DayBreaks for the Week of 4/8/24 – The Invulnerable City

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/08/24 – The Invulnerable City Sometimes it is hard to realize that nothing in this world lasts forever.  It extends all the way from nations, to love, to corporations, and even to our pets, whose mortality we don’t like to contemplate.  One of the mightiest nations in the ancient world was ancient Rome.  Their nation survived for nearly 1000 years from the time it was supposedly founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus on the banks of the Tiber, until it fell in 410 A.D.  One young man who had lived and reveled in the streets of Rome throughout his younger years became one of the greatest theologians in church history.  His name was Augustine, and after being told that the city of Rome had been sacked, he said, “All earthly cities are vulnerable.  Men build them and men destroy them.  At the same time there is the City of God which men did not build and cannot destroy and which is everlasting.”  Catastrophes are, well, catastrophic.  The fall of Rome was not only inconceivable to those who felt secure in the city and nation, but when it happened, it had to be one of the most terrifying experiences they ever lived through.  Their security was gone.  The enemy was not only at the gates but had burst through.  What would become of the inhabitants?  As the old saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but it turned out to be shocking how quickly it could fall. The kingdom of God – or the City of God as Augustine referred to it – wasn’t built in a day, either.  It is still being built.  It was established and founded by the Lord Jesus Christ who was God with us, who proclaimed “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”  We can forget, if we’re not careful, that we aren’t just Americans, or Canadians, or South Africans.  We are living stones in the kingdom of God that is here, now, living, and powerful.  Every nation that has ever been built up has been torn down.  And that’s the way it will be until the end of time.  At that point, after trampling all enemies and kings and nations under his feet, the Kingdom of God will begin in fullness and glory and timeless perfection.  There will be no generals or politicians who make strategic mistakes that will doom God’s kingdom.  You see, Augustine had it right: men cannot destroy that which God has decreed to be everlasting.  As frightening as this world gets sometimes, as terrified and insecure as we may sometimes feel, we need to be reminded that we aren’t citizens of this world in the ultimate sense, nor of a given nation or race.  We are destined for eternity and for an everlasting, invulnerable city. Daniel 7:13-14 (NLT) – As my vision continued that night, I saw someone who looked like a man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, honor, and royal power over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. PRAYER: Lord, we look forward to the city not made with hands, in which righteousness dwells forever!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 10/16/22: The Fateful Journey

The other day I was driving in town and watching the cars around me. I wondered where the people inside them were headed. What was their intended destination?

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, a thought hit me with visceral force: all the people you see are heading toward death. Don’t ask me why that thought came to mind or why it struck me so strongly. Sure, we know that everyone will die – but we push that thought so far down in our conscious mind that it seldom comes to the surface. But that day it did.

For some, the exit from this life may be way down the road, but for others, it might be just around the corner. Even as we get older, we know the offramp is getting closer and closer, yet we choose not to meditate on it. The simple fact is that none of us know when we will reach the exit. But reach it we shall.

Was my mind just being maudlin? I think not. I think God wanted to impress on me that urgency of life and of finding eternal life. How many of the people that I saw driving in their cars that afternoon were on the straight and narrow and how many were on the wide, twisty road that leads to perdition? I don’t know. God does, but I don’t. And that’s why I need to take this revelation to heart – there is a job at hand for each one of us that claim the name of Christ. We aren’t here to just live out our days, and then die and go to heavenly splendor. We’re here to help others find the right road, the good road, that will lead them to eternal life and joy.

The message to me couldn’t have been much more clear: get busy telling the good news and begin living it as if you really, truly believe it, because everyone you see is driving toward death.

As a result of my experience, I’m starting by reminding myself that everyone I see is on that journey – including me and including you. I’m trying to let that awareness sink deep into my heart and the daily practice of my life in such a way that I’ll be more eager and open to share the glorious news of who Jesus is, what he is like, and what he has done for the person in the car on my left and on my right, in front of and behind me.

How close are you to the offramp of your life? Who, in the final analysis, will be able to say in glory one day that it was you who showed them the map to get to the glorious land where there is never darkness because the Lamb is the light:

PRAYER: Lord, forgive me for my blindness to the reality of the destination of all mankind and for my reluctance to tell people about Jesus. Create in my heart a true belief that the fields are white unto harvest and that you want me to be part of the plan to bring others to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022, Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 11/16/20 – When Friends Go Home

http://getwallpapers.com/collection/funeral-background-pictures

Yesterday (Sunday) we received word that a friend of ours that we’d traveled to Israel with has gone home to the Lord. She was a wonderful woman, full of faith and joy. She leaves behind a husband and family faced with the great paradox of grieving her passing but knowing her earthly struggle is over and she’s fully experiencing the joy of seeing Jesus face to face and being held tightly in his arms.

This DayBreaks will be a bit different as I’m not going to say much. Instead, I’m going to share a song that I listened to for the first time withing a handful of minutes of learning of her passing from this life. It’s from the group Pentatonix and is titled Amazing Grace/My Chains are Gone. Even if you are not a Pentatonix fan, I hope you’ll take time to click on that link (YouTube) and give it a listen.

Why am I sharing this? Because as I listened to it, especially when they broken into the phrase “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood, His mercy reigns, unending love, amazing grace”. I started to cry thinking about our friend and how those words had been literally fulfilled for her. There was a joy that filled my heart for her. Her struggle with cancer is behind her. Her earthly frailties and temptations and struggles are over. Before her is only peace, joy, wonder and eternal delight.

Some day that will be true for all His children who have trusted in Jesus. It will be true for me. And that’s not bad at all.

I hope you are blessed with the song today.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for the amazing grace that saved wretches like us, for breaking the chains of mortality and sin and for setting us free forevermore! Glory to You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.Copyright 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 8/18/20 – Take Me Home

From Max Lucado’s No Wonder They Call Him the Savior:

Luke 23:46: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Were it a war – this would be the aftermath.

Were it a symphony – this would be the second between the final note and the first applause.

Were it a journey – this would be the sight of home.

Were it a storm – this would be the sun, piercing the clouds.

But it wasn’t. It was a Messiah. And this was a sigh of joy.

“Father!” (the voice is hoarse.)

The voice that called forth the dead,

The voice that taught the willing,

The voice that screamed at God,

Now says, “Father!” “Father!”

The two are again one.

The abandoned is now found.

The schism is now bridged.

“Father.” He smiles weakly. “It’s over.”

Satan’s vultures have been scattered.

Hell’s demons have been jailed.

Death has been damned.

The sun is out,

The Son is out.

It’s over.

An angel signs. A star wipes away a tear.

“Take me home.”

Yes, take him home

Take this prince to his king.
Take this son to his father.

Take this pilgrim to his home.

(He deserves a rest.)

“Take me home.”

Come ten thousand angels! Come and take this wounded troubadour to

The cradle of his Father’s arms!

Farewell manger’s infant.

Bless You holy ambassador.
Go Home death slayer.

Rest well sweet soldier.

The battle is over.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for taking Jesus home and for preparing a home for us to join you there throughout eternity. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 7/17/20 – He Should Know

DayBreaks for 7/17/20: He Should Know

From the DayBreaks archive, July 2010:

Revelation 21:5: The One who was sitting on the throne said, ‘Look!  I am making everything new!’  Then He said, ‘Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.’“

I’m wrote this on the 4^th of July.  We just got back from visiting my wife’s father.  He lives about two hours away from us.  I’ve always liked him – he has an infectious laugh and a twinkle in his eye and he is a lot of fun to be around.  But he is getting older in years and age is catching up with him, just like with all of us.  He doesn’t hear as well as he used to, and he is getting more forgetful.  He has to stop and think a bit before putting all the words of a sentence together. 

As Max Lucado put it in The Applause of Heaven: “It’s hard to see things grow old.  The town in which I grew up is growing old.  I was there recently.  Some of the buildings are boarded up.  Some of the houses are torn down.  Some of my teachers are retired, some are buried.  The old movie house where I took my dates has “For Sale” on the marquee, long since outdated by the newer theaters that give you eight choices.  The only visitors to the drive-in theater are tumbleweeds and rodents.  Memories of first dates and senior proms are weather-worn by the endless rain of years.  High school sweethearts are divorced.  A cheerleader died of an aneurysm.  Our fastest halfback is buried only a few plots from my own father.

“I wish I could make it all new again.  I wish I could blow the dust off the streets.  I wish I could walk through the familiar neighborhood, and wave at the familiar faces, and pet the familiar dogs and hit one more home run in the Little League park.  I wish I could walk down Main Street and call out to the merchants that have rented and open the doors that have been boarded up.  I wish I could make everything new…but I can’t, I can’t.  But God can.  ‘He restores my soul’, wrote the shepherd.  He doesn’t’ reform – he restores.  He doesn’t camouflage the old, he restores the new.  The Master Builder will pull out the original plan and restore it.  He will restore the vigor.  He will restore the energy.  He will restore the hope.  He will restore the soul.

“What would you give in exchange for a home like that?  Would you really rather have a few possessions on earth than eternal possessions in heaven?  Would you really choose a life of slavery to passion over a life of freedom?  Would you honestly give up all your heavenly mansions for a second-rate sleazy motel on earth?

“‘Great,’ Jesus said, ‘is your reward in heaven.’  He must have smiled when he said that line.  His eyes must have danced, and his hand must have pointed skyward.  For he should know.  It was his idea.  It was his home.”

Sometimes it is tempting, isn’t it – to get caught up in what we have right here and now?  After all – remember the saying, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”?  And what we have here and now is concrete, wood and steel and we can see it, touch it, and we think it is good.  It isn’t.  It is nothing compared to what Jesus’ home is like.  Age won’t weather the boards of your mansion in heaven.  The storms of life won’t beat against it or blow snow under the door.  It won’t make boards and bones brittle.  Jesus knows – it was his home – and he came so it could be our home, too. 

I don’t think that Jesus was joking – or exaggerating – when he said, “Great is your reward in heaven.”  Greater by far than you can even imagine or hope for.  It’ll take our breath totally away.  I truly hope to see you there!

PRAYER: Thank You, Jesus, for giving us this hint about our heavenly reward – and thank You for preparing it for us so it will be ready when we get there!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 7/16/20 – This CAN’T Be Home

From the DayBreaks archive, July 2010:

There are days that I love life. Days when I feel excited and happy and exuberantly vibrant. It is those kind of days that make me long to live forever. But even on the best of days, there are disappointments, hurts and anguishes that remind me that life here isn’t so grand. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful to God for all that He has done for me. I have no right to complain about the way He’s provided all things necessary for life for myself and my loved ones. But I think He also understands when I say that life in this world isn’t so grand. And I’ve got it easy.

Sometimes I think about the starving children and adults in many undeveloped countries. I think about those who suffer in pain-racked prisons of their own flesh, or those whose minds are sharp as tacks, but who have muscles, sinews and bones that respond to nothing – paralyzed in a physical body that makes them totally dependent on others (or machines) merely to breathe or be fed. Others live their entire lives(!) under the black and blue shadow of abuse – without love or a kind touch.

I am more convinced than ever that this is not what God intended. As I look around me, I grow more and more to despise this place. Even at the best of times, life becomes wearisome. A burden. And reality dawns on me that this CAN’T be home. Perhaps that’s why life is the way it is – a seemingly endless succession of sunrises and sunsets, of workdays, of cycles of illness and health, days of elation and discouragement – and an unending stream of problems of varying magnitude. God uses the drudgery and dreariness of life (read Solomon’s Ecclesiastes at face value!!!) to keep our appetites whetted for something better – FAR BETTER – than this world.

My transition to longing for a home that is different than this has taken the better part of my life. I felt like earth was home for many of those years. I no longer do. I came to the point of Hebrews 11:14b – …and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Do I believe there are aliens on earth? Yep – and I’m one of them! This can’t be home. So, I hang on to the passage from Heb. 11:16 – Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I don’t have to live here forever. In fact, I won’t live here forever. I don’t want to. Not when I’ve got a city built by God and a mansion prepared for me by Jesus’ own hands waiting for me. He was, after all, a carpenter, and I’m sure he’s the best there ever was or ever will be. Zeph. 3:20 reminds me that the day will come when God calls His people for a great gathering – At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home.

Home. Doesn’t it sound good in that context? His house. Not my home that needs paint and repairs. His perfect home. My heavenly home. Your heavenly home. Not this place where sewers and septic tanks get clogged, appliances fail and where it is either too cold or too hot. Once I leave here, I never want to come back, not even for a nostalgic, quick glance. Once we get to our real home, we won’t want to even take a peek backwards.

2 Cor. 5:6-9 – Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Ah, there it is….at home with the Lord. That will be home, indeed!

PRAYER: Lord, how wonderful is the word “home!”  How thrilling it is to live in Your Presence forever!  Thank You for inviting us to spend forever with You!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 1/17/20 – The Great Depression

From the DayBreaks Archive, January 2010:

There’s a movie out that you really should see if you haven’t already.  It’s James Cameron’s Avatar.  If you can, you REALLY should see it in 3D (there’s both a 3D version of it and a 2D version.)  I can virtually guarantee you that you’ve never seen anything like it in terms of movie-making.  It is literally breath-taking in scope, achievement and visual effects.  You feel as if you are in the jungle on Pandora (the name of their planet). 

It is a movie that also, if one has an eye for it, packs lots of messages and evokes many responses.  Here’s one that I don’t think anyone really anticipated: 

From the Huffington Post, Tuesday, January 12, 2010: Avatar-Induced Depression

“The beautiful alien planet Pandora depicted in James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ is so captivating that some audience members are becoming depressed and even suicidal when they fail to find meaning in real life after the film is over.

“Writes Jo Piazza for CNN: On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

“Here are just a few of the ways people are coping on Avatar Forums:

“I just watched avatar a few weeks ago and I’m feeling depressed and sad. It’s like I want to reach out and be in Pandora. I’d do anything to be in Pandora. I’ve tried so hard to dream about me being on Pandora but it hasn’t worked.”
“Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it. I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.'”
“Because, at this point, there isn’t pretty much anything else that can be done. Until the release of DVD/BluRay. But even that won’t take away all of the depression. Because you know you can never actually go to Pandora, as it exists only in our imagination… sigh… :(“

“Whether or not these posts are for real there is reason to believe the affliction is rooted in legitimate despair.”

Let me say first, that those I know who have gone to see the movie have not had these kinds of reactions.  Why?  Because the people I’ve talked to about the movie are Christians…and perhaps, just perhaps, we aren’t “depressed and sad” because we understand what the longing is that these folks are experiencing because we’ve found the answer: Jesus. 

As awesome as the world of Pandora is in the movie, it can’t hold a candle to heaven.  As Paul said (he and John are the only humans who’ve ever seen it as far as I know for sure!), it isn’t possible (nor permissible) to discuss what it is like.  I was driving to a meeting early one morning recently as the sun was rising over the eastern hills of the Alexander Valley where we live, and I was captivated by the beauty of that sunrise.  I started talking with God about what heaven would be like.  Are there colors there?  Revelation describes things with color…so there must be.  But are they the same colors?  Will they be different, vastly richer and more beautiful?  I have to believe so.  I can’t believe anything about heaven would be nearly as dull as things on this earth.

As the sun rose, I thought about God’s glory.  He can’t help but be glorious.  It’s not like he wakes up each morning thinking, “I think I’ll be glorious today.”  He can’t help it.  Wherever He goes, His glory arrives before Him like the rays of the sun arrive before the sun is fully up.  And His glory follows after Him as the rays of the sun still light the sky once the sun has set.  As that sunrise came, I realized that the glory of heaven will far outshine anything we can dream of, hope for, long for.  And we don’t need to despair, because our inheritance is being kept for us by God Himself.  Who do you think will be able to take it away from Him?  No one!

Don’t despair.  There’s a place far better than Pandora.  It’s called heaven.

PRAYER: Let Your glory shine on us and led us unto a life lived in the glory of Your eternal day!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

 

DayBreaks for 12/04/19 – If Jesus Were Not There

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE Lord YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment.” – Matthew 22:36-38 (NASB)

If you have been a Christian for even a short time, chances are you know this verse well.  It is, I suppose, the single greatest thing that we are to try to do with our life: learn to love God desperately.

Can you remember when you were first falling in love with someone?  I do.  I can never forget the sickness in my stomach and heart at parting from my beloved wife-to-be.  I literally ached inside my chest when I saw her turn her back to go into her home at night, or when she left me to get in her car to drive back to her college.  It was hard to breathe, hard to want to do anything except see her again.  We’d write letters nearly every day, we’d call and talk on the phone nearly every day.  (I never asked my folks about how much the phone bill was, even though our calls were long distance – and to their great credit, they never mentioned it to me, either!)  Love hurts.  But what a wonderful hurting it is!

Jesus statement takes on a new dimension when I think about it compared to the love of my life and how we were when we were falling in love.  In Christian circles we are expected to say, “I love Jesus!” – and we should love him, no doubt.  But while it is one thing to say it, it is another thing entirely to really love Him.  The author, John Piper, in God is the Gospel, confronts us and challenges us to think about whether or not we are truly in love with God.  If you are squeamish, you may not want to read what he had to say: “The critical question for our generation – and for every generation- is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”

Worth pondering, don’t you think?  I’m not sure how I would answer that question at times.  All of the things that Piper said are things we all love and long for.  It’s harder to love someone you’ve never seen.  It’s hard to love someone who lived 2000 years ago.  Admire them?  Yes.  Want to emulate them?  Certainly.  But love them? 

I want to be able to say that heaven will be nothing, that all those things we could have as Piper described them, would not be nearly enough if Christ was not there.  The point is: Christ is what makes heaven worthwhile.  It won’t be all those other things.  Sure, they’ll be great, but they won’t even qualify as icing on the cake. 

May we learn to love Jesus more than all other things that we might love combined.

PRAYER: Jesus, we aren’t omniscient like you.  You see us – but we’ve never set eyes upon you.  It is hard to love someone from afar.  Help us to draw close to you, to love you more than anything and everything else for you will be our greatest joy in heaven.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 11/29/19 – It Is for Us

DayBreaks for 11/29/19: It Is for Us

A real woman named Joy teaches underprivileged children in an inner city church.  Her class is a lively group of 9-yr-olds who love life and aren’t in the least afraid of God.  But there is an exception – a timid, withdrawn girl named Barbara. 

Her difficult home life had left her afraid and insecure.  For the weeks that Joy was teaching the class, Barbara never said a word.  Not once.  The other kids sang, talked, giggled and laughed.  Not Barbara.  She was silent.  Always there, always listening, always speechless.

Then one day Joy taught a lesson about heaven.  Joy talked about seeing God and about eyes that would never fill with tears and lives that would never come to an end.  Barbara sat fascinated, never taking her eyes off Joy.  She listened hungrily, taking it all in.  Then she raised her hand, and in her tiny voice said, “Mrs. Joy?”  Joy almost fell over.  Barbara had never said anything.  “Yes, Barbara?”  Then little Barbara let it out: “Is heaven for girls like me?” 

Oh, I would have loved to see Jesus’ face when this little girl’s tiny question reached his ears!!!  This was like a desperate prayer that a good God somewhere in heaven would remember a forgotten soul somewhere on earth.  It was a hope that God’s grace would seep into the cracks of Barbara’s life and bathe her in the grace the church and her family had failed to give her.  It was a voice wondering if this God could take a life that no one else could use or seemed to want, and to use it as nobody else could.  It was a plea for God to do what He does best: to take the ordinary and dull and unspectacular and make it sparkle and shine and be supernaturally extraordinary and special.  It’s hoping that what God did when he parted the Red Sea would happen again, that God who used a stone to drop the giant Goliath, or that he who could turn the water into the finest wine could take little Barbara and see her safely to heaven.  Would the God who fed 5000 with a boy’s box lunch do something for her?  Would he take three spikes and a wooden beam and make them the hope of all humanity – including Barbara?  Would God take this rejected little girl and make her feel precious?  (Adapted from Max Lucado’s Cast of Characters)

The answer to those questions are all answered: “Yes!”  God would and did do something for this little girl who so desperately wanted God’s heaven.  “Yes!” God did take 3 nails and a wooden cross and instead of a monument to bloody and excruciating death make them into a symbol of life cleansed and set free.  “Yes!” God can take this little girl, and thousands like her – male and female alike – and whisper into their ear who very precious they are.

One more: “Yes!” No matter what your home life has been like, no matter how difficult your life experience may be – God answers, “Yes!  Heaven is a place for people JUST LIKE YOU!”

Won’t you accept the gift He offers you?  It’s free for the taking.

PRAYER: Thank You for making heaven a place for people like us – sinners all, redeemed ONLY by the blood of the Lamb!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

PRAYER: Jesus, we long to live surrounded eternally by your Light. Give us strength to persevere in this world that is often so dark. We give you thanks this day for the glorious future that you have guaranteed to us! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 6/14/19 – The Most Frequently Spoken Word in Heaven

What is your conception of heaven? Do you picture it as some sort of ethereal, cloudy, up-in-the-air-somewhere existence? You probably don’t picture it as floating around on a cloud with a harp, but you might picture it as a place where all that happens is singing praises 24×7 in a world where 24×7 is meaningless because time is no more. While I deeply love worship, I certainly hope there’s more to it than that – and I think it will be much more than that!

You know what I look forward to? Meeting Jesus and loved ones and great people of faith from all the ages are part of it, and I hope that my beloved pets will be there. But what I really look forward to is learning constantly and getting answers to the things that I don’t understand while I’m limited by my finite mind and the view from this world’s portal.  

C.S. Lewis once said that the most frequently spoken word in heaven would be, “OH.” As in, “Oh, now I understand.” Or, “Oh, now I see what God’s plan was.” Or, “Oh, now I see the reason for the trial I went through.”

Can you identify with that? I sure can.

We are told that God’s plan will work out for us for the good if we love him. But that doesn’t mean we understand why babies are stillborn, why someone kills one of our children in an act of violence, why cancer stalks us or why we are rejected and cast out. I honestly don’t think we’ll know those answers until we get to heaven. I suspect I’ll be saying “Oh!” a lot. For now our challenge is to trust him that all that happens is meant for our good and not our harm.

Jeremiah 29:11 (CSBBible) – For I know the plans I have for you—this is the LORD’s declaration—plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

PRAYER: Give us patience and perseverance, Lord, until the answers to our confusion are made clear! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2019 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>