Job 1:18 a messenger came to Job and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house.  It collapsed on them, and they are dead.  

Matthew 2:16 When King Herod realized he had been outwitted by the wise men, “he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys two years old and younger in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”  

John 11:21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 5:5 One who was there had been an invalid there for 38 years.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as if were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Everywhere I turn lately, there seems to so much pain, suffering, and death.  Really great people, men, and women of God are leaving this world and, from what I can see, are not being replaced.  I think I’m trying to say that there seems to be a lot of great leaders like Moses dying, and there aren’t a whole lot of successors like Joshua replacing them.

In addition, there is so much sickness and death.  I’m finding myself praying out loud with people more and more.  Whether I am sitting with someone at church, praying over the phone, or even on the cereal aisle at Ingles, there is no shortage of people who need prayer.

I used the verses today to show us that we are not and have never been alone in the things that we go through.  The people in the Bible knew the same pain that we feel now.  I don’t know how he is so good at it, but the devil seems to convince us that we are all alone in our suffering and that it is unique.  Sometimes I can even doubt my own salvation and be convinced that John 3:16 is for everyone but me . . . as if I wasn’t included in “the world” that God so loved.  It is crazy.

I don’t know about you, but evil seems to be working overtime right now.  I know just about every generation has believed that they were in “the last days,” and I will say that I’m no different . . . I believe we are in the last days.

Dear reader, please pray.  Let’s find out if 2 Chronicles is 7:14 is true or not.  Today, agree to get alone with God, meditate on Him, and pray.  If possible, pray out loud.  If possible, set a timer so that you remain in His presence for at least 20 minutes.  Christians today talk a lot about prayer, but I’m not so sure that they actually pray.  I’m also not saying that I’m the best example of a prayer warrior.  I wish that I did it more “just because” and not because I simply need or want something.  Every time I get into His presence, I wonder why I do anything else.

Today, Let’s pray.

Lord, I praise Your Name.  I know Your Word is truth, and I know that it works.  There is nothing difficult that You’ve asked me to do that I haven’t reaped incredible benefits from doing.  Every time I am a doer of the Word, my faith increases, my ability to persevere increases, and best of all, my love for You increases.  Following You and Your ways breeds more following You and Your ways.  Lord, help us . . . save us.  I know where it will all begin.  It will begin with people who say they are Christians actually living out Christianity.  It will begin with Christians praying.  Let it start with us.  Let it start with me.  Amen!