|
About
CFCFFL
Who
is the CFCFFL?
The
Movement for Restoration Our
Covenant
Our
Mission and Vision
Our Statement of philosophy
Our
Core Values
Family Ministries Kids
for Family and Life (KFL) Youth
for Family and Life (YFL)
Singles
for Family and Life (SFL)
Handmaids
for Family and Life (HFL)
Servants
for Family and Life (SvFL)
Wish
to JOIN?
The
highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over
popularity.
Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
-
Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
|
<<Go
back to menu
LESSONS OF JOB
(Part 38)
HOPE, JOY AND TRUST IN AN AWESOME GOD
December
19, 2009
Today’s psalm (Psalm 71) brings together the different elements of
our themes from 2007 to 2010. God weaves the many threads of the very
important lessons He wants to teach us, in order to build the tapestry
for our life and work in the years to come.
At the core of it all is who God is. God is the Almighty! He is
awesome. There is none like Him. “You have done great things; O God,
who is your equal?” (v.18d). Now God is not only awesome and
powerful, He is also just and righteous. The psalmist proclaims
God’s “power and justice” (v.18c-19a,NAB); His “power and
(His) righteousness” (RSV). Being all powerful, God is
other-worldly, distant, beyond reach. Being just and righteous, He is
intimately involved in our daily life and struggles.
If God is almighty and all-powerful, then nothing is impossible for
Him. If He is just and righteous, then we can call on His awesome
power to help us in our need. And so what does that make of God in
relation to us? God is our refuge and our deliverer.
The psalmist exclaims, “you are my strong refuge!” (v.7b). With
confidence he proclaims, “Be my rock and refuge, my secure
stronghold; for you are my rock and fortress.” (v.3). Thus he
claims, “In you, Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to
shame.” (v.1).
But there are times when we will seemingly be put to shame,[1]
when we will be oppressed and afflicted. At those times, we look to
God as our deliverer. The psalmist prayed, “My God, rescue me from
the power of the wicked, from the clutches of the violent.” (v.4).
We precisely can call on God because He is just and righteous. “In
your justice rescue and deliver me” (v.2a,NAB); “In your
righteousness deliver me and rescue me” (RSV).
In fact, God does not only deliver, He redeems. God does not only lift
us up from oppression and affliction, but He took on oppression and
affliction in order to lift us up from sin. He does not only deliver
our material and physical bodies, but He redeems our souls. The
psalmist exults, “my soul, too, which you have redeemed” (v.23b).
In the face of an Almighty God who is just and righteous, who is our
refuge and deliverer, who redeems our souls, what is our proper
posture?
First, we must have hope in the Lord.[2] In the midst of
lamentations, we look to God. “You are my hope, Lord” (v.5a).
Since God indeed is our hope, then we must have hope in Him. “I will
always hope in you” (v.14a).
Second, we must have our joy in Christ.[3] The Lord is in
our midst, a mighty Savior.[4] He has redeemed us and
brought about our restoration. He himself rejoices in us. If God saves
us, restores us, and rejoices in us, then we too must rejoice in Him.
“My lips will shout for joy” (v.23a).
Third, we trust in Jesus.[5] Because God is Almighty and He
is committed to care for us, we can turn our lives over to Him,
trusting fully in His divine mercy and grace. “You are .... my
trust, God, from my youth.” (v.5b). Jesus, I trust in you.
Hope, joy and trust are important because life is not a bed of roses.
On the contrary, life is full of pain and suffering. At times we feel
truly hopeless and helpless about the circumstances of our lives.
There is no light at the end of the dark tunnel. We have nowhere to
turn. Like Job, we might even blame “the Almighty, who has made
bitter my soul” (Job 27:2).
In the face of affliction, rather than turn away from God, we should
in fact turn to God. When there is no one else, there is only God.
Only He can raise us from the depths of our sorrow. “You have sent
me many bitter afflictions, but once more revive me. From the watery
depths of the earth once more raise me up.” (v.20).
Even though in the Old Testament the afflictions of the sufferer may
be taken as a manifestation of God’s anger, still, it is to God that
we turn, because He is our refuge. “I have become a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge!” (v.7).
If God is our refuge and our deliverer, if God indeed is our Savior,
then our response is clear. We must give Him the worship that is His
due, and we must share Him with the many others who live in a world of
affliction and suffering. We recognize Him for who He is, the
Almighty, and we proclaim Him to a world that is in need of
redemption.
We worship God simply because He is the Almighty. “My mouth shall be
filled with your praise” (v.8a). We worship God because He is
faithful and we can truly turn to Him in our need. “I will also
praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing
praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.” (v.22,RSV). We
worship God tirelessly, ever growing in intensity. I “will praise
you yet more and more” (v.14b,RSV); I will “add to all your
praise” (v.14b,NAB).
We proclaim Christ, that is, we evangelize. We speak about the good
news of salvation in Jesus. “I will speak of the mighty works of the
Lord” (v.16a). This we do faithfully; “to this day I proclaim your
wondrous deeds.” (v.17b). This we will do through the generations,
until the Lord returns once again. We live “to proclaim your might
to all generations yet to come” (v.18b).
If God the Almighty is just and righteous, then again our response is
worship and evangelization. “O God, I will tell of your singular
justice.” (v.16b,NAB); “I will praise your righteousness, yours
alone.” (v.16b,RSV). “My mouth shall proclaim your just deeds”
(v.15a,NAB); “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts”
(v.15a,RSV).
We worship God and proclaim Him because what God does for us is
overwhelming. He is our redeemer and deliverer. His mighty acts in our
lives are too numerous to count. We look to “your deeds of salvation
all the day” (v.15b,RSV); “day after day your acts of deliverance,
though I cannot number them all.” (v.15b,NAB).
We acknowledge what God does for us as we worship. We proclaim what
God does for us as we evangelize.
The God and to the nations, we will speak about this Almighty God who
is just and righteous.[6] “Yes, my tongue shall recount
your justice day by day.” (v.24a,NAB); “And my tongue will talk of
your righteous help all the day long” (v.24a,RSV).
[1]
That is how it will look to the world, but in God we are never put to
shame.
[2] Our theme for 2007.
[3] Our theme for 2008.
[4] Zep 3:17a.
[5] Our theme for 2009.
[6] Our theme for 2010.
Go
to Part 39>>
|
