Stress Test Devotional April 28
April 28, 2024
1 THESSALONIANS 4:16 | 16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
One great practice to help us deal with tragedy is to imagine our own demise. Spafford wrote a verse to It Is Well that said:
“For me be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live,
If Jordan above me shall roll, no pain shall be mine,
For in death as in life, Thou shall whisper Thy peace to my soul.”
Realizing that even this final and dreaded moment cannot break the peace and connection we have with God, puts other losses into perspective. He then turned his individual hope into a bigger hope for history and nature: the return of Christ.
“O Lord haste the day, when faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night to my soul.”
The return of Jesus marks the restoration of all things, a new heaven and earth.
How wide and broad is your hope?
Gracious God,
You will make all things new! Thank You for Your promises to overcome death and decay, as You did in Your ministry on earth. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
