Daily
Devotional

Recently, I had the privilege of going fishing with some friends. While we were in the boat, one of the men stated that during his morning devotional time he had opened his Bible to the verse, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Not much was said at the time, but by the end of the day I applied that verse in a whole new way.

Later on, the gentleman who had read the Scripture lost an over-forty-pound salmon just as the boat was ready to be docked. Through his facial expressions, I saw his heart sink as we all watched the fish swim away. He looked as though a small part of him had died. I did my best to encourage my friend, but it took a while for him to recover.

At that moment, I was reminded of his Scripture for the day. Even though losing a fish is minor compared to physical death, it was a death of my friend’s hope of landing the catch of the day.

Although I did not go through what my friend did (because I never even had a single bite!), I have experienced death in another way. As Christians, on a daily basis we die to our own plans and desires for the day, so that Jesus’ plans and His will can come alive. Paul the Apostle stated this when he said he died daily. Our focus verse talks about the physical death of the saints, but I believe the daily death of self is also precious in the sight of the Lord.

We all are confronted with times when things do not seem to go our way, or at least as we had planned. However, if we let go of our plans and yield to what God would have us do, that frustration will come into the proper perspective. There may be things God withholds from us for our own good. When disappointments come, we can take comfort in knowing that the “steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” (Psalm 37:23).