MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2023

Key Verse“Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived” (Job 3:3).TEXT: JOB 3:1-10John Harper, a Scottish minister, was travelling by ship to preach at The Moody Church in Chicago in the United States of America, when his vessel began to sink as it crossed the Atlantic. It had collided with an iceberg. Some passengers were able to reach lifeboats but many, including Harper, were unlucky; they were flung into the cold, icy sea.

The preacher swam around asking those trying to stay afloat to give their lives to Christ. Just before he was drowned by the frigid waters, he told a struggling passenger, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.Unlike Harper, Job permitted his predicament to get the better of his language. Assaulted and derailed by fatal vicissitudes, the source of which he could not trace or understand, he lashed out at the day he was born. He wanted the day obliterated from history. This was a needless challenge to the wisdom of God who ordained the day and knew its purpose.Four years after Harper’s death, a meeting of survivors of the ship, the Titanic, heard the testimony of the last man the pastor preached to.

He said he was saved twice that night. First, he accepted the evangelist’s message of salvation and gave his life to Jesus following Harper’s witness. Second, he was delivered from the cold clutch of the ocean by a faithful Lord who preserved his life.Limited in vision, knowledge and understanding, we must not be hasty to charge the Creator with neglect, as that would incur His wrath. When we run into problems orchestrated by the devil and sinful acts, we should learn to lean on our Saviour for help.THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:Watch your actions and thoughts in challenging times.BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 KINGS 13 – 14What to do during challenges