A Devotional Look at the Book #536

A Devotional Look at the Book #536

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

The nickel on the nightstand: Is it better to take the nickel or learn wisdom; the child left alone does know right from wrong; but training him or her to choose right over wrong is an absolute necessity. Proverbs 4:1-7

A DAY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE

After the storm of last week we all have had the opportunity to look around at some of the damaged areas in our neighborhoods and areas that we frequent. The storm not considered to be of hurricane strength did major damage to our area. Most likely I did not notice some of the things you did, nor did you notice some of the things I did; that is just the way it is. That is true of the four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John so what I am saying is not profound, yet the Word of the Living God is always profound; well back to the weather. Before the storm a person could not see any depth to the wooded areas when passing by, but now after the storm we can see deeper into the woods almost as deep as during the winter when the leaves and ground cover has been removed. Is this significant enough to mention? I think so! I enjoy believing that God is the same; yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 and there is coming a Great Day of the LORD when He will utterly consume all things from the face of the land. Zephaniah 1:1-18. Storms; large and small are simply previews of that Great Day!

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 – What is more comforting? Confidence or doubt! Now I know that anyone who does not need a checkup from the neck up will tell you that confidence is where comfort rules the day. But the question that seems to pop up in most of us is how I shall gain confidence when everything around me seems doubtful; even threatening as it did for the apostle Paul and those with him there in Asia.

At some point in all events we must journey through the door of not knowing what to expect on the other side. There are a host of things we might lose or gain and we may very well lose the ultimate struggle with life itself. (Many of us could gain from this) Losing is not generally an option for us to consider; we want gain from every aspect of living life. A person who does not personally know God by faith in His Son Jesus struggles and fails over the unexpected because of a lack of hope… hope in simple terms is confidence in action.

So what I am saying is that our first hope is not to trust in ourselves for life but in God; to trust in Jesus Christ who is our Life whom God raised from the dead. Notice this! Did God raise His Son from the dead? The answer is YES! Did Jesus die for our SIN? The answer is YES! If these are true then we have claimed this truth by trust; the same confidence in God that is capable to deliver us from any and all sentences of the unknown. Proverbs 3:5-6