Topic: Rejoicing In Persecution [Friday July 14, 2017]
Text: Judges 1:9-20
Key Verse: “And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak” (Judges 1:20).
It was customary for travellers in Switzerland to bring home clusters of the edelweiss plant. The flower is not sought because of its beauty or for its fragrance, but in recognition of its ability to live and bloom under hard conditions. It grows on the Alps and Pyrenees; at lofty altitudes, where almost nothing else thrives and on crags difficult to access as well as among the hardest of all plants.
A Christian life with these kind of characteristics endures, overcomes persecution and rises above all obstacles. Caleb, one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to Canaan, is the subject of the text. While ten of the spies gave an evil report of the inability of Israel to conquer the land because of claims that they looked like grasshoppers in comparison to the sons of Anak (giants), Caleb and Joshua confessed otherwise. The result was that these two men got exactly what they confessed. Though it took forty-five years for the fulfilment of the promise, because Israel wandered in the wilderness, Caleb at 85 years, was still strong in faith. He possessed his inheritance through the defeat of the sons of Anak.
He rose above antagonism and life obstacles to victory. “I am able.” This is a good motto for life in general. Too many people shrink from anything that is hard. They want only easy tasks. They fear to grapple with difficulties. They attempt nothing which they know they cannot do easily. They never grow in strength, for only in attempting hard things can one gain the ability to do things noble and beautiful.
The habit of giving up easily is fatal. It weakens the will, paralyzes the energy and stunts the growth of life. What a man thinks he cannot do, he cannot do. But what he thinks he can do, he truly can execute. Jesus Christ, our Lord fulfilled His ministry on earth, despite all oppositions, persecutions and trials. If we truly belong to Him, we will not quit in the face of challenges and oppositions.
Thought for the day: Nothing is impossible for the valiant whose strength is the Lord.
Bible Reading in one Year: Genesis 41-44
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
