In the midst of the lockdown, economic crises, sickness, and death, let us lift up our eyes to the only one who can save us, to the One True God. He hears us when we call. Pray for an end to this invasion. Pray for His light to come to dispel this darkness. Pray for His healing to flow through the nations. Pray that these days will not be unduly prolonged. We have to keep praying, even when we don’t feel like it.
In these times of fear, sickness, and death, there is a tendency to focus on the events around us. It is not good news anywhere in the world. Those who are well are fearful of catching a highly contagious COVID-19. Those who are sick are fearful of death. It is not farfetched, for all around us, we hear of sickness, of death on a daily basis and in huge numbers. Every news media carries the sad news. You can hardly avoid it.
This year, I am anticipating that God will do several new things and several good things. Things I have hoped and prayed for before and not seen. Even things that I did not pray for and cannot imagine or anticipate! In view of that, I wait, in anticipation of what He will do. In my anticipation, however, I have to remind myself that God is never in a hurry.
With His system, everything is according to time, such that He is never too early and never too late. Everything is right on time. Recall the Bible says in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verse 1: “To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…”. Also many times, we see scripture saying: ” when the fullness of time has come” or “at the appointed time”. So while anticipation is good, I must learn to wait on God for His appointed time.
At the beginning of a new year, there is usually so much anticipation. We expect new things, good things. We anticipate that the year has packaged gifts ready for us and we are just itching to open those boxes to see what we got! It is an exhilarating experience, especially as we move away from a particularly difficult year. It is my prayer that our expectations will not be cut short, but that we will experience and testify the goodness of God in this year 2020.
So, here I am. Not really feeling up to writing much today. Sitting up is a bit painful. So is lying down. So, I’m encouraging myself. I need to make another trip to the hospital. While summoning the strength to drive all the way, I urge you to enjoy this poem. Let it whisper hope to your heart and bless you, the same way it is blessing me now.
I was recently going through an old journal of mine, written over eleven years ago and found this interesting portion, which I decided to share today.
She was too stunned to think. She didn’t know what to do to stop him and tried to evade his blows, without success.
He kept shouting at the top of his voice and attacking her. When she lost her balance and fell, she remembered that the steward was around and started shouting at the top of her voice.
He looked around to be sure everything was going well, before heading to his designated table to have dinner. The band leader chose that moment to change the beat and started playing a very upbeat tune, a mixture of afrobeat and pop, very African. Out of the corner of his eye, the captain noticed a couple at the next table get up to join the dancing couples on the floor. He did not pay much attention and continued with his meal. It had been like any other trip and he was glad that it was ending uneventfully, especially as his experience had taught him that anything could happen at sea. He had learnt never to heave the sigh of relief until the last passenger had safely disembarked.
He definitely wants us to lean on Him and depend on Him fully, irrespective of our circumstances. Our dependence is evidence of our faith and reliance. It says that we need Him. And because we need Him, we will seek Him, and with all our heart. And when we do this, we find Him, and He is pleased with us.
Today, we, the children of Abraham are uncountable, innumerable, like the sand at the sea shore. All over the world, we exist. In the nooks and crannies of the world, we exist. And every moment there are being added to the church, such as are to be saved!
So even if you were to count today, can you get them all? Between the time you start counting and the time you finish, there are being added, such as are to be saved, by the minute and by the second!!! To God be the glory!!!
