Check back each Monday for a short devotional with Chaplain Art Pace to help you start the week off well.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
For most of us, April 15th is just a stressful tax due date. But it is also the anniversary of one of the most tragic events in American history. It is the date that Abraham Lincoln died of his wounds in 1865. He endured the immense stress and fought the good fight to hold America together during one of the darkest and bloodiest times of our history.
By his own admission, he was not a particularly religious man when he began his Presidency. However, the strain of the war was so taxing that he learned to lean on the Lord for strength. As he stated in a speech in 1863, “Nevertheless, amid the greatest difficulties of my Administration, when I could not see any other resort, I would place my whole reliance on God, knowing that all would go well, and that He would decide for the right.”
President Lincoln clearly understood the powerful Biblical promise of today’s verses. In these verses the Apostle Peter reminds us that the demands of our world are not greater than the grace and peace our God offers to all those who release their cares to Him.
How do you respond when you are under great stress? How are you using your Christian faith to help others who are undergoing great anxiety or stress?
