Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 31st of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Psalms 62:5:
“My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.”
Then we go to John 13:7:
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”
I want to speak to you this morning about disappointment. Maybe your job has come to an end, maybe you are just not cutting it at university, maybe that proposal to that young girl has not worked out, maybe that business deal has fallen through and you are disappointed. The Lord will use that disappointment often to teach us lessons, and you say, “But it is too painful, I can’t take it anymore.” You can and you must because that teacher called “disappointment” is going to do a mighty work in your life.
Now I want to use an example. When I was a young man, I had just come back from Australia. I was a cowboy in Australia. I got a position in Zambia at a very big farm, but the two owners of the farm, were quite rough-handed guys, and they wanted their pound of flesh, probably like I was after that! I had to be standing on the parade ground - that’s what it seemed like - every morning at quarter to six. I had 150 staff that had to be organised to the different parts of the farm. We were doing vegetables, we were doing beef cattle, we were doing seed maize, we were doing commercial maize, and this gentleman used to walk around in gumboots, and he was a very articulate man. He said to me, “Angus, at 6 o’clock, I don’t want to see one person standing in the yard. Everybody must be at work.”
We had 8 tractors in those days. Now that was a big outfit, and I want to tell you, he really tested me. I handed my resignation in no less than 3 times, and he just tore them up and carried on, but you know, when I look back, that gentleman and his partner, the two of them, taught me more valuable things about life than anybody else. A writer once said, “Dear old rough-handed teacher, we will build you a monument and crown it with flowers and inscribe on it, “Blessed be the memory of disappointment.”
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Don’t be afraid of disappointment. It will bring lots of benefits afterwards.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 30th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Deuteronomy 28:13:
“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail…”
Isn’t that a lovely blessing? The Lord will make you, Sir, the head and not the tail, young lady, the head and not the tail. Why? Because if you love Him with all your heart and you obey the statutes that He has put before you, these are the consequences.
Many things you can read right from verse 1: He will give you the fruit of your body, He will bless you to have many children, He will make you a name in the marketplace, He will increase your livestock, He will increase your ability to bless others by your lifestyle. We need to understand that the Lord loves us unconditionally. However, there are consequences for those who refuse to obey His commandments and then expect Him to bless them. That will not happen and cannot happen. I have seen it happen too many times in my own life, especially as a farmer, sometimes catastrophically. We have almost been wiped out by hail and I have said, “Lord, where is the blessing in all this?” And yet He has turned it around for good.
I remember one year, maybe I have told you this story before, where I got my planting machine all mixed up and the seed came out and the maize germinated. There were huge gaps in the crop and I thought, “Lord, I asked you please to help me.” The stand, the population of the maize crop was so poor, I thought that I had just about declared myself bankrupt and yet that particular year we had one of the worst droughts in our area that we have ever had, and what happened? The maize crop spread out and there was plenty of room for the plants to grow. Instead of having normal cobs, they were gigantic, and as the farmers know, you don’t get paid on volume, you get paid on weight! When I took that crop to the silos and they put it on the weigh-bridge, they couldn’t believe the weight of the maize. That year I made more money than in years when I had everything in order. Why? Because God takes the tail and He makes it into the head if you are doing things His way!
Just remain faithful, just remain steadfast. I am saying to that young girl who is desperately trying to have a baby - her and her husband just cannot fall pregnant, continue to obey God, love Him, trust Him, and your baby will come. I have got testimonies from all over the world of women who just could not conceive and yet with perseverance, the love of God, and the desire to do things right, Jesus blessed them eventually.
God bless you and have a wonderful day and remember, you are the head and not the tail!
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 29th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
Isaiah 40:31:
“Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
I think, like never before, we need to start waiting more upon the Lord before we do anything. As an old farmer myself, I can tell you something right now. Sometimes a young farmer will become impatient. I was one of them. The cow is trying to deliver its baby, and instead of leaving her and waiting for her to do it on her own, we start to interfere, and eventually we mess it up completely. Let the Lord do the work.
Even relationships, don’t force them. If you have an altercation with somebody and you don’t know what to do about it, wait first, pray, pray for them. Pick the correct time, don’t run ahead of yourself. The Lord will give you the strength and the love and the ability to rectify the situation, but if you charge into it like a bull in a china shop, you will make it even worse. Those who wait upon the Lord...have you ever seen an eagle in full flight, to see him effortlessly catching the wind thermals, and moving gracefully, not flapping his wings?
That lammergeier that we have in South Africa, those huge, bearded vultures with wingspans of over two metres- he doesn’t flap around. He just glides, catches the wind thermals, and the wind does the work for him. He just waits upon the right time to do whatever he needs to do. You and I need to do that as well.
It’s so graceful to see someone who is patient and waiting, and when he makes his decision, it is definite. No “maybe”, or “hope so”, or “let's give it a go”. No, let’s wait upon the Lord. If He tells you to buy that business, buy it. If He tells you to sell that business, sell it. If He tells you to propose to that girl, do it, and if He tells you to go and encourage someone, please do it, but wait first, make sure the timing is right, absolutely vital! Don’t spoil it by running ahead of yourself.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 28th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Deuteronomy 27:2-3:
”…that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law,…”
Then we go to 1 Samuel 7:12: “Ebenezer” Ebenezer, what does that mean?
“Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Remember, that is what Samuel did, and put those rocks there as a reminder.
At Shalom Farm, after we had been here for 10 years (we have been here almost 50 years), we got together as a family and a community, and we got large rocks, and we placed them outside our little thatched chapel as a reminder that the Lord has been with us thus far.
I want to encourage you to do that. You don’t even have to do it physically. You can make a note in your diary, a reminder that the Lord has never forsaken us. My wife, Jill, has got green fingers. She can plant anything, and it seems to grow. When we arrived, she planted some beautiful plane trees and when I walk out the door of my little prayer chapel, at my house, I look up and I see a tree that has a circumference of about 3 metres and it stretches up to the heavens. She planted that tree as a little sapling which was smaller than my little finger, and often when I walk out I say, “Thank You, Lord, that You have been with us through thick and thin, through fire, through drought. You have been with us through economic disasters, You are still with us and we are still going strong.”
Today, take time out to plant a tree, that you will remember how far the Lord has brought you, to maybe set up a little cairn of stones as a reminder that the Lord has been with us. I used to climb up the mighty Drakensberg Mountains as a younger man, and when you get right to the top, there are not many paths because not too many people walk there, but good faithful climbers have put up little cairns of stones to show you the way to your destination. Remember, if Jesus is for you, you have nothing to worry about.
Have a wonderful day, till next time, God bless you, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 27th of July, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the second book in the Bible, Exodus 3:8:
“…to a land flowing with milk and honey,…”
Then we go to Deuteronomy 26:15, the very same one,
“…a land flowing with milk and honey.”
One more scripture, Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Where are you at this morning? Are you in the land of milk and honey? You are laughing, you are saying, “No, not like it at all! Things are coming to a head here. I can’t go on much longer, my business is really stretched out. I am not making it with my degree, I don’t even know if I will get that degree!” I want to tell you that the Lord’s word is “Yea” and “amen”. If He has promised it, He will do it. I am talking to you about things that have happened in my own life.
I remember a story I read a long time ago, I’ll try and get it right. I think it was a gold prospector, and he was looking for gold in some valley. He was panning gold in this little river and everything was going wrong. He couldn’t find any gold. His food was running out. He was all by himself, and he was totally desperate, crying out to the Lord to please help him. That night a terrible storm came down, and the river started roaring past his little campsite, washed away everything that he had, and he stood up, and he said, Lord, I asked You to please help me. Lord, I’m trying my best to follow You with everything I’m doing and nothing has happened.” And then as he stood out in his little shack, that was half pulled down, he looked and saw the sun shining on something down by the riverbed. When he walked down, what did he find? He found gold nuggets all over the side bank. Yes, that storm had brought the rain, and the rain had washed away everything, and he had found himself literally a gold mine! You don’t know what God has in store for you. It might appear that it’s a disaster.
I want to pray for you and I want to pray a prayer of faith that the Lord will keep you and keep your eyes fixed on Him, the One who is going to take you right through to the land flowing with milk and honey!
Father God,
I pray for my dear friends today. Yes, indeed Lord, we acknowledge we are living in perilous times, but You said in Your word, ”Call unto me.” Lord, we are calling unto You this morning, and Lord, we are praying that You will hear our prayers and that You will answer them and that You will direct our paths.
In Jesus name, Amen.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.