2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
When Corrie Ten Boom (author of “The Hiding Place”) was a little girl in Holland, her first realization of death came after a visit to the home of a neighbor who had died. It suddenly impressed her that someday her parents could also die. When Corrie went to her father about her concern, he comforted her with these words of wisdom. “Corrie, when you and I go to Amsterdam, when do I give you your ticket?” “Why, just before we get on the train,” she replied. “Exactly,” her father said, “and our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need–just in time.”
Many of us don’t think about it but we, as humans have such a problem with fear — fear that God won’t come through when we’re in need. We want insurance — insurance for our cars, insurance for our houses, for our health, and for our lives. We want to be ensured that we’ll be okay if something happens. It has become our way of life in the western world.
Now, we’re not saying go and cancel all your insurance plans — but at the same time, God wants us to trust in His provision in our time of need!
Recently, in our time while we’re ‘re-deployed’ in the States, we are truly learning the meaning of ‘never early, never late.’ We’ve been in the States longer than we’ve been in 18 years, and we’ve not been scheduling any speaking engagements more than two weeks out. And yet, we’ve not gone a single weekend where we were not speaking and sharing.
Every single day since we have been here our faith has been tested and time and time again, God has provided for us in ways we could never conceive — physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially, and in every other way — never early, never late — always just when we need it.
We need not fear anything that is before us. God will give us the strength to endure anything that comes our way. He has our ticket!
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Nature provides us with an illustration that closely parallels the insidious tactics employed by our adversary. According to scientists, Arctic polar bears feed almost entirely on seals. To enjoy such a meal, they sometimes resort to a cunning bit of trickery.
Whew! What must the disciples have felt back then as they saw the waves crashing against their boat? They we’re being swayed from side to side in the deep dark sea. They were afraid for their lives! But our Lord was there all along. He just wanted them to trust.
One of my heroes of the faith, Watchman Nee, once said something profound about entering the rest of God. He said, “Carnal Christians crave works; yet amid many labors, they are unable to maintain calm in their spirit. They cannot fulfill God’s orders quietly as can the spiritual believers… their hearts are governed by outward matters. Being “distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40) is the characteristic of the work of any soulish believer. They have not yet entered the rest of God.”
Thousands are gathering in Washington D.C. today to pray for the inauguration of the new president of the United States. I know a number of people who will be there and I think it’s a good thing, but this reminds me of a story I heard once.
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 till Sunday.
There was a man who had four sons, and he wanted them to understand the importance of not rushing to judgment. So, he sent each one on a journey to view a pear tree that was far away. He sent the first son in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in the summer, and the youngest in the fall. After they all returned, he gathered them together to hear what they had seen.
The Hebrew letter mem, equivalent to our English letter “M,” has a fascinating characteristic: it has two forms. The “open mem” appears at the beginning or middle of a word, with a small opening in its design. The “closed mem,” however, is used exclusively as the final letter in a word, fully sealed in its appearance. This distinction is consistent throughout the Hebrew language—except for one extraordinary exception found in the Bible.