"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you
back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised
you." - Genesis 28:15
In 1789, fourteen-year-old John Marrant became a Christian through the preaching
of Methodist evangelist George Whitefield. His family disapproved of his new
faith and John left his home in Charleston, South Carolina and headed west.
After only a few weeks on his own, he was seized by some Cherokee Indians and
was condemned to death. "The executioner showed me a basket of turpentine wood
stuck full of small skewers" recorded John in his diary. "He told me I was to be
stripped naked and laid down in the basket, and these sharp pegs were to be
stuck into me, then set on fire, and when they burnt my body, I was to be thrown
into the flame, which was to finish my execution."
John immediately burst into prayer and the bewildered Indians called for their
chief. John then began reading Isaiah 53 from his little Bible and then he
preached the gospel. Many of the Indians were converted that day including the
chief. John stayed with the tribe for the next two years and taught them how to
follow the Lord.
No matter where you go, the Lord will be with you to watch over you. Today in
prayer, give thanks to Christ that He has promised that He will never leave you.
"Looking back, [my wife] Jan and I have learned that the wilderness is part of
the landscape of faith, and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the
mountaintop we are overwhelmed by God's presence. In the wilderness we are
overwhelmed by his absence. Both places should bring us to our knees; the one,
in utter awe; the other, in utter dependence." - Dave Dravecky
God's Word: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN GENESIS
pkennedy@devotional.com
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