BBD 09.01.08 Never Give Up!
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 150 countries.
Celebrating 10 years online since January 31, 1998.
Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth
of God's Word to more than 11,000 subscribers across the world.
The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 1,070 new subscribers since January 1, 2008!!
09.01.08
Never Give Up!
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath,
which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there
to provide for you." So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to
the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he
called to her and said, "Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may
drink." And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please
bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." So she said, "As the LORD your God
lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little
oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in
and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." And
Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a
small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for
yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'The bin of
flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day
the LORD sends rain on the earth.'" So she went away and did according to
the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The
bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to
the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah. - 1 Kings 17:8-15.
In 2005, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States
was responsible for the creation of 245.7 million tons of garbage. However,
that is close to 1.6 million tons of garbage less than the year before and
that is about 4.5 pounds of trash per person per day. The good news is that
one-third of the garbage was recycled in 2005. The EPA goal for this year is
35 percent to be recycled. As you can see the United States creates a huge
amount of garbage every day. We are a throw away society and disposable
seems to always be better than the reusable but it wasn't always that way.
During the depression years and through much of the World War II years in
the United States things were different. During those years not very much of
anything was thrown away because everything was needed to survive.
Everything was used down to the last drop, down to the last tiny bit.
During WW II tires were very hard to find because of use of the material in
the war effort. Neighbors would sometimes share tires with each other in
order to have one vehicle, they could use. If someone in the family was ill,
having a vehicle that had tires became very important. Because of that, my
Dad hoarded old tires for years after the war because he still remembered a
time when an old tire could have meant the difference between life and
death.
In these modern times, I believe we give up too easily. We give up too
early. We give up before it's down to the last drop. We give up before we
are down to our last dollar. We would do well to remember Elijah and widow
of Zarephath. God gave them the food they needed as long as it was needed.
We should remember the example of our Lord at the feeding of the five
thousand and of the four thousand. Only a few fishes and a little bread
until our Lord blessed the food, and it was multiplied into a provision for
the thousands with baskets of food left over.
Before we give up. Before we bail out. Let us give God an opportunity to
work that miracle in our lives. Let us thank God for all that we have and
are. Ask Him to sustain us. When we think we can't make it another day, let
us live one more and see what God will do. When we've gone our last mile,
let us walk one more. As we do, we will see the hand of God upon our lives
sustaining us each day as we trust Him to provide. Never, ever, give up!!
Copyright © 1999. 2008. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Prayer Requests: Please pray for the democratic nation of Georgia that has
been attacked by Russia. Please pray for Malachi and Cody who are young boys
with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the
Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they
will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always
in need of prayer - please pray for me.).
If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org
Two videos of my sermons are posted on Godtube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather
You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/
There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.
You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.