Dear Friends,

Please forgive me, but I am somewhat down! Yesterday I attended the funeral of an 18-year-old boy I have known for many years. His father is one of my best friends. The boy had left home and we had not been close for the last few years. He died last Thursday as the result of an overdose of heroin. Why is life so sad?

It is because sin has entered the world and put it under the curse. It spoils everything, even the best things. Today’s devotional explains. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

• Ecclesiastes 1:2

  Ecclesiastes 1:2   English Standard Version
  2 Vanity[a] of vanities, says the Preacher,
  vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

The evils that beset our path
Who can prevent or cure?
We stand upon the brink of death
When we seem most secure.

If we today sweet peace possess,
It soon may be withdrawn;
Some change may plunge us in distress,
Before tomorrow’s dawn.

Disease and pain invade our health,
And find an easy prey;
And oft, when least expected, wealth
Takes wings and flies away.

A fever or a blow can shake
Our wisdom’s boasted rule,
And of the brightest genius make
A madman or a fool.

The gourds, from which we look for fruit,
Produce us only pain;
A worm unseen attacks the root,
And all our hopes are vain.

I pity those who seek no more
Than such a world can give;
Wretched they are, and blind, and poor,
And dying while they live.

Since sin has filled the earth with woe,
And creatures fade and die;
Lord, wean our hearts from things below,
And fix our hopes on high.

[The Works of John Newton III,(Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1824), p. 367]

May 25, 2016