Dear Friends,
Would you describe yourself as a very courageous person? I don’t think I would. I tend to be on the cautious side. That being the case I’m always on the look out for clues to increasing my courage. Today’s devotional gives just such a clue. The contemplation of the power of God can make you bold! God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• Revelation 11:16-17 (ESV)

  16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,

  “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
  who is and who was,
  for you have taken your great power
  and begun to reign.

“That was a very striking incident in the life of our dear brother Oncken, of Germany, when the burgomaster of Hamburg said to him, ‘I hear sir, that you have been baptizing at night.’ ‘I have, sir,’ he replied, ‘because the law will not permit me to do it by day.’ ‘How dare you immerse these persons?’ asked the burgomaster. ‘I dare to do it,’ answered Mr. Oncken, ‘because it is the law of God.’ ‘And you have done it in defiance of the law of the land! Now, sir, do you see that little finger of mine?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Mr. Oncken, ‘I see it.’ ‘Well, sir, as long as that little finger lives, I will keep you down, for I am determined to put an end to this movement.’ ‘But, Mr. Burgomaster,’ said Mr. Oncken, ‘not only can I see your little finger, but I can also see a great arm, which you do not see. That is the arm of the, eternal God; and as long as that arm can move, you will not be able to put me down, for I am only doing the will of Jehovah.’ Years after that stormy scene, I went to Drench in Hamburg in connection with the opening of my brother Oncken’s chapel; and among the notable gentlemen who helped to honor that occasion by their presence was that very burgomaster. He still had his little finger, but he was not there to put Mr. Oncken down. He came to contribute to Mr. Oncken’s work, and to show that the great arm of God had beaten the little finger of the burgomaster.” [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLVII, (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1901), p. 598]