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Today's Devotional

Read John 1:35-51.

Our Lord does not stumble upon his disciples by accident. His discoveries are not surprises. He knows where his nuggets lie. Before he calls to service he has been secretly preparing the servant. “I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me.”

He knew all about Simon. “You are Simon”—just a listener, not yet a strong, bold doer: a man of many opinions not yet consolidated into the truth of experimental convictions. “You shall be called Peter.” Simon become Peter! Loose gravel become hard rock! Hear-says become the “verilies” of unshakable experience! The Lord proclaims our glorious possibilities.

And he knew all about Nathanael. “When you were under the fig-tree I saw you.” In that secret meditation of thine, when your wishes and desires were being born, ‘I saw you!’ When others saw nothing, I had fellowship with you in the secret place.

And he knows all about you and me. “I know my sheep.” [John 10:14] We do not take him by surprise. He does not come in late, and find the performance half over! He is in at our beginnings, when grave issues are being born. “I am Alpha.” [Revelation 1:8]

About the author and the source

John Henry Jowett (1864–1923) a famed pastor and author, served congregations in both England and the United States. He believed the gospel was the only hope for our times. Crime dropped remarkably when he pastored in Birmingham, England.