2020 Daily Devotion - Day 74

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In my book, Tales for the Pulpit, I tell one of my favorite stories from a book I read many years ago: Fruit of the Spirit by Charles Hembree. In the introduction, he writes about an ancient fable. The fable tells of three merchants who were crossing the Arabian Desert. Because of the heat of the desert, they were traveling at night. On that starless night, they were crossing over a dry creek bed. As they were crossing, a voice in the darkness spoke to them. The voice told them to stop right where they were. Then, they were commanded to bend down and pick up the pebbles around them in the dry creek bed, and put them into their pockets. After they did this, they were told to leave and continue on their way and not camp near the creek bed. The voice from the darkness continued to tell them that in the morning they would be both happy and sad.

Being very frightened by all of this, they traveled through the night and did not stop until they could see the sun. With the arrival of the morning, they began to look in their pockets. Instead of finding the pebbles, they found precious jewels. Yes, they were both happy and sad. They were happy they had listened to the voice of the night, but they were also sad because they had not picked up more pebbles.

Charles Hembree goes on to say, “This legend beautifully expresses how many feel about the unsearchable riches of God’s Word. We are thrilled we have absorbed as much as we have, but sad because we have not absorbed much more.”

Perhaps through this season, we can commit ourselves to a greater study of God’s Word and discover our much needed jewels.

Psalm 119:105 ESV  
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, Your Word to us is the Bible; truly the jewels which bring light to our paths. Help us to go deeper and study more. For in so doing, we can be strengthened and made new. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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