sin, Call on Your Heavenly Lifeguard

    Jesus is always ready to rescue. because of God's Faithfulness

    The job of a lifeguard is to watch over people and rescue them from dangerous situations, even saving lives if need be. God is the ultimate lifeguard. He never sleeps, is always on duty and responds to the faintest of cries for help.

    King David endured many trials, often of his own doing, but He understood that he could not save himself. David had to call upon the Lord.

    He said, “I love You, O Yahweh, my strength.”
    Yahweh is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
    My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
    I call upon Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised,
    And I am saved from my enemies.

    The cords of death encompassed me,
    And the torrents of vileness terrified me.
    The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
    The snares of death confronted me.

    In my distress I called upon Yahweh,
    And cried to my God for help;
    He heard my voice out of His temple,
    And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.     Psalm 18:1-6

    A drowning person is unable to save themselves. They need outside assistance.

    God rescues us from our sin, knowing full well that before long, we’ll be in over our heads again and in need of rescue.

    His mercy and patience are endless. His sacrifice for us was once for all (Hebrews 10:11-18). Our sins are forgiven at the cross, but He repeatedly pulls us out of the flames.

    When we become true followers of Christ, we are covered by His imputed righteousness, but we are far from perfect. In the journey to be made holy, fully set apart for Christ (being sanctified), there are many missteps and problems.

    Yet, when we turn to Him and call out, He comes to our rescue again and again. There will still be earthly consequences for our sins, but we are held fast by what Christ has done. No one can snatch us out of His hands.

    I find that very comforting. I want to be like Jesus more than anything else, but I stumble and fall far too often. I know that when I call, He will answer. My heavenly lifeguard is always there. That’s great news because I need Him every moment of every day. 

    Sometimes, I wonder how long He will stay patient with me. Then I remember His character and promises. God is incapable of failing to keep His promises. It is part of His very nature.

    Do you need rescue? Call on Him today! Good news for the drowning

    Kevin 

    Life: God has His hands on believers’ lives

    God wastes nothing.

    SUMMARY

    Like a drowning person unable to save themselves, we are helpless against sin without divine rescue — and God, our ultimate lifeguard, is always on duty. Drawing from Psalm 18 and the life of King David, this devotional reminds us that no matter how often we stumble, God answers every cry for help.

    TAKEAWAY

    God is the ultimate lifeguard — never sleeping, always on duty, responding to the faintest cry for help 

    Like David, we cannot save ourselves from sin; we must call upon the Lord 

    His mercy is endless; though earthly consequences remain, no one can snatch us from His hands

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  • Knowing the Bible like the back of my hand

    Knowing the Bible like the back of my hand

    Knowing the bible like the back of your hand

    If I said to you that I know something like the back of my hand, you would understand what I meant. It’s an English language idiom that means “to have very good and detailed knowledge of something.”

    If someone said to you, “I know the bible like the back of my hand,” you would understand them to mean a deep understanding of the Scriptures, likely with large portions memorized, a more-than-average understanding of the various books, their contexts and how they come together. Honestly, it’s a pretty bold claim.

    While the Bible doesn’t use that idiom, it could be said of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Jesus day. They knew what we call the Old Testament backward and forward and could likely recite at least the first five books word for word. They also understood all the rabbinical interpretations and applications. I would love to have their knowledge.

    The man we come to know as Paul the Apostle was once known as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was highly regarded as a zealot, a teacher and a persecutor of the Christian faith. He stood by and held Stephen’s cloak as Stephen was being stoned to death for his beliefs. No one doubted his sincerity, his knowledge or his passion.

    Despite all that, Saul was missing something. He didn’t yet know Jesus. That would come later in a divine encounter on the Damascus Road.

    Without Christ, all his knowledge, his years of study, the sincerity of his beliefs and his zeal were meaningless. He was doomed to eternal damnation.

    In Acts, Paul says; I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but having been brought up in this city, having been instructed at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 2:3

    Throughout Paul’s writings, we see that he came to understand that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that we are saved by faith through God’s grace and mercy, bought by the shed blood of Jesus.

    For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

    Paul also teaches that we need to know the Word, to understand what it teaches and apply it to our lives. To be a Christian takes faith, but that doesn’t exclude knowledge.

    All the “head knowledge” in the world, even if you can say you know the Bible, church history and theology like “the back of my hand”, without that moving to your heart and manifesting as faith, it’s useless.

    Faith isn’t a blind leap. You have to have enough knowledge to know you are a sinner and what you need to be reconciled to God. Our walk isn’t a question of faith versus knowledge. It’s faith and knowledge. 

    Faith saves you, and the knowledge and its application deepen your relationship. With Christ. The way to reconciliation with God

    I pray you have the faith to be saved, and the head knowledge to understand. I pray that your love for Jesus and knowledge of what He requires move you to application (works)

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone) 

    SUMMARY

    Knowing Scripture deeply is admirable, but even the most profound biblical knowledge is worthless without personal faith in Jesus Christ. True Christian living requires both — faith that saves and knowledge that deepens the relationship.

    KEY POINTS

    Saul of Tarsus had unmatched scriptural knowledge yet was lost without Christ, proving that head knowledge alone cannot save. 

     Salvation comes by grace through faith — not works or intellectual achievement — as Paul himself came to understand after his Damascus Road encounter. 

     Faith and knowledge are not opposites; faith saves us, while growing in the Word deepens our walk with Christ and moves us toward application.

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    All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.” All rights reserved.

    Scripture quotations are from the Legacy Standard Bible® (LSB®), Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. 

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

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