Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
As we come to meditate on this last day of the year, reviewing the year’s challenges, joys and sorrows, we are invited to contemplate the Thirty First Psalm of David. He opens the psalm with an expression of faith, “In you, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge,” ( Amplified Bible). With the psalmist we can state that we have put our trust in the Lord. We have received refuge under his wings in a year that was filled with many difficult and devastating situations. As we close this year and look back over our shoulder to the time that has passed, we can see that the Lord has delivered us out of the fears that have beset our minds, and the anxiety that has gripped our hearts. We can still praise him. He has given us courage to journey and keep on journeying on this unknown road. We do not know where it leads to, but he knows, plans and purposes for us, so that we have hope and a future, as the prophet Jeremiah states in Chapter Twenty Nine verse Eleven. When Jesus dwelled on earth with humans, he knew that his journey would end on the cross. Once he fulfilled his mission on earth he quoted from this psalm and stated, “Into Your hands I commit my Spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord,” (verse Five). Jesus’ death, his victory for us, has made it possible that we can say with confidence to our Lord, here at the end of the year, waiting on the new year to come, “My times are in your hands,” (verse Fifteen, Psalm Thirty One, NRSVB). This is not a sigh of resignation but a victorious cry of liberation, for we need not fear the past, the present or the future, for God has us in his hands and directs our ways and our times, this is our blessed assurance.
We read in the Book of Numbers, in Chapter Twenty One verse Seven of the Israelites coming to Moses. They have gravely sinned against the Lord, deliberately denouncing his commandments. They came remorsefully and asked Moses to intervene on their behalf, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take the serpents away. So Moses prayed for the people,” (NRSVB). The serpents in the desert caused havoc amongst the Israelites, death, disease, fear and destruction happened all around. They realized that they could not save themselves and asked Moses to call on God to save them out of the claws of calamity. God told Moses to make a copper snake and set it up on a pole. They had to lift up their eyes and look at the snake image and have faith that God would intervene. God did, and the snakes slithered away. The poison of the snakes were rendered harmless to those who looked up to the snake image lifted on the pole, who believed in God’s restorative power. We need to look away from the desperate situation around us, and look up at the Cross. There we see Jesus on the Cross, suffering and dying for us. His death drew the venom out of death and doubt, “Death where is your sting,” was written by the Apostle Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians in Chapter Fifteen verse Fifty Five. We are reminded with all the believers through the ages that not even death has the power to snatch us out of the hand of the Lord.
In times of great uncertainty one finds oneself doubting many things, even things that one considered to be on a firm foundation in the heart, mind and soul. Then one starts to berated oneself and questions one’s faith. Doubt is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of humanness, however, there is a balm for this assault on one’s vulnerable spirit. We are comforted in the knowledge that we do not have to cling unto our own faith and have faith in our faith. We have to have faith in the work and person of our Lord, Jesus Christ, whose faith and grace are given to us through the Holy Spirit. The Apostles of Jesus suffered persecutions, they saw the doubt that was brought on in these terrible situations, but they continued to preached to the believers to be merciful and gentle on those who doubt, for they will be strengthened by God and will be given the peace that passes all understanding, that peace that covers and swallows up doubt and fear. The Apostle Jude writes in his Epistle in verse Twenty Two, “Be merciful to those who doubt,” (NRSVB). When we doubt whether the future will be opening up for us in this New Year with possibilities of joy and hope, let us think on the doubting disciple Thomas, who, when he saw the marks in Jesus’ nailed pierced hands and feet, and looked at the mark in Jesus’ side’, could only fall on his knees and say, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus Christ is the Lord of the past, the present and the future and he promises that he has secured our future in his loving hands.
Father, we thank you that you have dwelled with us through this year and have brought us unto this point and place. We pray that you will guide us, O, our Great Jehovah, in this barren land until our mission is fulfilled. This we pray in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, Amen.