Daily Devotion

“It is good to find that among our missionaries as well as other missions, most have chosen to stay at their posts instead of evacuating. They have chosen to stay to suffer with the people. I am so grateful to be back here.”

Peter Torjesen · Written after returning to Hequ, Shanxi, through the war zones in 1938 (quoted in the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, "Peter & Valborg Torjesen")

Scripture

Romans 8:35, 39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? ... Neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reflection

Suffering is never proof of God's absence, but rather a sign of His profound presence. When persecution, hardship, or unpredictable storms strike, we often mistakenly believe we have been abandoned by God; however, Paul declares in Romans that no affliction can sever our connection to the love of Christ. Missionaries experience unshakeable peace even in the deepest darkness and the flames of war, precisely because this love does not depend on external circumstances, but on the Savior who holds us firmly. Today's challenges may be heavy, but if we turn our gaze from the environment to the cross, we will find that the light of Christ is most real in the valley.