Alistair Begg Daily Devotional

The True King

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Jesus fulfills God’s promises and dispenses His every blessing. He has ushered in the new covenant and assumed His long-anticipated role as the true King. From Jesus, every blessing flows. Through Him, every promise is kept. To Him, all the glory is given.

Christians acknowledge these truths at the Communion table when we take the cup and remember that Jesus poured out His blood, the blood of the new covenant, for the forgiveness of our sins. On the cross, Jesus died to take the penalty that we deserve so that sinners, who do not deserve His mercy and grace, may enjoy the blessings of forgiveness.

This means that when we place our faith in Jesus, we may be sure that He has taken our sin and its judgment and given all His righteousness to us in exchange. Jesus died the death we deserve. He lived the perfect life we could not live. God has wrapped us up in the blanket of His forgiveness through the provision of His Son. We should never fail to be amazed that these things are true, by faith, of us.

The Old Testament prophets were clear: there was going to come a King who would be a descendant of David, and He would fulfill God’s promises. He would establish God’s rule, introduce a new age, and deal with the effects of evil. Jesus may not have looked much like a king as He hung on the cross, but it was His moment of greatest victory. And when Jesus strode out from the tomb, His resurrection declared that He was not simply the son of David but also the Son of God, able to conquer even the grave.

All authority rests with Him, and through Him flows an unending stream of grace and mercy. Only the one who is the source of such power can transform a heart and prove worthy of our souls’ affections.

Jesus right now rules and reigns at the right hand of the Father, but He also reigns in the hearts of those who trust Him. There is no better day than today for the lost to give up their arms of rebellion, humbly bow before this worthy King, admit that He is the very Savior they so desperately need, and ask Him to reign on the throne of their lives. Is Christ your King? Then as His subject, worship and praise Him, and as His ambassador, go and let others know about this hope you have found.

Going Deeper: 1 Corinthians 15:12–28

Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.

A Matter of Concern

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah 4:10–11

Jonah considered himself a victim. He was convinced that he was right in believing that Nineveh should receive judgment and that God was wrong to have rescued the city. He was also convinced that God was wrong in allowing the shade-bearing plant to shrivel, leaving him to suffer in the heat.

In response, God did not engage with the prophet according to his sorrowful objection but instead raised an important question: “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” (Jonah 4:9). God was arguing from the lesser to the greater: if Jonah could be so phenomenally concerned about a plant that had come and gone in the space of 24 hours, didn’t He, the living God, have a right to be concerned about the people of Nineveh? God was calling Jonah to review his scale of priorities.

God’s question to Jonah is a question for us as well. Is there anything in our lives that we are more concerned about than seeing unbelieving people become committed followers of Jesus Christ? If we’re alert to our own hearts, we may realize that in regard to our time, finances, gifts, and freedoms, “Is there anything?” quickly becomes “How many things?” Those who observe us may think we’re far more concerned about matters of our own comfort than we are about the many souls who have never heard the gospel.

What was Jonah’s response to God’s question? We don’t know. The book of Jonah finishes with this divine question. But the most important question is not about how Jonah responded. The emphasis of the entire book is upon the compassion of God Himself. The most important question is this: How do we, the readers of the book, perceive God’s grace? Will His example establish in us a pattern of concern for others that longs for them to turn from sin and trust in Him? Will our hearts be more like Jonah’s or like the Lord’s?

It is time to stop setting any worldly concerns ahead of reaching the lost souls in our communities for Christ. We have the joy of knowing God’s compassion in our lives through Jesus. And the only fitting response to this great privilege is to give of ourselves so that others would come to know Him as well. What do you most care about? asks God. Your home? Your possessions? Your tech gadgets? Or the people in your street who do not know Jesus?

Going Deeper: Matthew 28:16–20

Mysterious Providence

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“The Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.”

Jonah 4:6–7

When Jonah left Nineveh, the city had been saved, but the prophet was sulking. I knew You’d forgive them despite all the evil they’ve done, he said to the Lord. Now I’d rather be dead than have to see my enemies forgiven (Jonah 4:2-3).

Jonah made a little shelter for himself (v 5), presumably out of stones or mud bricks; the heat of the sun would have made it very uncomfortable for him to sit out in the open air. Picture him as he sat in his little hut, wishing that he were dead, and then realizing that a wonderful plant was growing around him. Suddenly the heat of the day was eased by this plant’s shadow—and Jonah was very, very happy.

But his gladness was short-lived. The same God who provided the plant to make Jonah happy also provided the worm that brought about its destruction. The plant shriveled up not in some unnatural way but as a result of normal processes taking place under God’s divine control.

God the Creator is sovereign over all that He has made. In His mysterious providence, He was continuing to work with His servant according to the purpose of His will. There is a recurring phrase in the book of Jonah: “God appointed.” He appointed a great fish, a plant, a worm, and a scorching east wind, all as an expression of His love and concern for His servant (Jonah 1:17; 4:8). Whether through a gigantic fish or a small worm, God was at work—as He still is—directing everything to its appointed end.

We see this doctrine of providence addressed in Question 27 of the Heidelberg Catechism: “What do you understand by the providence of God?” The answer comes: “God’s providence is His almighty and ever present power, whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come not by chance but by His fatherly hand.”[1]

Throughout life’s journey, as you encounter both “plants” that make you comfortable and happy and “worms” that remove comfort or company from your life, you can find encouragement in knowing that you’re not held in the grip of some blind, fatalistic force. Rather, your heavenly Father, who holds you with a loving embrace, is ordering everything that He might achieve His ultimate purpose in your life: to make you more like His Son and bring you home to His side. So consider your life. Where are the plants? Where are the worms? And will you seek to give thanks for both, secure in the knowledge that both are given by a loving Father for your eternal good?

Going Deeper: James 1:9–18

Footnotes:

[1] Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 27.

Undeserving Servants

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“And [Jonah] prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster…” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?””

Jonah 4:2, Jonah 4:4

When children do something wrong, they often seek their parents’ forgiveness, receive it, and then say, “I know I was wrong, but… there was a perfectly good reason that I was doing what I was doing.” We see something similar with the prophet Jonah. God had forgiven him, picked him up, and put him back on track, and still he tried to justify his previous disobedience. He was simultaneously feeling angry, arguing, and praying—which is not an easy feat!

In Jonah’s arguing, notice how many times the personal pronoun “I” pops out. There was a bit too much “Jonah” in his speech—and therefore in his heart—as he presented his case as a matter of his word against the Lord’s. He foolishly supposed that his way was better than God’s.

Jonah’s complaint was also rooted in a double standard. Though he had recently been the recipient of God’s compassion and mercy, he found fault with God for displaying that very same mercy to those who Jonah felt should be beyond redemption.

The big issue for Jonah was God’s sovereign grace. He was angry at God for acting in a way that he did not understand or approve of. But the Lord had long ago declared, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19). Divine grace towards sinners can never be explained. It does not have a reason; it simply reflects who God is.

In response to Jonah’s reaction, the Lord did not ask him if he was angry but whether he had a right to be angry. That was the core matter: did Jonah—a representative of a people whom God had favored even when they’d gone astray, and who in his disobedience had personally known the saving hand of God—have any valid grounds to object to God’s compassion toward others? The answer is clear: no. Neither do we have any right to challenge God on how and to whom He extends His mercy or how He directs all things in order to save His people and glorify His Son.

If we find ourselves angry with God and complaining about the way He has chosen to go about fulfilling His purposes, it is because we have forgotten just how undeserving we are of receiving God’s grace. Here is the danger: that we become so tolerant of our own disobedience that we think we are entitled to God’s favor and blessing. But all is of grace, every day. Only when we have been gripped by grace will we be able to rejoice in the abundance of God’s mercy that is lavished upon His undeserving saints.

Going Deeper: Jonah 4

In Harmony with God’s Plan

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.”

Jonah 3:10–4:1

Even prophets sometimes have a lot to learn.

After his time in the belly of the fish, Jonah was no longer disobedient, but he was perplexed in his obedience, wrestling still with God’s sovereign grace. Although, having initially sought to run away from God’s purposes for him, Jonah had gone where he’d been told to go and had said what he’d been told to say, he was by no means in harmony with God’s gracious plan for Nineveh. Revival had broken out in a city that had been completely hardened to the God of Israel—and the prophet of God responded in anger towards his God!

Yet even though Jonah was churlish and narrow-minded and responded wrongly to God’s kindness, God didn’t write him off. He had already provided a large fish to save Jonah from disobedience; He could justifiably have provided a large lion to eat him too! But He didn’t, because He is gracious and compassionate. He treated Jonah with patience and kindness to bring him to the realization that what was wrong, more than any other thing, was his attitude.

Jonah’s reaction to the Ninevites’ repentance was strange for a preacher. We may have expected him to be grateful that God chose not to cast him off but to give him the privilege of being used in His service. Instead the city’s repentance “displeased Jonah exceedingly.” A literal translation of this verse takes it a step further: “It was evil to Jonah, a great evil.” The absence of the calamity that he expected—a judgment which he thought and hoped would come upon Nineveh—proved to be a calamity in his own heart and mind.

Unpalatable though it sounds, we may see our attitudes and reactions reflected in Jonah’s. We may go where we’re told to go, we may say what we’re told to say, we may externally conform to all that God has called us to do… and yet, at the very core of our lives, we may not really be in harmony with how His plan is unfolding. We may long for judgment to fall rather than mercy to be extended. We may chafe against God blessing others in ways that He has not blessed us or blessing others without them showing the commitment to His mission that we think we have displayed. We may find ourselves telling God how He ought to arrange things in His world.

What will bring us into line with His compassion and send us joyfully on His mission? Simply this: to understand that we are no better than anyone else—no less deserving of His wrath and no more deserving of His kindness. As it demonstrates the mercy of God, the cross humbles our hearts and fills them with the same compassion and grace that took His Son to Calvary. Are you struggling to live with such compassion toward others? Gaze at the cross and ask the Lord to teach you what Jonah also needed to learn.

Going Deeper: Colossians 1:21–29

Our Unchanging God

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

Jonah 3:10

The Bible makes clear that God is unchanging. At the same time, the book of Jonah affirms that He can and does change His attitude towards people and His way of dealing with them. How are we to make sense of this apparent contradiction?

We see this tension elsewhere in Scripture. In His dealings with King Saul, for instance, God said, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments” (1 Samuel 15:11). But a few verses later we’re told, “The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret” (v 29). It seems that God regrets His decision, but then we are told that He doesn’t have regret.

Yet there is no ultimate inconsistency between these two modes of expression. When God is said to have regret or change His mind, the descriptive language is an accommodation to our finite human perspective. It appears that there has been a change in God, but what has actually changed is our human conduct. Simply put, Saul was no longer the man he had once been. He had become persistently disobedient, and God responded to that changed circumstance in a way that was entirely consistent with His character. Similarly, in response to Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites changed their conduct—this time, in the opposite direction: they turned away from evil. God is consistently against sin and favorable towards repentance and faith; His character does not change. His warnings are intended to alert the wayward and bring them to repentance—and if repentance occurs, then God responds accordingly.

Only because God responds in this way can the sinner who believes in Jesus come to know His acceptance. Because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), we can know that when we come in penitence and childlike faith, God receives us with compassion and mercy. That is His nature, and He will not change. From our perspective, it may look as if He has changed His mind—but God always remains true to every word He has ever spoken. In a world that is always changing and where even the best of us cannot always keep our word, here is great ground for your confidence and joy today.

Going Deeper: Jonah 3

A Reminder About Repentance

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”

Jonah 3:5–6

Can you imagine your president or prime minister making a national broadcast in which they call for the nation to give up their violent deeds, turn away from the evil that they have embraced, and seek God’s mercy so that He might come and save them from His judgment? This is essentially what happened in Nineveh, before Jonah’s very eyes.

It’s quite remarkable that the Ninevites believed God as quickly and as completely as they did. As they listened to Jonah’s warning of coming judgment, their reaction was widespread and heartfelt, as evidenced by their garments of penitence. And this public response was more than matched by the royal response. The king changed his garments, replacing his royal robes with sackcloth; he changed his place, exchanging his throne for a seat in the dust; and he changed his tune, issuing a proclamation of repentance.

This stands in contrast to many people of Jesus’ day, and perhaps our own. As Jesus Himself taught, the Ninevites “repented at the preaching of Jonah,” whereas countless people He spoke to refused to recognize that “something greater than Jonah”—namely, Christ—was now proclaimed (Luke 11:32). They rejected what the Ninevite king had grasped when he said, “Let everyone turn from his evil way … Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (Jonah 3:8-9). He recognized that the Ninevites’ repentance did not necessarily mean that God would be forbearing in His reaction. He was still uncertain about whether their turning would be accompanied by a divine turning.

It’s a reminder to us of this: even the repentant have no case to argue for God’s acceptance. They remain solely dependent on God’s grace. Repentance is necessary for forgiveness, but it does not earn it. Like the Prodigal Son, the person with a genuinely repentant heart says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18-19). Repentance begins with acknowledging that we are truly deserving of God’s judgment and with declaring our desperate need for His mercy.

Because “something greater than Jonah” is now here, we can know and declare that repentance will always be met by forgiveness, for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). But we should learn from this pagan king that we do not manipulate God’s hand by our repentance or obedience, and that true repentance is not skin deep but heartfelt, always involving a change of attitude and of behavior. This is a lesson we must heed every day of our Christian lives—for, as Martin Luther said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”[1]

Going Deeper: Luke 11:29–32

Footnotes:

[1] The Ninety-Five Theses, First Thesis

Mercy Proclaimed

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.”

Jonah 3:1–3

God is the God of second chances.

Jonah had responded to God’s call to warn Nineveh of His coming judgment by running off to hide. But when the call came again, he did not drag his feet the second time. Aware of his failure and of God’s grace toward him, he seemed eager to preach to them at the first opportunity. When we finally read of Jonah calling the people to repentance, we can imagine the weight of his own experience as he spoke firsthand about the divine consequences for disobedience. He brought a warning, and with it surely a personal testimony of the fact that God is both willing and able to save sinful people from even the most extreme circumstances. Though he would later prove not to have fully embraced the magnitude and scope of God’s grace (Jonah 4:1-3), the mercy that God had shown Jonah surely pervaded his message to the Ninevites. The one who had been given a second chance through the divine provision of a fish now held out a second chance to a city of men and women who had determinedly turned from the Lord.

Have you grasped that God is the God of second (and third and fourth) chances? Have you grasped that you cannot outrun God’s mercy or plumb the depths of His grace? If you have, then you surely will hold out the gospel message to others. And the way that you do so will reflect the mercy you have received. If Christians sound brittle, heartless, and legalistic as they talk about the faith, their hearts have not yet been softened enough by God’s mercy, grace, and love. If, however, there is a sense of the winning, wooing wonder of God’s mercy in a Christian’s words and deeds, it’s safe to assume that he or she has known such mercy.

The hymn writer Charles Wesley, won over by God’s mercy, readily proclaimed:

Depth of mercy! Can there be mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear? Me, the chief of sinners, spare?
I have long withstood His grace: long provoked Him to His face;
Would not hearken to His calls; grieved Him by a thousand falls…
There for me the Savior stands, shows His wounds and spreads His hands:
God is love! I know, I feel; Jesus weeps, but loves me still.[1]

Reflect on God’s mercy to you now—in bringing you to faith and then in His ongoing patience with you and forgiveness of you. Let the sense of wonder at His dealings with you permeate the way in which you tell the story of His redeeming love to others. And if there is someone you know whom you have failed to show God’s mercy or to share it with them when you had the opportunity, pray now for a second chance—and then seize it.

Going Deeper: Psalm 30

Footnotes:

[1] Charles Wesley, “Depth of Mercy” (1740).

Dry Land Awaits

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me.””

Jonah 2:1–2

Here is a word for the struggling believer, to the backslidden believer, to those of us who find ourselves in the depths because of our disobedience.

The emphasis of the book of Jonah is not on Jonah’s predicaments so much as it is on God’s provision. God used extraordinary measures to save Jonah from his sin and disobedience. The prophet acknowledges that it was God who “cast [him] into the deep, into the heart of the seas” (Jonah 2:3) Yes, it was the sailors who had tossed Jonah overboard, but Jonah recognized that what took place was under God’s sovereign hand, and that the sailors acted as His instruments. God had pursued him and had him thrown into the raging waters in order that he would come to a place where he could say, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me.”

Furthermore, in the belly of the great fish, the prophet felt the sting of being separated from God, of being “driven away from [His] sight” (Jonah 2:4). For Jonah, the physical terror of almost drowning in the ocean and being swallowed by a fish paled in comparison to being forever estranged from his heavenly Father. Jonah knew God’s love; he knew what it was to be in God’s presence. He was able to understand what it would mean to be separated from God, even though—and this is the perversity of sin—he himself had chosen to separate himself from God.

What a word for us! It is God who, when we are wandering away from Him, comes to us in the storms and valleys, who alters our circumstances to catch our attention, who allows us to feel isolated and separated all in order that we might say, “This is not where I belong. This is not what God wants for me. I cannot get myself out of this predicament. But He is able.”

Today, you might be dealing with a deep sense of failure and regret. You have been running. You have disobeyed the clear voice of God and attempted to hide. But your story doesn’t have to end there. In His grace and kindness, God is determined to save you and to complete the work in your life which He has begun (Philippians 1:6). In the Christian life, there is always a need to repent but never any reason to despair.

When Jonah ended up on dry land, it was not because he deserved to. It was because of God’s grace. Likewise, it is God alone who comes to us in our sin and disobedience in order that He might cleanse, save, and restore us to His purposes. Can you see the dry land today?

Going Deeper: Jonah 2

Lord of All Creation

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”

Jonah 1:3–4

We are not in control of creation. But God is—and He is therefore worthy of all our praise and adoration.

Divine control over the oceans—indeed, over all creation—was a reason for constant praise in the psalmists’ work. When we read the Psalms, we discover again and again that God’s people delight in praising His sovereign power over the created order: His control over the seas, even over the ebb and flow of their tides.

We see in Psalm 33, for instance, that “he gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses” (v 7, NIV). It’s a dramatic picture—and it is part of God’s excellence and glory. In the same way that we may move and pour a gallon of lemonade, God Almighty is able to simply gather up the oceans of the world and put them in jars. How right and fitting, then, that we worship our Creator God in awe and reverence!

Likewise, God’s authority over creation encourages us to trust in His providential care. Later in Jonah’s story, we discover that the Lord “appointed a plant,” He “appointed a worm,” and He “appointed a scorching east wind” to fulfill His plans for Jonah and for the people of Nineveh (Jonah 4:6-8). How different this is from the pagan mindset both in Jonah’s day and in our own. The crewmen on Jonah’s ship regarded the sea as an uncontrollable primeval force at whose mercy they were all captive. In the same way, we are confronted today by the notion that “Mother Nature” is an untamable and merciless force. But the truth is that all things, including the entire created order, are God’s servants (Psalm 119:91). We are not left to be cast about on the sea of chance or buffeted by blind, impersonal forces. No, God “determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4).

Only the sovereign Creator Lord can gather the seas in heaps and command all of creation to do His bidding. Not only that, but He chooses to direct His commands for the good of His people. The great wind that God hurled upon the sea as Jonah’s boat sailed toward Tarshish was not intended to be a curse upon him but rather a call to him to return to faithful obedience to his God. What God sent upon Jonah, God also saved Jonah from. How remarkable: God summoned up the immense power of a storm simply to bring one errant child back home.

Truly, all things are arranged for the glory of God and the good of His people—including you. It is this God we praise, this God we trust, and this God to whom we commit our lives. Let this truth be on your lips today: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).

Going Deeper: Psalm 145

Disobedience and Reluctance

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Jonah 1:3

The course of disobedience is always a downward trajectory—that is, until God intervenes.

In Jonah’s haste to flee from the Lord’s command to preach a message of repentance to the Ninevites, he went “down to Joppa,” “down into” the ship, and “down to the land whose bars closed upon” him in the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:6, emphasis added).

When Jonah was fast asleep below the ship’s deck, trying to flee from God, “the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea … so that the ship threatened to break up” (1:4). Yet in the midst of a raging tempest and the feverish activity of sailors who were shouting, crying, praying, and hurling things into the water, Jonah slept on.

How could Jonah possibly have been so exhausted? Surely he was physically and spiritually worn out by his decision to run away from God. While disobedience may be exhilarating in the moment—while it may provide a momentary buzz—it is always exhausting in the end. It is hard to kick against the goads (Acts 26:14). There can hardly be found a more miserable or disconsolate sleep than that which follows our rebellion against a word from God and the ensuing desire to hide from anyone and everyone by retreating to the privacy of our bed.

Jonah wanted God to leave him alone. God, however, was too merciful to do so. So He sent a storm, and the storm sent the captain of the ship to find Jonah and rouse him. The captain used the same word God had previously spoken to call Jonah to preach: “Arise, call out to your god!” (Jonah 1:6, emphasis added; compare 1:2).

Here, then, is a picture of great reluctance—not only Jonah’s reluctance to do what he’s told but God’s reluctance to leave His servant in the dejection and misery of his sin. The three days Jonah would soon spend in the belly of the great fish further testify to this truth about God. Although Jonah’s rebellion merited punishment, God would soon rescue Jonah from perishing at sea and restore him in order that he would preach judgment and mercy to the people of Nineveh.

God comes to us again and again in our disobedience, unwilling to let us wallow in our sin. Even if we put our fingers in our ears and pretend not to hear Him, and even if we flat-out refuse to obey, God pursues His wandering children. He loves us so much that He doesn’t want to leave us to our own devices. In our sin, we cannot outrun the mercy of God, the one who will never leave us or forsake us.

Going Deeper: Jonah 1

Remembering God’s Mercy

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

Jonah 1:1–3

God delights to save people.

When God commanded His servant Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it because of its wickedness, the reluctant prophet recognized that the people might repent of their evil ways and that God would respond in mercy (see Jonah 4:2). He knew that God is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7). He knew the truth that God would one day speak through the prophet Jeremiah: “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it” (Jeremiah 18:7-8).

Jonah knew that God’s heart is a heart of mercy—so Jonah refused to obey God’s command. Why?! Apparently, he simply didn’t like the people of Nineveh, and understandably so, for the Ninevites were aggressive, vicious, and violent pagans and were feared enemies of Israel. Jonah did not want the Lord to spare them—so later, when the people of Nineveh turned from their wickedness, “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry” (Jonah 4:1). Jonah felt they were deserving of God’s judgment. And he was right! But thankfully, God’s ways of dealing with nations and cities and individuals are not our ways. God’s desire is to show mercy, and not to bring judgment.

God’s compassion on Nineveh is a reminder to us that He does not wish that any should perish and that He delights in saving people, especially those who appear least deserving (2 Peter 3:9). Jonah wanted to preach only where he wanted to preach and to whom he wanted to preach. But the gospel message is for everyone, everywhere. Today the good news of Jesus is not limited to “nice” people, to people who look and act and think like us. Indeed, Jesus commanded His followers, “Go … and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, emphasis added).

What immense mercy! God is passionate in His pursuit of the proud, the stubborn, and the defiant—people just like me, people just like you. He calls us to be zealous to “rescue the perishing, care for the dying,” to “tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.”[1] The triune God desires to save sinful people—He desires their salvation enough to come and die for them. Do you share His heart? If you do, you will desire the salvation of those around you—whoever they are and whatever they have done—enough to go and share Christ with them.

Going Deeper: 1 Corinthians 9:19–23

Footnotes:

[1] Fanny Crosby, “Rescue the Perishing” (1869).

We Need a Miracle

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.””

1 Peter 1:23–25

The gospel is not an exhortation to well-meaning people, inviting us to add a little religion to our lives. God’s word comes to the rebel heart and commands obedience. It is a word that brings the dead to life.

How is this work accomplished? Only by God’s Spirit. It is the Spirit’s work to achieve what cannot be done in any other way, by any other means: to bring about new life.

By nature, we are all rebels against God. No one seeks after Him (Romans 3:11). Even if I call myself an agnostic or a seeker or open-minded, in reality I am rebelling. And God “commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). God calls every one of us to do an about-turn—to turn decisively from sin and rebellion and to come under His rule.

Apart from a miracle, we cannot do this. Left to ourselves, we are dead and without hope for eternity. Thankfully, it is the very task of God’s Spirit to perform that miracle for us. New life is something God achieves, not something we engender. The Spirit convicts us of sin and convinces us that Jesus, by His death on the cross, has dealt with it.

Scripture is absolutely clear on this: when we were dead in our sins, we were made alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5). The Spirit brings us to understand what by ourselves we are unprepared to face—namely, that we have a deep, endemic problem we cannot fix. We need a miracle. And that’s what God does. He brings about new life. He saves us by His grace.

Everything about us fades; like the grass, Peter reminds us, all of us will one day fall. But there is a seed which produces that which is imperishable, which is planted in us by the Spirit and which will bloom and thrive for all eternity: the life that has been born anew through the gospel. The word of God remains forever, and so does the one who has been brought to new life as the Spirit works through it.

Once that has happened to us, we no longer see the Bible merely as some history book or inspiring story. By the work of the Spirit, it becomes a light, illuminating true life, and our eyes are opened to understand who God is. This is why we study the Bible: to better see and know the one who has saved us and with whom we will spend eternity.

So, may the love of Jesus draw you to Him. May the joy of Jesus enable you to serve Him. May the peace and contentment that comes in knowing Jesus grant to you stability and clarity as you reflect on where you’ve been, consider where you are, and meditate upon where you are headed. Your earthly flesh will fall; but you will remain forever.

Going Deeper: Psalm 119:65–80

The Great Divide

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

Luke 12:51

Did Jesus come to bring peace on earth, as the angels sang at the first Christmas (Luke 2:14)? Or did He come to bring division, as He Himself announces here?

Yes.

Let us first acknowledge the apparent contradiction. The way Jesus answers His own question here—“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No…”—seems mutually incompatible with both the angels’ declaration and with Jesus’ instruction to His followers to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). Indeed, it seems that Jesus is refuting the emphasis of His whole earthly ministry by associating Himself with division and discord. How, then, are we to reconcile Jesus’ claims that He would bring both peace and division?

What Jesus meant when He spoke about bringing division is directly tied to the work that He accomplished in effecting peace. In other words, when we come to understand the good news—that “for our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21)—we can never be the same again. It is too magnificent a work to result in apathy.

When we are renewed at our core, everything about us changes—our values, our focus, our purpose, our dreams. We are now at peace with our Creator, and we are able to live at peace with ourselves. But sooner or later, this transformation will prove divisive. In sharing, speaking about, and living out the miracle of our reconciliation with God, we will be met with disdain, hostility, and judgment, sometimes even from those within our own homes, as Jesus went on to warn (Luke 12:52-53).

Jesus’ coming to bring peace laid bare the division and conflict between the Creator and His image-bearing creatures that had existed since Adam and Eve first rebelled. Your words and actions, directed as they are by the commands of heaven and not by the ways of this world, will lay bare that same division. For many of us, the division caused as a result of trusting in Christ is a trying and painful reality of life.

Yet there is a great hope for all of us: Jesus’ ultimate objective is not division but harmony. The Bible is absolutely clear that the Prince of Peace will one day reign eternally. In the meantime, do not be under any illusions: following Jesus has a cost—a cost that you can, by the power of His Spirit, joyfully pay as you risk division in order to hold out the divine offer of peace.

Going Deeper: Acts 17:1–15

Ruined and Restored

letters@truthforlife.org (Alistair Begg) (Alistair Begg) — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

“What is this that you have done?”

Genesis 3:13

The Highlands of Scotland are full of castles which are no longer inhabited. In the evening sunlight, it’s not difficult to recognize that at one time these must have been magnificent places. Although they no longer have windows or tapestries, much less residents, the splendor of these ancient structures speaks to their former glory, even in their now-ruined condition.

This world is full of ruined glory, for this world is full of people. Adam and Eve were the apex of God’s creative handiwork, and He was absolutely satisfied with them. They were created with an inclination to do good. But in lusting after a throne they could never inhabit—God’s throne—they found themselves degraded, losing the place and the privileges they were created to enjoy.

In tempting Eve, the serpent’s first strategy was to cast doubt on what God had said, subtly challenging the truthfulness of His word—and she succumbed. She believed the lie that God could not be trusted to do good. Having sown the seed of doubt, the serpent then watered it with ambition. Once a hint of uncertainty began to fill Eve’s mind, pride’s appeal was more than she could withstand.

Eating the fruit was wrong simply because God had said not to eat it. Yet the opportunity for immediate gratification seemed to anesthetize Adam and Eve from the painful consequences of their future actions and the ruin that would come upon the splendor they knew. Then, as if the disobedience itself weren’t bad enough, amid deception and disobedience, they sought to deny responsibility.

Like Adam and Eve, we, too, are prone to assume that we, and not God, are the final judges of truth. Once we have decided to seek to remove the Creator God, who speaks an authoritative and true word, we deny Him the right to command our obedience. But when we reject God’s rule, we don’t become our own masters; we simply put ourselves under the rule of a whole host of lesser masters: deceit, darkness, despair, and death.

“What is this that you have done?” We have all believed the lie that our way is better than God’s. But He has gone to the extent of sending His Son in order that the hardness of our rebellion might be overwhelmed by His kindness, which “is better than life” (Psalm 63:3). He has shone His word right into our hearts, that we might see His splendor now and forevermore, and that we might be remade in His image and restored to the glory God always intended His image-bearing creatures to have. Seeing His goodness and coming under His rule are what liberates us from the mastery of deceit, darkness, despair, and, yes, even death.

Going Deeper: Genesis 3