Topic : Demon Possession

The faith teachers maintain that when Adam sinned, the world was turned over to Satan. The devil became the legal owner of the planet. The faith teacher’s position accommodates the Gnostic view (particularly evident in Zoroastrianism, a Persian Gnostic religion), in which a good god rules the spiritual world and a bad god rules the physical realm.

In such a philosophy the problem of evil is solved by blaming everything that goes wrong on the bad god (the devil); the good god is seen as no more than a counterbalance. One is left with the impression that the two gods each possess equal power both in quality and quantity. Everything that is wrong in the world is the fault of the bad god. And it’s up to the initiate or believer to make sure the good god wins.

When Jimmy Swaggart defied the orders of the Assemblies of God to refrain from preaching for one year, he assured the public that he was free of moral defect, for, he said, Oral Roberts had cast out the demons from his body over the phone. Oral Roberts confirmed Swaggart’s report, insisting he saw the demons with their claws deeply embedded in Swaggart’s flesh. Now that the rascals were gone, Swaggart and Roberts asserted, Swaggart could get on with preparing the way for Christ’s return. Evidently, personal responsibility for sin can be dismissed by blaming it on an external force. Yet Flip Wilson’s famous quip, “The devil made me do it” is hardly comedy when we’re talking about the biblical view of sin.

For these metaphysical evangelists, even personal sins can be attributed to the bad god, since he is, after all, sovereign over this earthly realm as the good god is relatively in charge of the spiritual domain. Here again, then, is the echo of the Gnostics of old. When that heresy was revived toward the end of the medieval period, Calvin said, “They made the devil almost the equal of God.”

In this way, the problem of sin is replaced with the problem of Satan. It is facing Satan, not my own sin and rebelliousness, that becomes the great task of the Christian life. I’m not the problem—the Devil is!

The Agony of Deceit by Michael Horton, Editor, 1990, Moody Press, pp.132-133

Satan is No Myth, J.O. Sanders, Moody, 1975, p. 62ff

“You don’t go look at where it happened,” said Scott Goodyear, who starts 33rd [speaking of race-car drivers who have been killed in crashes at the Indianapolis 500]. “You don’t watch the films of it on television. You don’t deal with it. You pretend it never happened.” The Speedway operation itself encourages this approach. As soon as the track closes the day of an accident, a crew heads out to paint over the spot where the car hit the wall. Through the years, a driver has never been pronounced dead at the race track. A trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Racing Museum, located inside the 2.5-mile oval, has no memorial to the 40 drivers who have lost their lives here. Nowhere is there even a mention.

Source unknown

I was once conducting a rap session with high school teenagers. I told them that they could ask me any question on any subject, and I would try and answer it. Their questions were typical of ones I had received in similar sessions scores of times before. As the session drew to a close, one girl toward the back, who had not said anything, raised her hand. I nodded, and she said, “The Bible says God loves everybody. Then it says that God sends people to hell. How can a loving God do that?” I gave her my answer, and she came back to me with arguments. I answered her arguments, and she answered my answers. The conversation quickly degenerated into an argument. I did not convince her, nor did she convince me. After a few more questions I dismissed the session.

After the session I approached her and said, “I owe you an apology. I really should not have allowed our discussion to become so argumentative.” Then I asked, “May I share something with you?” She said, “Yes.” So I took her through a basic presentation of the gospel. When I got to Romans 3:23 and suggested that all of us were sinners she began to cry. It was then that this high school senior admitted she had been having an affair with a married man. The one thing she needed was forgiveness. When I finished the presentation of the gospel, she trusted Christ. The reason she did not believe in hell was because she was going there. In her heart she knew she had sinned. Her conscience condemned her, but rather than face the fact of her guilt, she simply denied any future judgment or future hell.

Evangelism, A Biblical Approach, M. Cocoris, Moody, 1984, p. 163.

Polycarp (A.D. 70-155) was bishop of Smyrna and a godly man. He had known the apostle John personally. When he was urged by the Roman proconsul to renounce Christ, Polycarp said: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” “I have respect for your age,” said the official. “Simply say, ‘Away with the atheists!’ and be set free.” The aged Polycarp pointed to the pagan crowd and said, “Away with the atheists!” He was burned at the stake and gave joyful testimony of his faith in Jesus Christ.

Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, W. Wiersbe, p. 214

For an extraordinary pitcher he performed few extraordinary feats. Though a veteran of 21 seasons, in only one did he win more than 20 games. He never pitched a no-hitter and only once did he lead the league in any category (2.21 ERA, 1980). Yet on June 21, 1986, Don Sutton rubbed pitching elbows with the true legends of baseball by becoming the 13th pitcher to win 300 games. His analysis of his success is worth noting. “A grinder and a mechanic” is what he calls himself. “I never considered myself flamboyant or exceptional. But all my life I’ve found a way to get the job done.” And get it done he did. Through two decades, six presidential terms, and four trades, he consistently did what pitchers are supposed to do: win games. With tunnel vision devotion, he spent 21 seasons redefining greatness. He has been called the “family sedan” of baseball’s men on the mound.

Fulfilling what I agreed to do even though it requires unexpected sacrifices.

Source unknown

Dear God,

So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen

Source unknown

Once there was a rich man who had a son to whom he promised an annual allowance. Every year on the same day, he would give his son the entire amount. After a while, it happened that the only time the father saw his son was on the day of allowance. So the father changed his plan and only gave the son enough for the day. Then the next day the son would return. From then on, the father saw his son every day. This is the way God dealt with Israel. It is the way God deals with us.

Source unknown

To keep the lamp alive,
With oil we fill the bowl;
‘Tis water makes the willow thrive,
And grace that feeds the soul.

The Lord’s unsparing hand
Supplies the living stream;
It is not at our own command,
But still derived from Him.

Beware of Peter’s word,
Nor confidently say,
“I never will deny Thee, Lord,”—
But,—”Grant I never may.”

Man’s wisdom is to seek
His strength in God alone;
And e’en an angel would be weak,
Who trusted in his own.

Retreat beneath His wings,
And in His grace confide!
This more exalts the King of kings,
Than all your works beside.

In Jesus is our store,
Grace issues from His throne;
Whoever says, “I want no more,”
Confesses he has none.

Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

“Since God has put His work into your weak hands, look not for long ease here: You must feel the full weight of your calling: a weak man with a strong God.”

Lady Culross to John Livingston of the Covenanters, quoted in Prodigals and Those Who Love Them, Ruth Bell Graham, 1991, Focus on the Family Publishing, p. 23

“When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman.”

A young woman was new of the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought, “I’ll just straighten this out myself.” She tried, but the situation only worsened. Finally she called the foreman. “I did the best I could,” she said.

“No you didn’t. To do the best, you should have called me.”

Source unknown

Man, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication and many accomplishments, owes the fact of his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.

Source unknown

Broadcaster Paul Harvey told a version of the following story on the radio many years ago.

There was an old man who was a great admirer of democracy and public education. So close to his heart did he hold both institutions that he tried to bring them together into one grand experiment, a public college where students would practice self-governance. There would be no regulations; the goodwill and judgment of the students would suffice. After years of planning, the school was finally opened. The old man was overjoyed.

But as the months went by, students proved time and time again that they were not the models of discipline and discernment the old man envisioned. They skipped classes, drank to excess, and wasted hours in frivolous pursuits. One night, 14 students, disguised by masks and “animated with wine,” went on a rampage that ended in a brawl. One struck a professor with a brick, and another used a cane on his victim.

In response, the college’s trustees convened a special meeting. The old man, now 82 years old and very frail, was asked to address the student body. In his remarks, he recalled the lofty principles upon which the college had been founded. He said he had expected more—much more—from the students. He even confessed that this was the most painful event of his life. Suddenly, he stopped speaking. Tears welled up in his failing eyes. He was so overcome with grief that he sat down, unable to go on.

His audience was so touched that at the conclusion of the meeting the 14 offenders stepped forward to admit their guilt. But they could not undo the damage already done. A strict code of conduct and numerous onerous regulations were instituted at the college. The old man’s experiment had failed. Why? Because he took for granted the one essential ingredient necessary for success: virtue. Only a virtuous people can secure and maintain their freedom.

A short time later, on the Fourth of July, the old man passed away. Engraved on his tombstone were the simple words that reflected the success and failure of his most important experiments: “Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and father of the University of Virginia.” Now, as Mr. Harvey says, you know the rest of the story.

Imprimis, April 1997, Volume 26, Number 4, Hillsdale College, MI, pp. 1-2

“Until we believe that we are as bad as God says we are, we can never believe that He will do for us what He says He will do. Right here is where popular religion breaks down.” - A. W. Tozer

Quoted in The Berean Call, September 1993, New Man, July/August 1994, p. 10.

• Truly it is evil to be full of faults, but it is a still greater evil to be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognize them. - Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662
• No one knows the one-hundredth part of the sin that clings to his soul. - John Calvin

Source unknown

My God, how perfect are Thy ways!
But mine polluted are;
Sin twines itself about my praise,
And slides into my prayer.

When I would speak what Thou hast done
To save me from my sin,
I cannot make Thy mercies known,
But self-applause creeps in.

Divine desire, that holy flame
Thy grace creates in me;
Alas! impatience is its name,
When it returns to Thee.

This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts,
How does it overflow,
While self upon the surface floats,
Still bubbling from below.

Let others in the guady dress
Of fancied merit shine;
The Lord shall be my righteousness,
The Lord for ever mine.

Olney Hymns, by William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

According to sociologist Robert Bellah, “One of our current psychological gurus says that 98 percent of Americans are dysfunctional. No doubt he is right. He has just discovered original sin, though he is mistaken if he things 2 percent are without.”

Our Daily Bread, April 19, 1995

Charles Hodge points out the overwhelming need of humanity:

Our guilt is great because our sins are exceedingly numerous. It is not merely outward acts of unkindness and dishonesty with which we are chargeable; our habitual and characteristic state of mind is evil in the sight of God.

Our pride, vanity, and indifference to His will and to the welfare of others, our selfishness, our loving the creature more than the Creator, are continuous violations of His holy law.

We have never been or done what that law requires us to be and to do. We have never had that delight in the divine perfection, that sense of dependence and obligation, that fixed purpose to do the will and promote the glory of God, which constitute the love which is our fist and highest duty.

We are always sinners; we are at all times and under all circumstances in opposition to God, because we are never what His law requires us to be.

If we have never made it our purpose to do His will, if we have never made His glory the end of our actions, then our lives have been an unbroken series of transgressions. Our sins are not to be numbered by the conscious violations of duty; they are as numerous as the moments of our existence.

A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world—and might even be more difficult to save.

C. S. Lewis, quoted in Against the Night, Charles Colson, p. 139

(Evidences of Original Sin)

Test this on the toddlers in your home or church this Christmas!

1. If I like it, it’s mine.

2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.

8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.

Deb Lawrence, Missionary to the Philippines with SEND International, quoted in Prokope, November/December, 1992, p. 3.

October 7, 1969 the Montreal, Canada police force went on strike. Because of what resulted, the day has been called Black Tuesday.

A burglar and a policeman were slain. Forty-nine persons were wounded or injured in rioting. Nine bank holdups were committed, almost a tenth of the total number of holdups the previous year along with 17 robberies at gunpoint. Usually disciplined, peaceful citizens joined the riffraff and went wild, smashing some 1,000 plate glass windows in a stretch of 21 business blocks in the heart of the city, hauling away stereo units, radios, TVs and wearing apparel. While looters stripped windows of valuable merchandise, professional burglars entered stores by doors and made off with truckloads of goods. A smartly dressed man scampered down a street with a fur coat over each arm with no police around, anarchy took over.

Source unknown

We begin by trusting our ignorance and calling it innocence, by trusting our innocence and calling it purity. And when we hear these rugged statements of our Lord’s (Matthew 15:18), we shrink and say: “But I never felt any of those awful things in my heart.” Either Jesus Christ is the supreme authority on the human heart or He is not worth paying attention to. Am I prepared to trust His judgment or do I prefer to trust my innocent ignorance? As long as I remain under the refuge of innocence, I am living in a fool’s paradise. The only thing that safeguards is the redemption found in Jesus Christ. Purity is too deep down for me to get to naturally; but when the Holy Spirit comes in, He brings into the center of my life the very Spirit that was manifested in the life of Jesus Christ—the Holy Spirit, who is unsullied purity.” - Oswald Chambers

Source unknown

Dear Abby: I am 44 and would like to meet a man my age with no bad habits.

Dear Rose: So would I.

Source unknown

Alexander MacLaren has written, “I remember a rough parable of [Martin] Luther’s grafted on an older legend, which runs somewhat in this fashion: A man’s heart is like a foul stable. Wheelbarows and shovels are of little use, except to remove some of the surface filth, and to litter all the passages in the process. What is to be done with it? ‘Turn the river Elbe into it,’ says he. The flood will sweep away all the pollution.”

Today in the Word, September, 1989, p. 12

On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

George Orwell, Dickens, Dali and Others

When a believer is depressed it is difficult for them to sense God’s presence. A loving and listening friend can be a tangible representation of the Comforter.

1. Encourage them to talk and cry. Verbalizing helps to organize thoughts and put them into perspective.

2. Be a good listener. Wait until they are done talking. Tell them simply that you care.

3. Give answers sparingly. The depressed person often lacks the ability to absorb or act on good advice. Well-intended counsel can be twisted into insult in the confused mind.

4. Pray daily for God’s plan to be played out. God knows, and He is in control.

5. Pray for right to prevail over evil. The enemy will take advantage of the vulnerable.

6. Call or visit frequently. Offer your help.

7. Offer social invitations. The tendency to withdraw only deepens the loneliness.

8. Your friend’s spouse may be confused by her mate’s changed temperament. Pray for the spouse, too.

9. Mail Scripture verses that declare God’s faithfulness and love.

10. The lie of despair is that no one can understand. Wait until you are asked, then assure your friend that there are people who can help. Accumulate referrals to professional resources.

Discipleship Journal, October, 1996, quoted in Lifeline, Summer, 1997

A Christian who passes through the dark tunnel of depression tends to focus on his sinful weaknesses and failures. God can use this time in a positive way, however, to enlarge his appreciation for His all-encompassing and all-sufficient grace.

In 1964, Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, suffered a near-fatal stroke and sank into the depths of despondency. He wrote later of having terribly wicked thoughts. At one point, he prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this attack of the devil. Take me right home!”

It was then that he sensed the Lord saying, “It is I, your Savior, who has brought this experience into your life to show you [that] this is the kind of person—with all your sinful thoughts and temptations, which you thought were things of the past—that you always will be, but for My grace.”

Our Daily Bread, Saturday, June 20.

• You wake up face down on the pavement.
• You call Suicide Prevention and they put you on hold.
• You see a “60 Minutes” news team waiting in your office.
• Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles.
• You turn on the news and they’re showing emergency routes out of the city.
• Your twin sister forgot your birthday.
• Your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the freeway.
• Your boss tells you not to bother to take off your coat.
• The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard.
• You wake up and your braces are locked together.
• You call your answering service and they tell you it’s none of your business.
• Your income tax check bounces.
• You put both contact lenses in the same eye.
• Your wife says, “Good morning, Bill,” and your name is George.

Author unknown

One of England’s finest preachers was C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892). Frequently during his ministry he was plunged into severe depression, due in part to gout but also for other reasons. In a biography of the “prince of preachers,” Arnold Dallimore wrote, “What he suffered in those times of darkness we may not know...even his desperate calling on God brought no relief. ‘There are dungeons,’ he said, ‘beneath the castles of despair.’”

Source unknown

Half of Americans in a recent poll said they or their family members have suffered from depression, 46% considered it a health problem, and 43% saw it as a “sign of personal or emotional weakness,” according to the National Mental Health Association.

Other topics measured included alcoholism (seen as a personal weakness by 58% and a health problem by 34%) and obesity (38% deemed it a weakness, 48% a health problem).

Where to go for help? Three choices were allowed. 45% suggested a medical doctor, 60% a mental health professional, but only 20% suggested a church, minister, rabbi, or priest, and just 14% suggested a spouse, relative, or friend.

National and International Religion Report, Jan 1, 1992

Today’s young women are more likely to become depressed than their mothers were and at a younger age. Reasons: (1) increased economic pressure to contribute to family income; (2) changing role in society; (3) inability to meet their own expectations; (4) a sense of having lost control.

Dr. Gerald Klerwan, in Homemade, Dec. 1986

Depression strikes about 10 million Americans within any six-month period. Human therapists can now treat only a fraction of that number. But a study shows that by using computers, more of these persons might be helped. In the American Journal of Psychiatry, researcher John Greist presented a study showing that depressed people treated by computerized questions and answers improved just as much as those consulted under a human therapist.

Resource, Mar/Apr, 1990

Many years ago a young Midwestern lawyer suffered from such deep depression that his friends thought it best to keep all knives and razors out of his reach. He questioned his life’s calling and the prudence of even attempting to follow it through. During this time he wrote, “I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not.”

But somehow, from somewhere, Abraham Lincoln received the encouragement he needed, and the achievements of his life thoroughly vindicated his bout with discouragement.

Today in the Word, MBI, December, 1989, p. 20

• Swindoll, You and Your Problems
• Transformed by Thorns, p. 58

In 1835 a man visited a doctor in Florence, Italy. He was filled with anxiety and exhausted from lack of sleep. He couldn’t eat, and he avoided his friends. The doctor examined him and found that he was in prime physical condition. Concluding that his patient needed to have a good time, the physician told him about a circus in town and its star performer, a clown named Grimaldi. Night after night he had the people rolling in the aisles. “You must go and see him,” the doctor advised. “Grimaldi is the world’s funniest clown. He’ll make you laugh and cure your sadness.” “No,” replied the despairing man, “he can’t help me. you see, I am Grimaldi!”

There are dungeons beneath the castle of despair. C.H. Spurgeon

Source unknown

C. S. Lewis gave us the following insight:

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

The Agony of Deceit by Michael Horton, Editor1990, Moody Press, p. 49

Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.

Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine

I’ve learned that if you give a pig and a boy everything they want, you’ll get a good pig and a bad boy.

From Live and Learn and Pass it On, Jackson Brown, Jr. (age 77).

Driving up from Beersheba, a combined force of British, Australians and New Zealanders were pressing on the rear of the Turkish retreat over arid desert. The attack outdistanced its water carrying camel train. Water bottles were empty. The sun blazed pitilessly out of a sky where the vultures wheeled expectantly. “Our heads ached,” writes Gilbert, “and our eyes became bloodshot and dim in the blinding glare...Our tongues began to swell...Our lips turned a purplish black and burst.”

Those who dropped out of the column were never seen again, but the desperate force battled on to Sheria. There were wells at Sheria, and had they been unable to take the place by nightfall, thousands were doomed to die of thirst. “We fought that day,” writes Gilbert, “as men fight for their lives... We entered Sheria station on the heels of the retreating Turks. The first objects which met our view were the great stone cisterns full of cold, clear, drinking water. In the still night air the sound of water running into the tanks could be distinctly heard, maddening in its nearness; yet not a man murmured when orders were given for the battalions to fall in, two deep, facing the cisterns”

He then describes the stern priorities: the wounded, those on guard duty, then company by company. It took four hours before the last man had his drink of water, and in all that time they had been standing twenty feet from a low stone wall on the other side of which were thousands of gallons of water.

From an account of the British liberation of Palestine by Major V. Gilbert in The Last Crusade, quoted in Christ’s Call To Discipleship, J.M. Boice, Moody, 1986, p. 143

There’s a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, “O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.”

Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water. Then he asked, “What do you want?”

“Knowledge, O wise Socrates,” said the young man with a smile.

Socrates put his strong hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. “What do you want?” he asked again.

“Wisdom,” the young man sputtered, “O great and wise Socrates.”

Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. “What do you want, young man?”

Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, “Knowledge, O wise and wonderful …”

Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. “What do you want?”

“Air!” he screeched. “I need air!”

“When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge.”

M. Littleton in Moody Monthly, June, 1989, p. 29

J.S. Bach’s first biographer, Forkel, tells that young Johann Sebastian discovered that his brother had in his music cabinet a special book of compositions by some of the more established composers of that day, such as Pachelbel, Froberger, Bohm, and Buxtehude. He wanted to borrow the book, but for some reason his brother refused. Perhaps brother Johann Christoph was reserving those pieces for his own study or performances and didn’t want the talented youngster in his home to perfect the works first.

Johann Sebastian clearly coveted his brother’s book, however, and in the middle of the night, when everyone else in the house was asleep, he crept down to sneak the anthology from the cabinet. He took it to his room and began to copy it by moonlight! It took him six months. Johann Christoph found out about it...and promptly impounded the copied volume. (Johann Sebastian did not get the book back until his brother died almost a quarter-century later.

Source unknown

In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished.

Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food—elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating.

Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS.” We can understand Shackleton’s obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness.

The Heart of the Antarctic, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Toward the end of his life, British novelist H. G. Wells grew despairing about the fate of the human race. One evening at dinner, Wells laid out his picture of the future. Mankind had failed because evolution had failed to produce in us the right kind of brain. Therefore, Wells claimed, we will destroy ourselves, die out as a species, and revert to the mud and slime from which we arose. “And we shall deserve our fate,” he said, adding that the human race had only “one thousand years more” to survive.

Today in the Word, November, 1996, p. 24

During the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their home. One night as they stayed in a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt reminded her of Scripture promises about God’s provision and keeping. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour.

Soon afterward, Gerhardt felt the burden lifted and sensed anew the Lord’s presence. Taking his pen, he wrote a hymn that has brought comfort to many. “Give to the winds thy fears; hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head. Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears the way. Wait thou His time, so shall the night soon end in joyous day.”

It is often in our darkest times that God makes His presence known most clearly. He uses our sufferings and troubles to show us that He is our only source of strength. And when we see this truth, like Pastor Gerhardt, we receive new hope.

Are you facing a great trial? Take heart. Put yourself in God’s hands. Wait for His timing. He will give you a “song in the night.”

Our Daily Bread, May 7, 1992

That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; ...that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the aspirations, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system ... All these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.

Bertrand Russell, quoted in Christian Apologetics in a World Community, W. Dyrness, IVP, 1983, p. 92.

God sometimes allows us to enter into discouraging situations for the primary purpose of testing our faith. At such times we must refuse to give up in despair. Like Jonah in the belly of the great fish, we must turn to the Lord when our soul is fainting within us, trusting Him completely. James H. McConkey wrote, "What can you do when you are about to faint physically? You can't DO anything! In your weakness you just fall upon the shoulders of some strong loved one, lean hard, and rest until your strength returns. The same is true when you are tempted to faint under adversity. The Lord's message to us is "Be still, and know that I am God? (Psalm 46:10). Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he said to a dear friend, "I'm so weak that I can't work or read my Bible, and I can hardly pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child and trust.? And that is all the Heavenly Father asks of you when you grow weary in the fierce fires of affliction.'

Our Daily Bread, Monday, March 26.