Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 40 verse 15, “The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales,” (NRSVB). This chapter, the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, is the “Comfort, Comfort ye my people” Chapter, where the prophet tells of God’s compassion with his people and his power to save and deliver. He is a god like no other, he will restore and give power to the faint and weary and renew the strength of those who wait on the Lord. Throughout the times of the history of the Old Testament, the rise and fall of great nations were witnessed. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, The Greeks and the Romans were all mighty nations who instilled fear in the hearts of their opponents and ruled for an allotted time, being a super power. After a period of supremacy these great empires fell. Only some ruins of their regimes, some artefacts in museums and some writings stored in archives remain to tell the stories of their reign. For the Lord God, the Ruler of heaven and earth, beholds the nations and their rivalry and rejection of his word and work. Their achievements to prosper and benefit, as they sacrifice all on the altar of greed and power, are not hidden from the all-knowing God. Nobody can be liken to him, and nobody is equal to him. When the world and her leaders lift their eyes to the mountains and realize that God created everything and calls everything unto Him, then the Kingdom of Heaven will reign, for the kingdom of the earth is wrought with bitter animosity and strife. Nations are set up against nations, all competing for supremacy, while discarding the needs of the people they rule.
Our times are no different to the times of the ancient world and the desires of the ancient rulers and world powers. People still want to rise up and rule, being superior, suppressing others by laws and edicts into submission and obedience. When we behold our current situation, world-wide, we grow fearful. So many different nations and rulers seem to be rejecting each other and threatening the fragile peace that we would like to believe exists in the global integrated world. After more than a year of being bombarded with scientific information regarding the pandemic and rigours measures to fight this plague, the world and her people are weary and weak, people have grown faint and their faith in the goodwill of the ruling powers are diminishing. For God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, the powers of the powerful are as little as dust, the weight of the world and the people gathered on her, hardly measure on his scales. The earth is a tiny part of the greater universe, but it is this earth that God loved so much that he sent his Son.
Despite the vastness of the universe and the speck of dust that amounts the life a human, this speck of dust, this little human life, is vastly important for God. This is our hope and our prayer: that the people of the world will realize each individual’s importance, each one is called, each one is named, each one belongs to God. “I have called you by Name, you are mine,” as the prophet Isaiah writes in Chapter 43 verse 1. Our God, the all-knowing Father, who calls everything into being, has compassion with the world and her people. He is the One who calls the rulers of the nations to book and asks them to account for their rule and the use of their power and privilege. Jesus warned that we will have trials and tribulation in this world, however, we have to be of good cheer, despite the current situation, for Christ has overcome the world. This means that through the work of Christ Jesus on the Cross, he has deprived the world of its power to harm those who love the Lord, he has conquered the evil power residing in the world, John 16 verse 33, (Amplified Bible). This is our consolation, this is how we are comforted through the word and work of the Spirit of the Lord, as the prophets said it would be. We will receive strength and be renewed to mount up like the eagle, winged by God’s strength, so that we will not faint.
Jesus, the sent Son of God, came to earth to dwell amongst people and bring the presence of God right in the midst of all. He sent down his Spirit do dwell on earth and to dwell within those who love and obey his commands, those who pray and look out for his vindication. He will set the world right in recognizing the Father and bring the nations to dwell in peace when he comes to rule in power and righteousness. “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them,” Revelation 21 verse 3, (NRSVB).
Father, we thank you that we can come to you and bring this world and her people to you. We hear the rumours of disdain amongst the nations, we see the destruction, pain and disease around us, and we ask: Father come with your healing balm, and heal the nations, Amen.