Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: November 8

“I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children; But these two things shall come to thee in a moment one day, the loss of children, and widowhood. … thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me” ~ Isaiah 47:8c, 9a, 10c

Looking at this “many-colored stone” I [Eugenia Price, the author] see also the faces of Christian women here and there, who have come to me almost annoyed after I have spoken on the attitude of our hearts toward tragedy and suffering. They say, “Time enough to worry about the death of my husband later. I can’t face it now!”

I had not recommended “worry” at all. I had recommended a prepared heart. And a prepared heart is a heart which has opened itself to the attitude of the heart that opened itself to our sin on Calvary. These women are standing behind their phony barricades saying, “This won’t happen to me. Maybe to my neighbor, but not to me.”

“I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.”

Refusing to face reality. How can they embrace tragedy in the name of Jesus if they have refused even to face its possibility? “But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood,” warns God. God will not send them as a punishment for our self-centeredness. He warns that they come to anyone and everyone and only those who have stopped resisting the attitude of Christ survive victoriously. Those who stiffen their necks and say, “I’m safe in the circle of my family and friends, and I’ll stay here” will stay there growing old and bitter and hard when tragedy breaks that circle. Check yourself. Are you smug in your precious “safe” circle? Do you ever invite some “undesirable” person to dinner with your family? If not, God wants to help you.

“A new heart also I will give you … and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”