Due to some technical issues (translation, I’m learning how to navigate WordPress and its quirks), I will be resubmitting this post as well as “Pushed to Pursue”. Somehow when I posted them, they were only accessible to current subscribers. The purpose of this website is to encourage the reader, regardless if you are a subscriber or not. I’d love for you to choose to subscribe as each devotional would automatically be sent to your email when posted. But, if you prefer to just stop by every now and then to read a devotional or two, that is also welcome. Either way, I’m glad you are here.
The original post is below.
This is No Joke
Praise the Lord, and Good Evening,
Stephen. The man wasn’t intimidated by people or death. He held firm and finished sharing his difficult message. I appreciate his journey. He, like, Abel, fulfilled their purpose, and yet their endings were quite ugly. Most people desire a happy ending. Sometimes, though, the ending is nothing close to an ending worth clapping over. Sometimes it feels like a cruel joke….you withstood so much and this is how it ends?
I’m grateful the Lord doesn’t engage in jokes. He’s not setting you up only to laugh in your face and call it a humungous hoax. Stephen’s response to his haters was profound. He used his last breath to pray for those who were stoning him! He knew they still needed God’s mercy and asked God not to hold that sin against them. Now you know that was powerful. And with that, he fell silent.
Yes, he was gone, but his message and testimony continued ringing. It’s noted in the scriptures that a young man by the name of Saul was present. The witnesses’ coats were scattered around his feet. He had no idea at the time that he would one day wear the same mantle of ministering and testifying about the same God he watched Stephen die for.
There’s so much about the life we lead that brings more questions than answers. We ask why, yet the Lord remains silent, which adds to our frustration. We may never know “why” in this life. But God’s purposes are real and are sent to produce specific results. He does not engage in scams. Yes, Stephen’s ending was ugly, but his life was impactful, and his reward heavenly. And that is no joke.
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:8-10 KJV)
In the Master’s Service, Pastor Michele D Robertson
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV)