Our Examples

“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10: 11

Each morning as I begin my time with the Lord, I read a short daily devotional from a book published in 1925. In it are quoted many men and women who lived their lives a hundred or more years earlier. Although their language usage is often quite removed from our own, it isn’t hard to get the drift of what they are saying.

What amazes me is that those men and women relied on the same truths from God’s Word as we do today. They quoted the same scriptures. They were comforted by the same passages. They endured the same sufferings. They struggled with the same decisions. The same things impeded their progress in the faith. Their battles were the same as ours, as indeed their enemy was the same who we battle today.

I daresay, their lives were the same as the lives as the saints and sinners we read about in our Bibles, not a hundred years ago, but thousands.

Only God could put together such a Word as would strengthen, help, comfort, encourage, warn, teach, lead, and mature all men and women in all the eras of history. Unlike our own dictionaries today, no words were ever added or altered to address the current culture. Nothing new was made up, nothing needed to be changed to keep up with the times, no new information had to be added after having been discovered. And yet, each day God’s Word addresses anew the fresh challenges that arise.

What an amazing God we serve!

Father, we are inspired by the same words as those who have gone before us on this road of life. We hunger and thirst for all You say to us. Thank You for speaking to us. Amen.