In 1851 missionary Allen Gardnier and six others were shipwrecked at the tip of South America as they were trying to take the Gospel to the Indians of southern Argentina. Slowly each of them died from starvation.
Allen was the last to die… and when he was found, beside him was his journal. One of the very last entries began with Psalm 34:10… “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
Here Allen was… shipwrecked… starving to death… watching his friends die… and he is reflecting upon how God gives good things to those who seek Him. His last entry was…
I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God…
That kind of contentment only comes as a result of walking with God. That kind of peace is the fruit of a person’s joy being in the Lord, and not circumstances. That kind of joy can only be had when time after time, in tests and adversity, God has proved Himself faithful.
I pray that God will cement that kind of faith in my family… my friends… and in my own life.