60 Seconds – The Better Thing
Author: Dave ArnoldSeveral years ago, former Vice President George H. W. Bush spoke at a prayer breakfast. He told of his trip to Russia to represent the United States at the funeral of Leonid Brezhnev.
The funeral was as regimented and stoic as the communist regime. No tears were seen, nor emotions displayed. However, there was one exception. Brezhnev’s widow was the last person to witness the body before the coffin was closed. For several moments, she stood at his side, then reached down and performed the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest. In that hour of her husband’s death, she went not to Lenin, not to Karl Marx, not to Krushchev. Instead, she chose to go to the One who said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust God, and trust in Me.”
In Psalm 118:8 we read, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.”
The minister and religious writer, Barton Bouchier (1794 – 1865) wrote, “This 8th verse of this Psalm is the middle verse of the Bible. There are, I believe, 31,174 verses in all, and this is the 15,587th. I think there was an overruling Providence.”
In Exodus 3:12, God promised Moses, “I will certainly be with you.” The Hebrew carries the idea of, “I will be all you need, when you need it.”
Hudson Taylor admonished, “Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand; and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about.”
Frances Havergal, the song writer, lived and moved in the Word of God. His Word was her constant companion. On the last day of her life, she asked a friend to read to her the 42nd chapter of Isaiah. When her friend read the sixth verse, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you,” Miss Havergal stopped her. She whispered, “Called–held–kept. I can go home on that!” She did go home on that. She found His promises unfailing.
Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”