Stress Test Devotional April 27
April 27, 2024
ISAIAH 25:7 | 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations.
LUKE 7:11-15 |11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Growing up in wintry Pennsylvania, I have many beautiful sledding memories. Except for one. Once in elementary school I watched in horror as a neighborhood girl slid into the street, hitting a car. The ambulances came but she died within minutes. I remember vividly the moment the EMT’s covered her small, white face with a sheet.
Isaiah hoped God would destroy the “shroud cast over the peoples, the sheet spread over the nations.” He dreamed of a world without death. Jesus made this world real too, but not yet universal. He restored life to the dead, reversing the process of decay and disintegration with a word or a touch.
Picture the reaction of the widow who is mourning turned to joy, when Jesus restored her son.
Pray for those living in the shadow of death in our community and in our world.
