Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly. 2 Chronicles 29:36
Recommended Reading: 2 CHRONICLES 29:31-36 “31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. 34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves, for the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests. 35 Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering.
So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. 36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.”
COMMENTS: “Sometimes God calms the storm, sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.” This wise and insightful statement has become famous among the Christian community and is most insightful into way God works and a glimpse into why. God does control all things and manages them so as to bless His followers in ways not possible otherwise. Consider the hardships and suffering Christians faced in the first century, some recorded in our New Testament. Consider hardships Paul and the Disciples faced during their lives after Pentecost. Most were martyred but not all. Also, there were times God intervened and spared even those later martyred. So why does God sometimes calm storms and other times just calm the child? Well, that is a mystery only God knows the reason for. Yet time often reveals the answer to that question. The severe persecution of the early Christians led to the spreading of the Gospel more quickly and further around the known world at that time. The persecution of the Roman Empire made Christians scatter while also providing boats and road that made that scattering quicker and easier.
God’s purpose was in eternal salvation for His followers while providing opportunity for those followers to spread His Gospel message to more and further as well. When we consider God’s perspective, we begin to understand suffering that lasts a few years may seem eternal to us but from an eternal perspective is a brief moment. So suffering that must be endured in order to bring eternal salvation to more is an acceptable price to be paid. Those who must pay that price get to the point of understanding and accepting that price. It is not that God enjoys or wants us to suffer. Quite the opposite and His sacrifice gave us opportunity to avoid eternal suffering. Instead, God suffers too when we suffer and goes through that sufferin with them to lighten and easy their load. That is what is meant by last half of the above statement “…sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.” He promises never to let His child face or endure more than he can nor more than is necessary in order to accomplish His Will, which includes strengthening His child and enabling him to be a more credible and effective witness to others.
Those most effective in reaching others is those who have gone through the same situation and can testify how God helped and guided them through that situation.
So too, you and I sometimes are called to endure some hardships for same reason. Some hardships are caused by our own poor choices and sinful deeds, but some are caused by poor choices and sinful deeds of others. When that happens, consequences on the innocent seem so unfair, but truth is we all are sinful and desire far worse than any consequences we may face in this life. Consequences of sins of others may not be fair but our own sins deserve far worse, so we have no reason to complain when suffer at the hands of others. Likewise, God isn’t asking us to suffer because we deserve it, but He calls His children to suffer in order to grow and become a light for others.
Consider how effective doing so became for Paul and Peter and countless millions of other Christians of the early church. Those who experienced torture and death at the hand of Nero were ultimately ushered into heaven by Christ Himself for an eternal reward for their faithfulness. Their solidarity and peace and joy during such became a shining beacon and gave authenticity to the Gospel message embraced by countless millions that came after them.
Psalm 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” You and I need reminded of the truth and importance of this verse during dark times but even more so during peaceful times so our reliance and focus on Him does not waiver and our reliance on ourselves does not overshadow our surrender to Him. The best is yet to come but only if we keep our hand in His and follow His path instead of our own. AMEN? AMEN!
The best is yet to be and we can’t lose for winning!
Vance Havner
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 506 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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