For the LORD God will help me—.(Isa. 50:7). These words are a prophecy of what Jesus would say as He faced the cross, the day when He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked the beard from His face. He was confident in divine support and trusted the Father. My friend, your sorrows are but dust compared to the mountain of His suffering. Do you believe the Lord will help you? Jesus took the place of sinful men, as their substitute and sacrifice, it was necessary that He be deserted by the Father as He suffered in our place.   You have never had to cry,”Why hast Thou forsaken me?” But even then Jesus still relied upon God, can you not do the same? He died for you and made it possible that you would never be forsaken by God. Is that not a reason to rejoice? Whatever difficulties you face today, say,”the LORD God will help me”. Press on with a firm resolve that God will not disappoint you. With Him as your Helper, who can hinder? With His great power to assist you , can anything be too difficult? Start your day joyfully. Don’t allow any shadow of doubt to blot out the sunshine of His promise. He is always faithful to keep His word.   Note: Thoughts for this article were taken from a devotion by C.H. Spurgeon—HDS

If you are having financial troubles, setbacks…it’s not the end. If you have been lied to and deceived…it’s not the end. If you have lost your job…it’s not the end. If you have lost your home…it’s not the end.

If something has been stolen from you or if you have been robbed of your inheritance…it is not the end.

If your mate has walked away, chosen someone else instead of you…it’s not the end.

If you have just lost a loved one to death-sudden death, expected or unexpected-it is not the end. Even if your loved one committed suicide…it is not the end.

If you have behaved like an absolute fool and are mortified by what you did…it’s not the end.

If you are losing your hearing or your sight…it’s not the end.

If you are in the depths of depression, if you are battling depression or a chemical imbalance that has thrown all your emotions and even your way of thinking out of kilter…it’s not the end.

If you have learned that you have a terminal disease, a crippling disease, a wasting disease…it is not the end.

If you have stepped onto the threshold of death…it is not the end.

I can tell you all this with the utmost of confidence and know that what I am telling you is truth. It may seem like the end…you may wish it were the end…but it is not the end because God is God and the end has not yet come.

If you are convinced that whatever you are going through is the end, then one of two things is true: (1) either you are not listening to God, which means you don’t have the truth on the subject or situation, or (2) you are listening to a lie from the one who is behind it, the father of lies-the devil-who deceives the whole world.

I have spent a lot of time reading and meditating on the book of Isaiah. As I have read this book and been quiet before God, thinking about what He is saying, I have been thoroughly convinced that ultimately absolutely nothing matters but God. That is all. If I remember that and live accordingly, then I am going to live for Him and for His glory alone. If I live to that end, I will seek to live correctly in all my relationships, in all my affairs. Then, whatever happens or doesn’t happen will not be the end, for God and God alone is the end of all things.

Life is not over when the breath is taken from my body. I, too, like Israel, have a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) because I belong to a covenant-keeping God.

As I read through Isaiah (not rushing through it but reading so as to meditate upon its truths), it has reminded me of the future which is mine, a future I have never seen, but a future as sure as the character and, thus, the Word of God!

You may say, “But, it’s not the future I am concerned about. It is the present. How do I get through the present?” It’s a good and valid question, my friend. You get through the present, whatever it is, by remembering that it is not the end.

There is a future, and the present isn’t it! Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “For which cause we faint; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a monent, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”(Note: Changed to KJV by HDS)

Every time I read through the Bible, I am overwhelmingly convinced again of the fact that my God and Father reigns supreme over all. My, how you and I need to be reminded of that over and over again! When we don’t remember this, our thinking gets skewed and we begin to live, act or respond as if whatever we are going through is “the end.” I personally think this is why so many Christians are failing at the business of life, why they are failing to live as more than conquerors. You know, don’t you, that every true Christian is an overcomer-“and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Maybe that is our problem when we think it is the end-we haven’t spent time with God in His Word, getting His perspective. So we believe a lie.

As much as I would like to convince you that it isn’t the end, whatever your situation involves, I can’t really do that. You can always come back to me and say, “That’s your opinion. You aren’t where I am.” And you would be right! It is my opinion, but it would be yours also if you would read through His entire Word, book-by-book, and take Him at His Word. It would literally make all the difference in the world-in your world.

My prayer is that you know your God intimately by being established in His Word, living a life that reverences Him for who He is: God. Not the end, but the Beginning and the End of all things.

Kay Arthur
Host, Precepts For Life
Co-CEO, Precept Ministries International

Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.–Proverbs 13:21   As the hounds pursue their prey, evil follows hard on the heels of those who sin. People often sin because they think it will bring profit or pleasure, but it produces evil instead. No good can ever come from sin. No one can sin successfully. Some think they can but they are wrong–very wrong. They think they can find a refuge from the consequences of sin, but they are deceived. As sure as the sun will rise in the morning, their sin will be repaid with evil. There is no escape. We reap what we sow!   Now, just as certain is the next clause, which assures us that good will not go unnoticed or un-rewarded—“to the righteous good shall be repayed.” It might appear that your good deeds have been in vain, but they aren’t. Every good deed is like a seed sown in the ground, the harvest will come later. As you sow so shall you reap. The choice is yours. You have a golden opportunity today–make the wise choice. You won’t regret it. (HDS)

Those who meditate much on heaven and all it holds are the happiest people on earth. With their focus on God their heart is filled with wonder and excitement. As James Meikle (1730-1799) wrote: “Meditation, like the spies sent from Israel in the wilderness, returns with a good account of the good land, presents some of the fruits of paradise, and produces refreshing grapes pulled from the true VINE. Here the weary soul retires to rest in the bosom of the promise, in the love of God, in spite of all surrounding troubles; and drinks at the river before the throne, which makes her forget her miseries, as waters that flow away. O the high estate of the sons of God in meditation! They walk in the fields of glory, associate with the angels of light, and hold communion with God Himself! Thus, their face shines, and their mind seems as if in heaven, nobly opposing the base practices of the men of the world.”

The Psalmist said, ” My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.”(Psalms 104:34). So shall it be with all who follow his example. You can’t stand in the sun for a long period of time without being affected by it and you can’t bask in the splendor of heaven without being changed as a result. Let us then resist the temptation to rush through the day, never taking the time to reflect upon the glories of our heavenly home. Get alone with God, open His Word, read His promises, and meditate deeply upon them. You will be glad you did!

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.——that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God.”—Romans 12:1-2

There are many, very many Christians who are afraid of making an unreserved surrender to God. They are afraid that God will ask some hard thing of them, or some absurd thing. They fear sometimes that it will upset all their life-plans. In a word, they are afraid to surrender unreservedly to the will of God, for Him to do all He wished to for them and whatsoever He wills with them. Friends, the will of God concerning us is not only the wisest and best thing in the world; it is also the tenderest and sweetest. God’s will for us is not only more loving than a father’s; it is more tender than a mother’s. It is true that God does oftentimes revolutionize utterly our life plans when we surrender ourselves to His will. It is true that He does require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God’s plans for your life.(R.A. Torrey)