Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 230
Devotional Song: Go to this link … Today watch/listen to a powerful song sung by Steve Green, singing “Find Us Faithful”, declaring that our faith in action must pave the way in everyday life for others to believe.
Highlight reading study #1 of 2nd Kings 4: 8-37: Go to this link …
Highlight reading study #2 of Matthew 14: 21-36: Go to this link …
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Reference Passage #1: 1st Corinthians 10: 13 [When we’re faithful, God provides what we need to handle the circumstances of life.] … [NLT] …
13 But remember that the temptations [or can be translated … “tests, trials, troubles, or tribulations”] that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
My Journal for Today: Yesterday, if you were reading with me, we looked at how God honors faithfulness in action with His grace; and today Os Hillman has me re-exploring that issue, leading me to read and meditate on two stories, … one from the same chapter in 2nd Kings I read yesterday and another, one of my favorites, from Chapter 14 of Matthew’s Gospel. I hope you’ll use the links above to study these two passages, focusing on how our vision (i.e., what we see and experience in life) can effect our choices and actions, depending on our faith).
In the Old Testament story in 2nd Kings, Chapter 4, Elisha encountered and befriended a Shunemite woman who had had a son after Elisha’s prophesy of a miracle leading to the birth. Ultimately the woman’s son died; but she didn’t panic in her grief. Rather, she took the horrible tragedy to Elisha in her faith in the God of Elisha’s prophesy; and Elisha was led by God to raise the boy from the dead.
In the other story, which you probably know, Jesus’ Disciples encountered a death-threatening storm on the sea of Galilee; and Jesus came walking to them on the water. However, the Disciples, never having experiencing anything like that and deathly afraid in the storm, saw Jesus a ghost. But then, when Peter did recognize Jesus, faithfully he stepped out of the boat, at Jesus’ beckoning call, and walked on the waters himself – that is, until Peter’s faith waned, and he began to sink.
So, I don’t think it takes one with a Master’s in Theology or a Ph.D. in rocket-science to grasp what these stories are conveying to us as Christians. No, it’s pretty simple, isn’t it? The message is that the degree of our faith can be – and often is – measured by how we handle faith-rattling situations in life. And when we can walk-the-walk of faith in the midst of such trials, as Paul wrote about in 1st Corinthians 10: 13, God’s faithfulness, when met with our own faith, always gives us the way to deal with the troubles of life.
I know that you, as have I, have experienced some test or trial in life which challenged our faith severely; and how we come through those trials is going to determine, as Steve Green sings in the song offering I’ve left for you again today, whether we’ll be found faithful to walk the walk of faith in our Lord; … and maybe that could even be today.
My Prayer for Today … So, Lord, I come here, as faithfully as I can today, to pray that I have the faith to meet any circumstance You might bring or allow into my life which might test me to believe in Your faithfulness. Help me to pass any such test of my faith, Lord, and allow me to come out praising Your Holy Name!.… Amen
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