An Old Blue Book and the Best Book in History

Years ago, I bought The Beautiful Tree of Life in a used bookstore in Budapest. I couldn’t resist the beautiful illustrations and 1891 copyright. 

I used it for six years as a mantle decoration but never read it. Then one morning, I woke up sad and discouraged. As I sat praying, my eyes were drawn to The Beautiful Tree of Life sitting on my mantle. 

Picking it up, I noticed one of its pages was marked with a small scrap of paper. Opening it, I read: 

“God Makes No Mistakes. If God sends you tribulation…you can be patient under it because you know God means the best for you.… In that comforting twelfth chapter of the Epistle of the Hebrews, we are specially assured that God makes no mistakes in the chastening tribulation which he sends to us.… It shall work out the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” (See note below.)

Tears rolled down my cheeks when I read this “word from the Lord” specifically for me at that moment of my day…that moment of my life. 

A book more than a century old somehow ended up in a Hungarian used bookstore in the early 2000s. I bought it because of its charming illustrations. A marked page went unnoticed for six years until the morning when I needed encouragement from God. 

This was an unusual morning in one sense, but not in another because every morning God speaks to me through my absolute favorite book, His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

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Note: The author of this book said God “sends” tribulation, which God sometimes does as part of His fatherly discipline. But many difficulties in our lives are things that God “allows” but does not send. Why do I make this distinction? Because some of our tribulation is caused by the sins of others or simply by our fallen world. See John 16:33 and Hebrews 12:1-13.

If you’d like to read the longer devotion I wrote about this situation ten years ago right after it happened, please see The Blue Book. It contains many of the illustrations from the book as well. 

💙 Please check out the Bible Love Notes book Wisdom for Life. It features one-minute devotions from Psalms and Proverbs and is on sale at great prices on Lifeway, Amazon, and CBD.  

And as always you can sign up for a free email subscription to Bible Love Notes online devotions HERE. 

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