Not Open Indefinitely

Daily Reading: 1 Samuel 19

Scripture Focus: If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. (1 Samuel 19.11b)

Devotional Thought: There is one road onto and off Folly Beach, South Carolina. That road is a designated hurricane route. When a hurricane threatens, people are to take that road off the island as soon as possible. If they wait too long, the storm swell is too great, the winds are too high, and the route is closed. The opportunity to escape is not open indefinitely.

Did you know that the door of spiritual opportunity does not stand open forever? There comes a time in everyone’s life, when the words of the prophet ring true: “my people know not the rules of the Lord… The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8.7, 20). As the Lord made clear in the days of Noah, God will not always strive with the heart of man. There is the season in each of our lives, when we can hear and respond to the voice of the Lord. But then, there comes a season when “the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when… desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home… and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Selected from Ecclesiastes 12.3-7)

I think that the name Folly Beach is interesting. What was the folly at that beach? I wonder if it got its name because there were some people who delayed too long in leaving the island. Let’s not be fools when it comes to our eternal salvation, but let us act today while there is still opportunity.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for making a way of escape for me. That way is for everybody. I pray that not only myself, but that many others will travel that way before it is too late. Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 80.1-3

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!

3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!