Matthew Henry: Robbed and Still Thankful
He walked home in the dark with empty pockets. Then he sat down and wrote one of the most surprising lines you will find in any preacher’s diary.
The Night Matthew Henry Was Robbed
Matthew Henry preached in Chester for around twenty-five years and wrote a commentary on the whole Bible that still sits on shelves today. One evening on the road home, thieves took his purse and everything in it. He walked through his door shaken and poorer than when he left. Most of us know that feeling on a smaller scale. The plan falls through. The day takes something we were counting on, and we come home with less than we walked out with.
Why He Wrote Thanks Instead of Anger
That night Henry opened his diary. He could have filled the page with anger. Instead he wrote that he was thankful. Thankful he had never been robbed before. Thankful they took his purse and not his life. Thankful that what they took was not much. Thankful he was the one robbed, and not the one robbing. He had spent years training his eyes in the Word, so he knew where to look when the lights went out. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
How to Find Your Line of Thanks Tonight
Notice Paul did not say give thanks for everything. He said in everything. Even on a dark road, there is a line of thanks waiting to be written. Job lost far more than a purse, and still he said, “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). You can end today by counting what was taken. Or you can pick up Henry’s pen and count what remains. The breath in your chest, and the God who never left the road. Start there. Write one true line of thanks before your head hits the pillow.
And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.
Related Devotionals
- George Müller: The Life That Proved God Answers Prayer
- John Newton: The Slave Trader Who Wrote Amazing Grace
- Jonathan Edwards: The Sermon That Shook a Village
- Christmas Evans: The Mountain Where He Got His Fire Back
- What Is Costly Discipleship? Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship in Plain English
Listen on the podcast: Lift Up Your Day — 5-Minute Daily Devotionals
Read next: Where Heaven Came Down — stories of revival fire across history
Books by Pastor Rodney Coe
If this story stirred something in you, you’ll love Pastor Rodney’s books — short, story-rich devotionals that put the gospel back at the center. See all books.