The following is an excerpt from the Desk of Franklin Graham. If you’re not subscribed to Franklin Graham’s monthly update, click here.
All of us get into real difficulties we weren’t planning on. You may find yourself in a hard situation even now. Or you may be enduring a long trial of some sort, and it feels like you are all alone. What a comfort and what an assurance to remember that whatever you are going through—God knows!
The psalmist wrote, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” (Psalm 147:3–4). Astronomers tell us there are perhaps 100 billion galaxies that can be detected by the Hubble telescope, and most of those galaxies contain billions of stars. I can’t get my mind around numbers like that, but our God knows the name of every star. And not only does He know the stars by name, He knows your name.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and the Bible says, “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3). He even knows the number of hairs on your head. That’s such a little thing, but there is a God in Heaven who sees and guides and directs in the big things of the universe and in the littlest things concerning you. He knows you, He knows me, and He loves us.
God also loves lost people and deeply desires to draw them to Himself. Pray that in every city where God is sending us this year, people will turn to Christ in repentance and faith, “as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). We can only do this work because friends like you support us through prayer and giving, and we are grateful for your partnership. God has opened many doors for 2015, and we ask for your help this month to keep moving forward in the work.
No one knows what this year holds. We don’t know what storms we’ll find ourselves in, individually or as a nation, or what’s going to come down the road. But whatever comes, we’ve got a God we can call on. And He’s there to help us.
May God richly bless you,
Franklin Graham
President
Franklin Graham will be holding seven Festivals around the world in 2015. Please pray for these evangelistic outreaches.