The Devotional - Looking at the Book #563

The Devotional - Looking at the Book #563

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

Psalm 119:25 A dry and thirsty land is a desert, if you have spent time in a desert you know that by day the heat is depressing, at night the cold is oppressing and there is no rest from these elements. Such is the soul that hungers for revival from the only source of life – The Living Word of God!

Good Morning

I know that submarine life differs from the twenty plus years since I last served aboard one of these fine vessels, but I remember a time in the sonar room when I had an opportunity to be there when a few carpenter fish were active and communicating with each other. So you are saying… What is a carpenter fish? Well, the creature is not a fish at all; but a sperm whale and a group of them together sound like many carpenters banging nails on a roof top. Anyway; these great fish were not to far from our submarine and some of the more experienced sonar men were saying that these great mammals were curious about our size and shape which does resemble a whale. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant, but here is what I believe is important. God has made all things beautiful in it’s time and place. He did this for only ONE purpose and that purpose was to place ETERNITY in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3:11. Think about being occupied with this thought as you live out the circumstances of your life. Have you ever had a thought about the birth of a child without a thought about eternity? Look at each of the events listed in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and notice that each one is linked to eternity in a very unique and comforting way; then try to deny the existence of God. If you are able to succeed in your denial you will not see the beauty of time in its own time; but you will see the black hole of separation and despair!

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 7:13-16 – Yesterday I had a brief but wonderful moment of talking with the pastor as we played golf and discussed the times of our past. I thought as we talked; I have known this man over thirty five years! That is half of my life time and over two thirds of his. What a joy! And the joy comes not from golf although we both enjoy the game; but the joy is our relationship with each other in Christ. There is such a comfort in this that it is nearly impossible to describe.

He refreshes my spirit, somtimes; even without a word… simply being with him in conversation about our LORD, about family and about that brief moment of singing: “Jesus is coming soon; morning or night or noon” This event and those like it is really what the apostle Paul is referring to here in these few verses of scripture about pastor Titus. Titus has labored in the Corinthian church and the message of a good report is just the news he needs to be refreshed in his spirit.

This is really what living in Christ is all about; we should receive the news of our obedience to God with the confidence that it is God who is at work in our lives and not we ourselves. We have no confidence in the flesh and one of the eye openers to this in the fact that the words we speak to one another find no meaning other than general conversation. But when those words are filtered through the indwelling Holy Spirit in these earthen vessels we gain the confidence that only God can provide; which is comfort in a dying world.