Devotions
DEVOTION BY MARK FUGATE
The New Deal
On October 24th 1929 the stock market crashed leading to the great depression. When the depression hit….lives were turned upside down. Fast forward 93 years and many are still living under a great depression. Living under the weight of discouragement and the weight of disappointment, and if they were to tell you their stories they would all end the same way – life has not been fair. I’ve always said if I only preached for the rest of my life to those who are discouraged then I’ll always have an audience. People who are going through their own personal great depression. But you should not think that you are alone – the bible is full of people who became discouraged.
- Job – “Better is the day of my death than the day of my birth”
- Jonah – “Lord, please take my life”
- Moses – Tended sheep for 40 years after being raised to be a Pharaoh
- Paul – “ I was down, even to the point of death”
- David – “My soul is disturbed within me”
In order to help people through the great depression President Roosevelt came up with a program called the New Deal. It was an attempt to bring people out of the depression. And what I want you to know today is God himself came up with a better program – a New Deal to help us when we are discouraged or down. The unnamed author of Hebrews is writing to people who have thrown in the towel. Christians who are hurting and finding it difficult and wanting to call it quits. People who are concluding I can’t take it anymore. It’s just too hard. We’re losing friends, we’re losing property, some of us are being thrown into jail or executed for what we believe. Our world is shattered and we can’t go on. So the writer of Hebrews is writing this book to say don’t stop, don’t turn around, don’t give up, don’t quit. Check out this New Deal.
- Hebrews 10:16,23-24 This is the covenant I will make with them after that time says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
