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Time Out for God
Devotional Ministry
By Danna Appleby
He’s Been Faithful
It is of the
Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning;
great is Thy faithfulness. Lam.
3:22-23
Recently we had an earthquake in our region. I woke up a few
minutes before it was supposed to have occurred at 5:36 a.m. My husband
had gone to get his shower. I had gotten out of bed to close a window. We didn’t know an earthquake
had even happened until we were watching the news as we were preparing for
work.
As I was walking into the kitchen to get coffee, an old hymn came
to my mind so clear, "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Then as I was
getting ready for work, verses from Psalm 91:9-10 came to my heart: "If
you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge;
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come to your tent."
I cannot doubt that God protected the homes of many people in this
region from disaster because there had been a lot of talking from those
who were suddenly awakened to shaken beds. A man from our office
said he was literally thrown out of
his!
But nothing shook the foundation of our home and no harm came
to our dwelling place. I have to say, “Great is the faithfulness of
the Lord.” The Psalmist David
spoke of the faithfulness of the Lord when he
said:
I
was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread. Ps.
37:25
My heart is warmed when I think of another time
when God was faithful to our family. My father pastored a small church in
Cumberland
,
Kentucky
, and the parsonage where we lived sat right
behind the church on the banks of the
Cumberland
River
. My brother
and I were small children at the time. Mom was two months away from
giving birth to a baby sister for my brother and me. I remember the rain
pouring down as the river began to rise. My parents became concerned that
the parsonage was going to be flooded so they took us up the mountain to a
faithful member’s home where we stayed until it was safe to return. The next day Dad told us that the
back steps to the parsonage had been washed away. We could watch from our back porch
as the belongings and furniture of many unfortunate people floated by. But the Lord was faithful to
our family to protect us from any harm whatsoever.
Down through the ages men and women failed God and were anything
but faithful, but God could not and would not fail them. He is just the same today and
refuses to turn His back on one of His children. No matter how much we feel we’ve
sinned, no matter how far we feel we’ve taken things, no matter how far
away we’ve wandered, He is there at any moment and longs to hear us call
out His name in prayer.
For
the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you .
. . . Dt. 4:31
(NIV)
Father, thank you for your wonderful love and
faithfulness to us. We bow
our hearts in humble adoration to You for all that You do day after day
after day. You never let us
down. You never treat us
harshly. You never abandon us
when we’re in need. Where
would we be without You? I
can answer that and say that we would be helpless and alone. Thank You for caring for our ever
need, for protecting us in the face of disaster, for standing with us when
we have no one. For being our closest friend. For hearing us call Your name when
we feel alone. Honor and
blessing and glory be unto Your name. Amen.
Great Is Thy
Faithfulness
By: Thomas O.
Chisholm
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my
Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not,
Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will
be
Chorus:
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy
faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto
me
Summer and winter and springtime and
harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all
nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and
love
Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for
today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten
thousand beside
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