26th March 2020. Daily Devotion.

It came as a shock and with a feeling of dread to learn that a family member is suffering fevers and a cough – potentially Covid 19. The immediate prayer is that it will be mild and that the family will cope with the mandatory quarantine as faith jumps into high gear. I turned to Streams in the Desert and read this:

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. ” (Hebrews 11:6)

We all need faith for desperate days, and the Bible is filled with accounts of such days. Its story is told with them, its songs are inspired by them, its prophecy deals with them, and its revelation has come through them. Desperate days are the stepping-stones on the path of light. They seem to have been God’s opportunity to provide our school of wisdom.

Psalm 107 is filled with stories of God’s lavish love. In every story of deliverance, it was humankind coming to the point of desperation that gave God His opportunity to act. Arriving at “their wits’ end” (Ps. 107:27) of desperation was the beginning of God’s power.

Remember the promise made to a couple “as good as dead,” that their descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” (Heb. 11:12).

Read once again the story of the Red Sea deliverance, and the story of how “the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan” (Josh. 3:17).

Study once more the prayers of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah when they were severely troubled, not knowing what to do. Go over the history of Nehemiah, Daniel, Hosea, and Habakkuk. Stand with awe in the darkness of Gethsemane, and linger by the tomb in Joseph of Arimathea’s garden through those difficult days. Call to account the witnesses of the early church, and ask the apostles to relate the story of their desperate days.

Desperation is better than despair. Remember, our faith did not create our desperate days. Faith’s work is to sustain us through those days and to solve them. Yet the only alternative to desperate faith is despair. Faith holds on and prevails.

Let me briefly mention the Garden of Gethsemane and ask you to ponder its “nevertheless.” “If it be possible . . . nevertheless . . .” (Matt. 26:39 KJV).

Our Lord’s soul was overwhelmed by deep darkness. To trust meant experiencing anguish to the point of blood, and darkness to the very depths of hell—Nevertheless! Nevertheless!

Samuel Chadwick. Edited from Streams in the Desert L B Cowman

Here is a simple prayer for the sick. Pray for the healing of Spain today, and for all who watch with anxiety family members who are unwell with Covid 19.