«The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you» (Deuteronomy 33:27, NLT).
“HATE IS A CONDITION OF WARFARE familiar to every combat veteran.» Those words were written by John McCain, a senator and former candidate to the United States presidency, in reference to his experience as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. McCain was captured on October 1967 when his plane was shot down while executing a mission to bombard Hanoi, and he was subjected to humiliation, mistreatment and torture for almost six years.
What kept him going during that difficult time? According to McCain, it was the faith of his fellow prisoners, faith in his country, but above all, «faith in a God whose love was ever present.»
McCain saw evidence of that love toward the end of 1971. Until then, each prisoner had been confined to a cell, but on that occasion they were allowed to celebrate Christmas as a group. McCain was appointed as chaplain, they organized a choir and worshiped the incarnate God: «Our voices sounded as beautiful as a cathedral choir; and we gave thanks for Christ’s birth.»
However, McCain experienced the greatest evidence of God’s love while he was confined alone with both hands tied as punishment for having communicated with another prisoner. One night, as he lamented his condition, a young guard opened his cell door, told McCain to keep silent and proceeded to loosen the ropes that were hurting his hands. Without saying a word, he left and later returned before dawn to tie him up again.
In the months that followed, McCain says he saw the guard several times, but the young man never looked at him. One Christmas morning in which McCain had been allowed to leave his cell, the guard went up to him. Then, looking down at the floor, he drew a cross with his foot. Both of them looked at the cross for a while until the guard erased it. He left just as he had come, without saying a word. «For just that moment,» McCain wrote, «I forgot all my hatred. I forgot about the war and the terrible things that war does to you. I was just one Christian worshiping Christ with a fellow Christian on Christmas morning. »
Here is a lesson you and I should remember when times are hard: God is precisely where we least expect to find Him. Whether it be a manger or a cross, he is very near to us just when we thought he had forgotten us.
God of infinite mercy, thank You for being my eternal refuge and for holding and sheltering me in Your arms when the storm is raging.
#AdultsDevotional
#RadioJovenAdventista
#MeditacionesDiarias
Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2022
“GREAT IS OUR GOD!”
From: FERNANDO ZABALA
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Angelica Cuate
