Unbreakable in Jesus

Hi, and thanks for joining me for this Sunday edition of Our Daily Bread.

My name is Mike Whitmer, and I title today's devotion, Unbreakable in Jesus. Louis Zamperini's military plane crashed at sea during the war, killing eight of eleven men on board. Louis and two others clambered into life rafts. They drifted for two months, sending off sharks, riding out storms, ducking bullets from an enemy plane, and catching and eating raw fish and birds.

They finally drifted onto an island and were immediately captured. For two years, Louis was beaten, tortured, and worked mercilessly as a prisoner of war. His remarkable story is told in the book, Unbroken. Jeremiah is one of the Bible's unbreakable characters.

He endured enemy plots, was whipped and put in stocks, flogged and bound in a dungeon, and lowered by ropes into the deep mire of a cistern. He survived because God had promised to stay with him and rescue him. God makes a similar promise to us, Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

Hebrews 13 5. God didn't promise to save Jeremiah or us from trouble, but he has promised to carry us through trouble. Louis recognized God's protection, and after the war, he gave his life to Jesus. He forgave his captors and led some to Christ.

Louis realized that while we can't avoid all problems, we need not suffer them alone. When we face them with Jesus, we become unbreakable. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 4 through 10. The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Alas, sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak.

I am too young. But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, You are stronger than any storm. Please carry us through the ones we're facing. In Your name we pray. Amen.