Good morning,
On 1 June 2026, the Daily Devotion will begin new content. Grace Gems will appear Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday, will be my Bible study notes.
What are Grace Gems?
Our purpose is to humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation and to promote real holiness in heart and life.
Our desire is that the Holy Spirit, who is the Divine Revealer and Interpreter of Christ and His truth, may impart to your hearts a sober, spiritual and sanctifying receptivity of His Word—abasing self, and exalting Christ!
Our intention is to unfold and illustrate the Lord Jesus Christ in the relation in which He stands to His people—to unveil His glory, beauty, and fullness—to define the close bond of union that unites all His people to Him, and to bring you into a more personal realization of what Christ is to you, and of what you are to Christ.” (Octavius Winslow)
Our objective is to set before the Christian pilgrim some reflections which may prove challenging, consolatory and encouraging—as he journeys up from this bleak, arid, wilderness world, leaning on his Beloved.
May God’s blessing attend our humble effort to minister comfort to the downcast, strength to the weak, and courage to those who have set their faces towards their glorious eternal home. (https://www.gracegems.org/)
The eye of Divine Providence
(Be sure to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
Matthew 10:29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Let us learn to see and acknowledge God’s hand in all we have, and in all we meet with. Such a deep and abiding persuasion of the Most High God, ordering and over-ruling all our concerns, would, like the light, diffuse a luster and a beauty upon everything around us! To consider every comfort of life, as an effect and proof of God’s mercy towards us, would, like the fabled magic stone–turn all our possessions to gold, and stamp a value upon things which a common eye might judge as insignificant.
The eye of Divine Providence is upon every flitting sparrow of the field. We cannot properly term any circumstance of our lives as small, since such things as seem most trifling in themselves, often give birth to things which become most important.
On the other hand–to be able to discover the wisdom and goodness of our heavenly Father, through the darkest cloud of troubles and afflictions; to see all our trials as appointed to us–in number, weight, and measure; nothing befalling us by chance; nothing without a needs-be; nothing without a divinely designed advantage–what a support must this be to the soul!
Take away this truth of Divine Providence–and man is the most forlorn, helpless and miserable object in the world! He would be pining for everything he has not–and trembling for everything he has! He would be equally suffering under the pressure of what does happen–and the fear of what may happen! He would be liable to thousands of unsuspected dangers–yet unable to guard against those which are most obvious!
Let us learn the secret of being content in any and every situation: “Our heavenly Father knows what we have need of, before we ask Him!” “The earth is His, and the fullness thereof;” and His goodness is equal to His power.
In Jesus, He has already given us more than ten thousand worlds!
Are you poor? Be satisfied with the Lord’s appointment. It would be as easy to Him to give you a large estate–as to supply you with the bread you eat, or to continue the breath in your nostrils. He knows that poverty is best for you; and that prosperity would prove to be your ruin! Therefore He has appointed you the honor of being in this respect, conformable to your Savior, who, when on earth, “had nowhere to lay His head!”
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com