Proverbs 16:9 The mind of a man plans his way: but the LORD directs his steps.
As believers, we hold to the promise, "all things work together for good to them that are the called according to His purpose." During these times, while the world seems to be unraveling ... this is when we cling to the promises of God! This reminded me of a story that took place nearly ten years ago.
It was January of 2011 when we arrived at the airport late Thursday night with our bags and our kiddos, only to find out that our flight was canceled because of a freak accident -- a tractor ran into the plane, of all things! So we repacked our ourselves tightly into a small rental car to make the two-hour drive to get back home to Arad in the middle of the night. Our flight was postponed until Sunday.
Sunday came, and we got on the plane. We flew into Atlanta only to find that not only was our connecting flight canceled, but the airport was entirely shut down due to a severe ice storm. There was not one flight out, and all the hotels in the area were booked solid.
We had to arrive in Baltimore in time for some scheduled speaking engagements, so we decided to rent a car, despite everyone's wide-eyed stares. Now, normally this is only about a 12-hour drive -- however, because we were driving at a speed between 10 and 20 miles an hour for half of the way, it took us a whopping 22 hours!
Fortunately, the ice was so bad that every half an hour, I would have to pull over and break an inch or two of ice off the windshield wipers -- so the freezing weather kept me nice and alert! But we got here safe and all in one piece, thank God.
As I drove, I thought about the fact that we are very quick to blame the devil for these kinds of circumstances. But the Bible says that ALL things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes, and in retrospect --- our delay was instrumental in helping a dear friend to be able to make an emergency visit to her daughter, bless two lovely troubled teens and enabled us to share with and bless people we might have never met between Atlanta and Baltimore!
These days, life is getting more "interesting," so take every opportunity, every strange circumstance, and every change in plans as an opportunity to trust God and share His love and all that He's given us. Looking back, I can see that perhaps God may have just planned this thing all along! Take every opportunity, every strange circumstance, and every change in plans as an opportunity to trust God and share His love and all that He's given us.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]If you were to visit Paris, you could see the statues of two men, both named Louis.
The first is of Louis XIV, France’s absolute monarch. He represents one of the supreme achievements of greatness through power. His philosophy of life was that the whole nation and the world, should serve him.
Knowing He was about to depart, Yeshua (Jesus) left His disciples with a final command: stay in Jerusalem, and wait…for the promise. Of the thousands who had witnessed His miraculous ministry and heard His amazing teaching, and the hundreds that had actually seen Him after the resurrection, we read in Acts that only 120 stayed and tarried until the promise arrived. But these 120 were steadfast. They waited the full term…
I don’t know about you, but it seems that the tests we’re going through are getting harder and harder. Do you remember when you took tests in high school? At the time they may have seemed hard. But imagine if you had to take an elementary school test when you were in high school. You’d probably think – oh this is so simple.
Over the past month, it seems that we’ve been dealing with different internet issues … and hopefully, these issues will be resolved sooner rather than later. Being that the bulk of our ministry is based upon the internet, it can be problematic at times, especially when you’re suddenly disconnected from the web!
As we continue this study of the Dead Sea scrolls, authorities announced the discovery of several more scrolls as their extensive search for more hidden caves and treasures continues. Given the “coincidence” of the events described in previous devotionals, God’s providential involvement in these developments becomes clear. His Word tells us what is about to happen, and new discoveries of Biblical texts seem to be directly related to modern prophetic fulfillments.
As we continue this study of the Dead Sea Scrolls we jump to 1963 and the unearthing of Masada.
Flavius Josephus the Jewish historian recorded the tragic events at Masada in “The Jewish Wars.” Masada was ignored for years as it reminded the Rabbis of the failures of the many false messiahs that appeared after Yeshua (Jesus).
As we continue into the historical and prophetic significance of the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, I take you back to 1948. Professor Eleazar Sukenik discovered that Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem purchased several of the Dead Sea scrolls. So Professor Sukenik visited the archbishop and took several photos of the scrolls which were then sent to William Albright, a Biblical archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.