Today’s Word
January 14, 2015
Bits of Information & Inspiration
Today in History
1529 – Spanish reformer Juan de Valdes, 29, published his “Dialogue on Christian Doctrine,” which paved the way in Spain for Protestant ideas. But his treatise was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition, and Valdes was forced to flee Spain, never to return.
Juan, who probably studied at the University of Alcalá, first appears as the anonymous author of a politico-religious Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón, written and published about 1528. A passage in this work may have been the source for Don Quixote’s advice to Sancho Panza on appointment to his governorship. The Diálogo attacked the corruptions of the Roman Church; hence Valdés, in fear of the Spanish Inquisition, left Spain for Naples in 1530.
CHAPTER XLII: Of the Advice that Don Quixote gave Sancho Panza.
“Sancho made an obeisance to him, and said, ‘Since I came down from heaven, and since from on high I beheld the earth, and saw it so small, I was partly cooled in my desire to be a governor; for what greatness can there be to command in a grain of mustard-seed? Or what dignity or power to govern half a dozen of men about the bigness of hazel-nuts? For, to my thinking, there were no more in all the earth. If it would please your lordship to give me never so little in heaven, though ‘twere but half a league, I would take it more willingly than the biggest island in the world.’ ‘Look ye, friend Sancho,’ quoth the duke, ‘I can give no part of heaven to nobody, though it be no bigger than my nail; for these favours and graces are only in God’s disposing. What is in my power I give you, that is, an island, right and straight, round and well proportioned, and extraordinarily fertile and abundant, where, if you have the art, you may with the riches of the earth hoard up the treasure of heaven.’”
In 1531 he was removed to Rome (by the church), where his criticisms of papal policy were supervised, since in his Diálogo he had upheld the validity of Henry VIII’s marriage with Catherine of Aragon. On 12 January 1533 he writes from Bologna, in attendance upon Pope Clement VII From the autumn of 1533 he made Naples his permanent residence, his name being Italianized as Valdésso and Val d’Esso.
Inspirational Words
“God is, and all is well.”
– John Greenleaf Whittier
Today’s Word
[The LORD said,] “When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the Lord. I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the Lord has spoken!”
Ezekiel 37:13-14 nlt
Thoughts on the Word
Ezekiel lived in a time when all hope was gone: Jerusalem and the land of God’s people were destroyed and the people had been sent into exile in foreign lands. So God gave Ezekiel the vision of a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37). Suddenly, at the command of Ezekiel, the bones came together into skeletons, then sinew and connective tissue were added, and then they were covered with skin. But these bodies were not living bodies. They were lifeless and hopeless until God sent his Holy Breath, the Spirit, to bring them to life. Too often as God’s people we forget in the middle of our struggles that the power to truly live comes from God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit raised Jesus from the dead and God’s Spirit can bring life to us, our church, our friends under attack and persecution, and even those in hopeless situations. Let’s pray for God’s Spirit to move with power in our lives, the lives of those we love, and in God’s people everywhere, especially those facing trials and persecutions.
Our Prayer
Sovereign God, I believe you have the power to bring life where there is no life and restore life when it seems lost. So I ask that you move in my life, my family’s life, my church’s life, my friends’ lives, and the lives of your people all over the world. Fill us and enliven us through the Holy Spirit. Especially strengthen and bring hope through the Holy Spirit to those facing hardship, struggle, grief, pain, and persecution. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Many Blessings,
Pastor Ken
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