I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 19th of March, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go to Isaiah 50:7:

"For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed."

The Lord Jesus will help you and me to succeed; we will not be disgraced; we will set our faces like a flint. Verse 6 tells you, just before that, that He gave His back to those who struck Him,

 …"And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting." 
Isaiah 50:6

Even though the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely, shamefully treated, it did not stop Him from going to Jerusalem and completing the task that the Lord set before Him. He did not retaliate; no, He pressed on to the goal of His high calling. A flint is a very hard rock—a hard, grey rock. It's used to produce a spark. If you take two flints and knock them together, it causes a spark. Now, giving up is not in Jesus' vocabulary. 

David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer-missionary who discovered Victoria Falls in Central Africa, was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade. He said, "I will go anywhere as long as it is forward." The Lord Jesus Christ set His sights on Jerusalem, He knew what was waiting for Him but He never looked back once. 

Paul, the apostle, knew he had to go to Rome; he knew he would die in Rome; even his dear friends tried to persuade him not to go, but he went and he got his head cut off in Rome for his faith.  

A young German, by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was able to escape from the Nazis and go to the USA. He was 39 years old. He had only been there about three months when he said, "No, I have to go back; I have to go back and help my friends." The Nazis caught him and hanged him at the end of the war.  

You and I, too, must follow the example of Christ and not be led by our circumstances but rather by the calling that the Lord has put in our lives. Then we shall succeed in whatever we are doing, whether it is that degree you need to get, whether it is that sporting achievement that you are desiring, as long as it is for God's glory, whether it's that business proposition, keep your eyes on the ball, keep your eyes on Heaven and you will succeed. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.