Topic: Hitherto… – [David Jeremiah Devotional 7 November 2019 | Turning Point Ministries]

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NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Samuel took a stone… and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
1 Samuel 7:12

 Recommended Reading: 1 Samuel 7:1-12

On January 1, 1805, missionary Henry Martyn wrote in his journal, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped me. It is now about five years since God stopped me in the career of worldliness, and turned me from the paths of sin: three years and a half since I turned to the Lord with all my heart; and a little more than two years since he enabled me to devote myself to his service as a Missionary. My progress of late has become slower than it had been; yet I can truly say, that in the course of this time, every successive year, every successive week, has been happier than the former. From many dangerous snares hath the Lord preserved me. In spite of all my inward rebellion, he hath carried on his work in my heart; and in spite of all my unbelieving fears, he hath given me a hope full of immortality.”¹

What a great testimony, and it is our testimony too! Our progress isn’t always as rapid as we’d like, but every year, month, and day is sweeter with Jesus than the one before. The Lord who was with you and helped you in the past is there for you today!

The same grace and long-suffering, the same wisdom and power, that have brought me so  far, will bring me on.
Henry Martyn

1. John Sargent, Memoir of the Rev. Henry Martyn, B.D.: Late Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Chaplain to the Honourable East India Company (New York: N. Bongs and T. Mason, 1824), 76.

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