By David Ettinger
A short devotional for these challenging days.
If there should ever come a day when I lose everything I have, I pray I will be able to exult in these words:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Such a day could come upon Christians when we are stripped of all freedoms and possessions. May we, like the prophet of old, be able to rejoice in such losses, so long as we do so doing our Lord’s work!
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Bruce Cooper
November 29, 2021
Amen, David. Blessings.
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dettinger47
November 29, 2021
Thank you, Bruce.
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Lisa Beth
November 30, 2021
Amen brother, I have an ongoing goal to own less. “Live each day as though it were your last”, some may think its weird thinking but when I die I don’t want my home to be a testimony of materialism, indulgence, or frivolity. Or that I hoarded up stuff while brethren had so little.
I wish I could find this missionary testimony that stirred my heart years ago. He was in a Russian prison, tortured and deprived. All he had was a stub of a pencil, which he diligently hid and cherished.
He would jot down scriptures on the floor or wall to remember them and be encouraged.
One day he was called in for more questioning, no time to hide the stub. The guards saw him gripping something and ordered him to open his hand. His heart skipped a beat as they snatched his pencil. BUT, instead of despair, he said, “When I lost my last possession, a great joy came over me, I was finally free!”
Press on brother! Sorry I write so much! 😃
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dettinger47
November 30, 2021
Great thoughts here, Lisa Beth — and an even greater challenge for Western Christians!!
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