“I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” – Jeremiah 5:4-5

In 1904, Governor George Nash stepped out of his office and, for a moment, out of his role as Governor of Ohio. He tucked his large, black Bible under his arm and made his way down the hallway of the State Penitentiary, in Columbus, Ohio. As a Christian, his heart burned with desire to share Christ with a certain young man named Benjamin Wade waiting on “death row.”

Guilty of first-degree murder of his girlfriend, the condemned one sat in his cell, just hours away from his appointment with the electric chair. Upon seeing the elderly man with a dark suit and Bible under his arm, Wade thought him to be a minister or the prison chaplain. His anger boiled over and he cursed as he sent the man away.

A guard standing nearby could hardly believe his eyes. “You fool,” he said, “don’t you know who that was?”

“A preacher, I guess,” was the reply.

“No, that was the Governor, the only one who could set you free, and you sent him away.”

The young man died a few hours later, guilty not only of murder, but of sending away his only hope for freedom and life.

As Christians, we need to guard against foolishness. Today in prayer, look to the Lord and ask Him to for wisdom and direction for the choices you face today.

“Wise men learn more from fools than fools from wise men.” – Marcus Cato

God’s Word: “A fool’s mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul.” – Proverbs 18:7

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2006, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS pkennedy6@yahoo.com