May 25, 2026 – Knowing
Ahhhh, a bike ride and a picnic in Golden Gate State Park (San Francisco, CA).
JC – “In a world of unrelenting changes, I am the One who never changes…. In My Presence you can face uncertainty with perfect Peace.” [Riding a motorized bike through parts of San Francisco certainly offered unrelenting changes in terrain and obstacles, but I had confidence in my son (Alex) as I and his girlfriend and her mother followed him on our fun sightseeing route. And I had peace knowing God is always with me.]
Days – Simpson looks to Philippians 3:10 writing, “It was Paul’s great desire, ‘That I may know Him,’ not about Him…. It is the Lord Himself, and nothing else; it is acquaintance with God; it is knowing Jesus Christ as we know no one else; it is being able to say, not only ‘I believe Him,’ but ‘I know Him’; not about Him, but I know Him. That is the secret above all others that God wants us to have….”
Prevail #146 – Psalm 103:2 – “Let all that I praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.” Larson reminds us that, “Our finite minds cannot grasp what Jesus saved us from and what He has promised us…. We have been made new…. We are destined for heaven…. His Word is alive in us! His power, available to us! So why do some live lives marked by power, insight, and authority, while others profess Christ but seem to live as earthbound as the rest of the lost world? A. W. Tozer…determined that those who rise up and do great things for God and with God possess what he calls spiritual receptivity. They cultivate a lifestyle of listening to God, and when He speaks, they do something about it. What if we did the same? …What if we asked for the impossible? Outcomes are up to Him. But our faith changes us and pleases Him.”
JA – “THANK ME FOR ALL THE CHALLENGES in your life. They are gifts from Me – opportunities to grow stronger and more dependent on Me…. It’s exhilarating to get through challenges that you thought were too much for you. When you do so in reliance on Me, our relationship grows stronger…. You gain confidence that you and I together can cope with whatever hard times the future may bring.” See Philippians 4:13.
Streams – 2 Timothy 2:10 – “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” Cowman shares this important perspective from Robert Collyer, “Oh, if only Job had known, as he sat in the ashes, troubling his heart over the thought of God’s providence, that millions down through history would look back on his trials. He might have taken courage in the fact that his experience would be a help to others throughout the world. No one lives to himself, and Job’s story is like yours and mine, only his was written for all to see…. We never know the trials that await us in the days ahead. We may not be able to see the light through our struggles, but we can believe that those days, as in the life of Job, will be the most significant we are called upon to live.”
Cowman draws from selected sources as she writes, “Who has not learned that our most sorrowful days are frequently our best? …The soul that is always lighthearted and cheerful misses the deepest things of life. Certainly that life has its reward and is fully satisfied, but the depth of its satisfaction is very shallow…. Remember, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ (Matt. 5:4). Stars shine brightest during the long dark night of winter…. God seems to use the pressure of pain to trample out the fulfillment of His promises and thereby release the sweetest juice of His winepress….Your lord knows best, and the clouds and the sun wait for His command. When told, ‘It’s a gray day,’ an old Scottish cobbler once replied, ‘Yes, but didn’t ya see the patch of blue?’”
Utmost – Chambers offers this about trusting God’s ways with us, “…if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the right and proper thing to consider if you were not living a life of faith…. The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best…. Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eye on God. ‘Walk before Me.’”
JL – “My delightful Lord, This is the day that You have made! As I rejoice in this day of life, it will yield precious gifts and beneficial training…. When I’m grateful, I can walk through the darkest days with Joy in my heart because I know that the Light of Your Presence is still shining on me…. In Your bright, shining Name, Jesus, Amen.”
