2007 November 04 « No Other Rock

Reassurance in Advance

November 4, 2007 at 10:20 pm | In Awake My Heart, Blessings | No Comments
Tags: blessed assurance, end days, fiery trial, Peter

Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. ~ Peter 5:7

Note: This devotion is from October 3 and 4

This word of the Holy Spirit through Peter has been a precious comfort to many a believer. But, as its position in the structure of the epistle shows, it is meant to become most of all precious to Christians who are on earth during the intensified tribulations at the end fo the present age. The epistle runs in three movements.

First, from chapter 1:3 to 2:10, we have the LIVING HOPE and what goes with it. Second, from chapter 2:11 to 4:11, we have the PILGRIM LIFE and how to live it. Finally, from chapter 4:12 to the end of the epistle, we have the FIERY TRIAL.

Unless our inward eyes are impaired by a strange astigmatism, the signs are surely around us that the present age is nearing its end. What we saw happen in the last two world wars and what is going on in world affairs currently is certainly enough to make us wonder what awesome evils that are yet to be set loose on earth. But no matter what that is, we need have no fear. “He never fails.” The “fiery trial” has been anticipated and will be overruled. We may go into the future without alarm. The Holy Spirit Himself breathes divine reassurance through our test – “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.”

Today, I pray that you and I will fear not.

A Page from David’s Diary – A Poor Man Saved

November 4, 2007 at 5:20 pm | In Awake My Heart, Blessings, Serving the Lord | No Comments
Tags: answered prayer, Prayer, salvation, Testimony

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. ~ Psalm 34:6

Note: This devotion is from October 1 and 2

In this excerpt from David, there is a cry of need; “This poor man cried…” Notice to whom it was uttered. It was to the Lord and it was not a finely crafted prayer for human ears as some are done today.

Rather, it was a cry by a poor man. The short and urgent nature of a cry expresses its intensity. Moreover, it is simple and it is urgent.

And best of all, notice who heard this poor man’s cry. The Lord heard him and saved him.

This passage illustrates the fine sense of restraint intermingling with David’s exuberant desire to give testimony. He refrains from going into all the murky details of his sinning. He need not lay them bare to men, seeing he had made full confession to God. Some people go into all manner of unsavory disclosures. They seem as proud of their sins as old soldiers used to be of sword gashes. That kind of testimony is wrong. It is like undressing oneself in public. It hams rather than edifies, and makes gossip for scandal-mongers. Christian testimony should be such as becomes “children of light.”

Today, I pray that you and I our testimony will be those of the light.