Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
As I was compiling Worthy News today, we reported that the hostages taken by Hamas have now been in captivity for 500 days. One released hostage shared how, while thousands in Israel were advocating for them, their captors fed them lies, saying, “Nobody cares about you, and no one is coming for you.”
This reminded me of a story about a man who was imprisoned during Napoleon’s reign. While sulking in his dungeon one day, he etched on the wall the words “Nobody Cares.”
A few weeks later, through a crack in the dungeon floor, a little green shoot sprang forth, reaching toward the tiny ray of sunlight that came from his small prison cell window. The prisoner began giving a portion of his daily water to the little shoot and it began to grow. One morning the man awoke to a beautiful flower. A tear rolling down his face, he crossed out the words, “Nobody Cares” and replaced them with “God Cares.”
The story goes on to tell that His devotion to the flower was reported to the Empress Josephine. She was so very moved that she convinced Napoleon to set the man free.
How many times do we feel like “Nobody Cares”? God has planted little shoots of hope in each and every one of our difficult circumstances — do you know that? Perhaps we’re stepping on them, not even noticing they exist. Perhaps we’re pulling the shoots before they spring forth into beautiful flowers.
But if we take a moment to look around, we may find that God has already planted seeds of hope in our lives, waiting to bloom. Even in the darkest of dungeons, even when the enemy whispers, “Nobody cares,” God is always present, nurturing life where despair once reigned.
So today, choose to see the small signs of His love, the tiny green shoots breaking through the cracks of your struggles. Water them with faith, nurture them with prayer, and watch as God transforms your sorrow into beauty. No matter how bleak things seem, remember this—God cares, He sees, and He has never stopped working for your freedom.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Let me tell you a funny little story. An old mountaineer and his wife were sitting by the fireplace one evening, passing the time in silence. After a while, the wife broke the stillness and said, “Jed, I think it’s raining. Go outside and check, will ya?”
During his reign, King Frederick William III of Prussia found himself in a bind. Wars had been costly, and in trying to build the nation, he was seriously short of finances. After careful reflection, he decided to ask the women of Prussia if they would bring their jewelry of gold and silver to be melted down for their country. Each piece of jewelry he received, he would exchange for a decoration of bronze or iron as a symbol of his gratitude. These decorations would be inscribed, ‘I gave gold for iron, 18l3’.
In connection with the Hebrew Word “Amen”, meaning “faith”, “truth”, “belief”, and “trust”, consider this revealing passage in Isaiah which further amplifies the dimensions of the word in the most wonderful and comforting promise:
“He who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth [“Amen” in Hebrew]. …
After spending forty years in the wilderness, the children of Israel crossed into the Promised Land arriving to immediately face what seemed an impregnable fortress and an impossible task. Imagine receiving the instruction to march around the fortified city seven times, then finally be commanded to shout with all your might and sound shofars!
What is it about salt? And how do I season speech with it? Gracious speech is sweet, yet Paul says to season it with salt.
Sometimes, the more significant, powerful, or influential someone is, the less you know about him or her. There are some people of influence whose names most of us have never heard, and about whom we know almost nothing, yet they make decisions which affect millions of lives.
Charles Spurgeon wrote “Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might.”