Friday, January 28, 2011

Discouraged encourager

I thought this was great & such an encouragement.

Discouraged encourager

When people spoke with Pastor Larry, they couldn't help feeling better about themselves. But the community he worked in deteriorated. Many people left for better jobs and were replaced by transient families with fewer skills. Schools and stores changed overnight.

Larry felt alienated in a community that once embraced his encouragement. He was ready to throw in the towel. Then an elderly woman named Pearl visited him. "I've watched you for nearly 10 years as you consoled, shepherded, and ministered to this community. You've been an encouragement to everyone," she said.

"Then why are so many people leaving and being replaced by individuals hostile to God's Word?" Larry asked.

"God has brought them to you to grow in your ministry," Pearl said. "I believe God gifted you with an encouraging heart for a time such as this."

Larry thanked Pearl for her honesty, then excused himself to go home. As he approached his house, a family of three greeted him. "Thank you, Pastor," said the father. "We've been to three other cities but never really felt at home till we arrived here."

David Farr in God's Men.

adapted from Men of Integrity Devotional Bible with devotionals by the editors of Men of Integrity magazine (Christianity Today, Intl), Tyndale House Publishers (2002), p 209


Posted by Alesia at Friday, January 28, 2011

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Today's Bible Story
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Moses Smites the Rock
Exodus 17:1-7
Moses strikes the rock with his rod, and water comes forth.
AFTER THE EGYPTIANS had been all destroyed, the Israelites went forward into the wilderness; and when they had been traveling three days, they were in distress for want of water.

    They did indeed find some at a place called Marah, but it was so bitter they could not drink it. So again they reproached Moses, as they had done when the Egyptians pursued them to the Red Sea, asking him what they were to do for drink.

    Then God bade him throw into the water a certain tree which He showed to him; and when Moses had done this, it became quite good to drink.

    In a few days after, the people were in want of food; and again they were angry with Moses and his brother Aaron, who was with him taking care of the Israelites.

    They said they wished they had stayed in Egypt, where they had enough to eat, for they had been brought into the wilderness only that they might die of hunger. Then Moses asked them why they murmured against him and Aaron, when it was God Himself who had brought them out of Egypt; their murmuring was really against God.

    And yet, though He was displeased at their conduct, He would supply them with food, that they might know that he was indeed their God. So, in the evening, great flocks of quail came about the camp for the Israelites to eat; and in the morning, when the dew was dried up from the ground, there lay upon it a small round thing, like coriander seeds.

    The people did not know what it was; but Moses told them that was bread that God had sent them. There it was, fresh every morning, except on the seventh day, which God had in the beginning made a day of rest. On that day He would not have them gather it, giving them twice as much on the sixth day, that they might have enough for the seventh.

    This was called "manna"; and when it was ground, like grain, they made bread of it. God gave it them for forty years, till they came to the land of Canaan.

    But, though God had done so much for them, the children of Israel were a most ungrateful people. The very next time they wanted water, they were so angry with Moses that they were ready to kill him.

    Then Moses prayed to God to tell him what to do. And God bade him take some of the chiefs of the people, and go to a certain rock in Horeb, and strike it with his rod, and water should come out of it. So he took the men with him, and struck the rock, and water flowed abundantly.

Tomorrow: Aaron's Golden Calf

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