Daily Devotion from Brother Mike:
This 24-piece Noah’s Ark set was given to our family as a gift.
We have had this ark and menagerie for 10 or 15 years now. It is usually placed somewhere relatively low, so that it can be seen ... and so that our younger visitors can get their hands on it. I’m quite impressed that we still have all of the original characters!
This past February, when I finally got around to putting away my Christmas decorations and putting out all my “normal” stuff, I got the idea of arranging my Noah’s Ark just a little differently to illustrate our passage from Isaiah. Can you see how I did this? (Hint: I switched two sets of partners.)
There is an often repeated pattern in Isaiah’s prophecy: trouble is coming but trouble will not last forever; there are better times coming as well. The Word of God through Isaiah illustrates this promise in a number of different ways: here in chapter 11 with a word picture of peace; in chapter 28 with a reminder that a farmer does not always plow but also plants, tends, and harvests the crop; and, in chapter 65, with a description of a new heaven and a new earth.
The old saying is: “This too, shall pass!” Yes, times are hard right now. No, we don’t want to do what we have to do. But, this time will pass. Our people have lived through worse. If God is for us then coronavirus is not an obstacle ... it is an opportunity to shine.
So, remember, this is not how things will be from now on. Will we be able to go back to our normal lives? Yes. If by “normal,” you mean different – because this year was never going to be the same as last year. April 2020 was never going to be just like any April we have ever had. The future we are going to was always going to be different than the past we have lived.
Our adjustments always come in degrees – how different is this April going to be? We will have to wait and see. Be patient my friends. God is good . . . all the time!
Brother Mike
This 24-piece Noah’s Ark set was given to our family as a gift.
We have had this ark and menagerie for 10 or 15 years now. It is usually placed somewhere relatively low, so that it can be seen ... and so that our younger visitors can get their hands on it. I’m quite impressed that we still have all of the original characters!
This past February, when I finally got around to putting away my Christmas decorations and putting out all my “normal” stuff, I got the idea of arranging my Noah’s Ark just a little differently to illustrate our passage from Isaiah. Can you see how I did this? (Hint: I switched two sets of partners.)
There is an often repeated pattern in Isaiah’s prophecy: trouble is coming but trouble will not last forever; there are better times coming as well. The Word of God through Isaiah illustrates this promise in a number of different ways: here in chapter 11 with a word picture of peace; in chapter 28 with a reminder that a farmer does not always plow but also plants, tends, and harvests the crop; and, in chapter 65, with a description of a new heaven and a new earth.
The old saying is: “This too, shall pass!” Yes, times are hard right now. No, we don’t want to do what we have to do. But, this time will pass. Our people have lived through worse. If God is for us then coronavirus is not an obstacle ... it is an opportunity to shine.
So, remember, this is not how things will be from now on. Will we be able to go back to our normal lives? Yes. If by “normal,” you mean different – because this year was never going to be the same as last year. April 2020 was never going to be just like any April we have ever had. The future we are going to was always going to be different than the past we have lived.
Our adjustments always come in degrees – how different is this April going to be? We will have to wait and see. Be patient my friends. God is good . . . all the time!
Brother Mike
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