In a recent Turning Point daily devotional, David Jeremiah wrote: “William Wilberforce, the English politician whose commitment to Christ fueled his career, is remembered for his campaign to abolish slavery in the British Empire. What isn’t well known is the financial disaster that befell him after he retired from politics. His son invested the family fortune in a failed dairy farm, and the Wilberforce family lost everything, including its beautiful home, Highwood Hill.
“What I shall most miss will be my books and my garden,” Wilberforce wrote. However, his biographer said, “As he prayed and reflected during walks along garden paths that were not his own, he arrived at the belief that this turn of events was in some way part of God’s plan for his life.” Wilberforce learned to count his blessings and concluded that his heavy loss actually had led to “the solid and great increase of [their] enjoyments.” (Kevin Belmonte, William Wilberforce)
When we go from prosperity to poverty, it doesn’t change who God is. His resources are undiminished, and His promises to care for us are unaffected. Good comes from adversity, and goodness still follows every day until we go to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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