Life’s Changes and Chances (Isaiah 42:6)
Fearless is the child of God when facing the changes and chances of this life. The Father knows each challenge and every course life takes. Each of His children can be full of hope that He will deliver them out of them as their hand rests in His hand, and He firmly grasps theirs. God will lead each of His children through all things. But when necessary, He will even bear them up in His arms when they cannot stand.
The same everlasting Father who cares for you and me today will take care of our tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield us from suffering or give us unfailing strength to bear it. So, let us be at peace, putting aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.
~~~ paraphrase of Frances de Sales (1567-1622)
Consider: There is never a time when we may not hope in God. Whatever our necessities, however great our difficulties, and though, to all appearances, help is impossible, our business is to hope in God. Our hope will not be in vain. In the Lord’s choosing and time, help will come.
~~~ partial quote of George Mueller (1805-1898)
He Give Quietness (Job 34:29)
Job had days when earth and hell seemed set against him. Many of us have felt overwhelmed and near drowning with each wave after another of conflict, sickness, or financial challenges. How we long to hear Christ’s voice above the screams of the wind whipping through the cords holding the sails of our little boat. “Peace, be still!” He draws near and whispers the assurance of His presence. When He does, an infinite calm keeps our hearts and minds in peace.
Tempting the Conqueror
Though it may seem unlikely, temptation is necessary to settle and confirm us in the spiritual life. It acts like winds that cause the mighty cedars of the mountains to strike more deeply into the soil.
Once a noted scientist observed that “early voyagers imagined that the coral-building animals instinctively built up the great circles of the Atoll Islands to afford themselves protection in the inner parts.” But this thought was disproved by showing that the insect builders can only live and thrive confronting the open ocean and in the highly aerated foam of its relentless surf. Likewise, many have held that protected ease is the most favorable condition of life. In contrast, all the noblest and strongest lives prove, on the contrary, that endurance of hardship makes men and is the factor that distinguishes between mere existence and vigorous vitality. Hardship makes character.
So it is with Christians. Temptation drives us deeper into our relationship with our Lord. He uses it to teach us that we can be victorious over those spiritual challenges.
“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
—- paraphrase of devotion from Streams in the Desert, January 13.
Only You!
In this story, a king entered his garden one morning and found everything withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was out of heart because it could not bear grapes like the vine. Likewise, the vine would throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as delicate fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall, fragrant like the lilac, and so on throughout the garden. Coming to a heart’s-ease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever. “Well, heart, I’m glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened.” “No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a peach tree, or a lilac, you would have planted one, but as I knew you wanted a heart’s-ease, I am determined to be the best little heart’s-ease that I can.”
“Others may do a greater work, but you have your part to do, and no one in all God’s heritage can do it so well as you.”
—- copied from Streams in the Desert, Cowman, January 7, pegs 7 & 8
Prayer by Righteous People Gets Things Done
Herod Agrippa I, king over Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and territories east of the Jordan River, beheaded the apostle James and arrested Peter. He plans on executing Peter, as well, to reinforce the support of the Sanhedrin for his rule. But it is the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread, the time when the Jews celebrate their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. For whatever reason, Agrippa will wait until the holidays are over.
Although Peter has been arrested by the Sanhedrin twice, this is his first recorded altercation with the Romans. In fact, until this point, the Romans seemed to have ignored the church, thinking it was just another Jewish sect and posed no political threat to order. Between eight and fourteen years prior, the Roman governor Pilate crucified their leader, Jesus—not because He threatened any disruption to Rome’s rule, but because the Sanhedrin threatened unrest if Pilate let Jesus live.
Pilate was indifferent to the wishes of the Jews so long as they didn’t interfere with the performance of his job. Agrippa, however, is more invested in the people he rules and their religion. He kept Caligula from installing a statue of himself in the temple and read to the people from the Mosaic law. He plans on killing Peter not to ensure rest but to build goodwill.
But the church is praying. God promises to hear, with a mind, to act on the prayers of righteous people. Around this time, James, Jesus’ half-brother, wrote, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” Peter will later affirm the sentiment. Peter will be rescued unscathed. That doesn’t mean God grants all the requests of His followers, and crucifixion is still in Peter’s future. But, like the night of the storm, Jesus still has plans for Peter on earth.
This is a story about the power of earnest and fervent prayer by righteous everyday people. Bibleref.com
Bill Wyler
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