Courageous Trust

 In God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? – Psalm 56:4


Mitchell Paige left home and walked 200 miles to the nearest Marine recruiting station in 1936. His mother packed him a lunch and included the note: “Trust in the Lord, son, and He will guide you always.” Paige found comfort in those words whenever he was afraid.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Paige was sent overseas with the 7th Marines. In September 1942, the unit landed at Guadalcanal. The next month, after all the other Marines in his platoon were killed or wounded, Paige single-handedly operated four machine guns, stopping an entire Japanese regiment. He later led a bayonet charge against 2,500 enemy soldiers that prevented a breakthrough in American lines and a much different outcome for World War II. Later, Paige received the Congressional Medal of Honor and was the model for the G.I. Joe action figure.

Paige said, “I will never forget sitting in a foxhole, bloody, burned and injured the morning after our all-night, fierce hand-to-hand battle against an overwhelming Japanese force on Guadalcanal. I was alone except for hundreds of dead bodies of the enemy surrounding me. I emptied my pack looking for something to stop the bleeding from a bayonet wound and out fell my small Bible. Picking it up in my dirty, bloody hands, I could scarcely believe it when providentially it opened at Proverbs 3 and there were my mother’s words, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

Invite God’s presence into your daily activities and decisions. Pray that the leaders on Capitol Hill do the same.

Today’s Verse: Psalm 56:4

In God, whose word I praise,
    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can flesh do to me?

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Psalm 9

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before your presence.
For you have maintained my just cause;
    you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
and he judges the world with righteousness;
    he judges the peoples with uprightness.

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!
    Tell among the peoples his deeds!
12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
    he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
14 that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
    I may rejoice in your salvation.

15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
    in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah

17 The wicked shall return to Sheol,
    all the nations that forget God.

18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
    Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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