«I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land» (Psalm 143:6).
WHEN THOMAS «LITTLE» BILNEY said that he had to «go up to Jerusalem» in 1531, his friends understood very well what he meant. Indeed, a short time later, he was arrested in Norwich, tried, and sentenced to die at the stake.
It is said that the night before his death, in the company of his friend Matthew Parker, Bilney read Isaiah 43:2: «When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.» Placing his hand over the flame of a candle, he implied that he was not afraid to die consumed by the flames. The next day, while he was led to the execution site, Bilney recited Psalm 143. When he was near the stake, he repeated the words of our text today: «I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land.» When the flames began to consume his body, Bilney cried, «I believe in you, Jesus. I believe in you.»
Why had he been condemned? For having taught that, apart from Jesus Christ, no human being could forgive sins. And for having been the leader of a group of scholars who, in Cambridge and throughout England, had begun to preach the truths of the Protestant Reformation openly: One of those leaders: Hugh Latimer, was «the most honest man in England.
«Latimer was born in a humble cradle, the son of a farmer, but he managed to graduate from Cambridge through his hard work. Years later, he became chaplain to King Henry VIII and Bishop of Worcester. A powerful preacher and zealous defender of the Catholic Church, Latimer initially attacked Luther’s teachings, which by then were spreading throughout the kingdom. He did this until the day «Little Bilney» showed him the truths of the gospel of Christ. Then everything changed. Latimer began to preach the great truths of the Reformation: «Faith in God and his Word sustained these holy men as they yielded up their lives at the stake.»—The Great Controversy, ch. 14, p. 249. At Oxford, on October 16, 1555, Hugh Latimer was condemned to die as a heretic at the stake along with Nicholas Ridley. «Be of good comfort,» Latimer said to Mr. Ridley. «We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.»—Ibid.
That light has never gone out. It is the same one that the prophets, the apostles, and the faithful champions of truth kept lit for centuries and which has come to us thanks to the blood of the martyrs.
What are you and I going to do with that light?
Dear Father, thank You for the blood of Your martyrs.
Please help me to be faithful to the precious truth for which they gave their lives!
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
