Daily Reading
Daily Thought
Blaise Pascal, 17th-Century French philosopher, proposed that at the very least belief in God is a good bet. God cannot be proved or disproved rationally, he argued. If God is, there is great gain in believing in him and great loss in not. If God is not, then neither matters. It is most reasonable, therefore, to believe, since it is the only course that provides an advantage. This is not a strong faith, but it is a beginning.
Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, led his entire army and laid siege to Samaria, and a great famine ensued. Four lepers, starving outside the gates of the city of Samaria, reasoned, “If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die” (2Kings 7:4). Like Pascal’s good bet, there was only one choice with an advantage, so they went to the Syrian camp and discovered a mighty work of God. The Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army (v 6), so the Syrians fled and left behind food and drink, silver and gold, clothing, horses, and tents. The siege of Israel was ended. God had saved them.
It was not a strong faith, but it was a beginning, and the beginning of faith changed the hearts of the lepers. For a time they feast on God’s goodness, but then realized, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news” (2Kings 7:9). It must be shared. They called to the gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers called to the king and his household, and the king cried out to the city, and the city feasted.
You don’t light a fire. You light a match and that starts the fire. “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32).
Daily Prayer
My God, Your grace calls me to You. It is good and it satisfying. May I taste of Your goodness and share it with others. You have given me life, a life so abundant that I dare not keep silent.
Lord God, in You I find life. I know why I am here and what I am to do. Your love is great, and though I first came hesitantly, I now follow fully. You are everything to me, and I give You my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. May my life overflow and may Your glory be evident in all that I do.
Amen