Stress Test Devotional April 28
April 28, 2024
ISAIAH 6:9 | 9 And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’
ACTS 9:8 | 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
“I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.”
John Newton nearly died in a severe storm off the coast of Ireland near Donegal in 1748. He cried out for God’s mercy and began to question his earlier criticism. Eventually becoming a customs agent and retiring from sailing he taught himself Greek and Latin and studied scripture and theology. Newton was ordained to the Church of England ministry in 1764 and became a curate in Olney in Buckinghamshire where he wrote hymns with the poet William Cowper. His road to faith had been tempestuous and long, full of resistance. Physical blindness was a metaphor for not understanding spiritual realities in Isaiah. In Paul’s life his lack of understanding led to outright opposition to God’s Messiah and then actual blindness after his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. When we resist God we cloud our vision of the world and cannot see the divine activity around us.
When have you been blind to God’s work?
Gracious God,
Open my eyes that I may see your work and ways. Where I am lost, put me on a new and right path.
Amen.
