Worthy News
South Korea’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for stock manipulation and bribery, with her legal team saying she will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Tensions along Israel’s northern border intensified Wednesday as Israeli forces and Hezbollah exchanged fire, underscoring the fragility of a supposed ceasefire. Israeli military leadership made clear that, on the ground, active combat operations are still underway.
Two Jewish men were seriously wounded in a knife attack in north London, in what authorities are calling a terrorist incident targeting the Jewish community. The assault took place in Golders Green, a neighborhood with a significant Jewish population, intensifying concerns over a growing wave of antisemitic violence across Britain.
Iran’s economy is rapidly deteriorating under the strain of war, with more than one million people out of work and inflation soaring to crippling levels. According to The Wall Street Journal, another million jobs have been indirectly affected, as businesses shut down and supply chains collapse across the country.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Louisiana’s revised congressional map, which added a second majority-Black district, violates the Constitution, marking a significant development in the ongoing national battle over redistricting.
President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran on Wednesday, declaring that patience is wearing thin as stalled negotiations threaten to reignite full-scale conflict in the Middle East.
A federal indictment unsealed this week against longtime NIH advisor David Morens is intensifying scrutiny over what critics say may have been a coordinated effort to obscure the origins of COVID-19 and suppress key public health information during the pandemic.
The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria that killed at least 29 people, raising fresh concerns among Christians and other communities targeted by extremists.
A military convoy escorting civilians came under fire in northern Ghana on Monday, leaving at least three civilians dead and one injured, authorities said, highlighting ongoing violence in a region shaken by years of unrest.
The trial of Egyptian Christian convert Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek opened last week in Cairo, drawing renewed international concern over religious freedom in Egypt. Abdelrazek, arrested in July 2025, faces multiple terrorism-related charges tied to his conversion from Islam and efforts to change the religious designation on his identity documents.
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Worthy Devotions
Elul is unlike any other month. As we mentioned yesterday, it is the 12th month on the civil calendar and the 6th on the prophetic calendar. This dual position gives Elul a unique character — it both closes a cycle and prepares for a new one. That is why the shofar sounds each day during Elul: it is a wake-up call, reminding us to reflect, repent, and return to the Lord before the great and awesome days of the Fall Feasts.
This begins a very special season on God’s calendar — the month of preparation before the Fall Feasts. The month of Elul is unique: it is the 12th month on the civil calendar and the 6th month on the prophetic/biblical calendar. Each day of Elul is marked by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet call that awakens the soul. These daily blasts prepare our hearts for Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah) and ultimately for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).
We have come to the final meditation in this journey through the Z’roah, the Arm of the LORD. From the Arm that redeemed Israel out of Egypt, to the Arm that pierced the dragon, to the Arm that is coming with reward — all of these revelations lead us here: the Arm that brings His people into rest.
Isaiah’s vision looks ahead — not only to the Arm of the LORD revealed in the Exodus or even in the cross, but to the day when that same Arm will come again in glory. This is not a picture of brute force but of purposeful arrival. The Z’roah — the Arm of the LORD — comes clothed with strength to establish His rule, and He does not come empty-handed. His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him. The promise is sure: He is coming, and He is rewarding.
Isaiah recalls the Exodus as the supreme display of God’s Z’roah, His Arm of glory. Though the people saw Moses raise his staff over the Red Sea, it was not Moses’ power that split the waters. Behind the prophet’s hand was the Arm of the LORD — majestic, glorious, and unstoppable. The sea parted not to honor Moses, but to exalt the Name of the God who sent him. The Red Sea became a stage for God to reveal His glory, so that His Name would echo through generations as the Deliverer of His people.
Jeremiah uttered these words when everything around him looked hopeless. Babylon’s armies surrounded Jerusalem, the city was on the brink of destruction, and yet God told Jeremiah to buy a field as a prophetic sign that restoration would come. The prophet responded in awe: the God who created the heavens and the earth by His outstretched arm (bizroa netuyah) is not bound by human circumstances. The same God who set galaxies in place and boundaries for the seas is the God who still moves to redeem His people. Truly, nothing is too hard for Him.
Isaiah’s words summon one of the most dramatic images of God’s saving power: the Z’roah — the Arm of the LORD — cutting Rahab in pieces and piercing the dragon.
Here, Rahab is not the woman of Jericho but a poetic name for Egypt (Psalm 87:4), often symbolizing arrogant nations and the dark spiritual powers behind them. In Hebrew poetry, Rahab also evokes the sea monster of chaos, a stand-in for the forces that oppose God’s order. To say the Arm “cut Rahab in pieces” is to recall how God shattered Egypt’s pride and broke the grip of the powers that enslaved His people.
Psalm 98 is a victory psalm — a call to lift up a “new song” because the Z’roah, the holy arm of the LORD, has brought decisive triumph. In Hebrew thought, the arm is the active extension of the will, the power that brings intention into reality. To call it “holy” is to declare that it is set apart, dedicated fully to God’s purpose, incapable of corruption. The psalmist celebrates that salvation is not a hidden act, but an open demonstration — God’s righteousness revealed before the eyes of the nations.
This is one of the most intimate revelations of the Z’roah in Scripture. God looks for a human intercessor but finds none. No man can bridge the gap. So His own Arm accomplishes the work. In Hebrew, v’tosha lo zeroa — “His arm saved for Him” — reveals that salvation originates from within God Himself, not from any outside help. Isaiah adds that His own righteousness sustained Him — it upheld His resolve to save — and His fury upheld Him, a holy passion that would not rest until justice was accomplished.
To “bare” the arm means to roll up the sleeve and reveal the full readiness for action. In Isaiah’s prophecy, this is a global unveiling — no longer hidden, the Z’roah is on display for all nations to witness. This speaks directly of Yeshua’s (Jesus’) public ministry and, ultimately, His crucifixion.
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