Thursday, November 12, 2020

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Praise Not Fear

We your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever ; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. Psalms 79:13

Good morning church family I pray that you are all blessed and staying safe. With this global pandemic, racial injustice, natural disasters and other disasters happening around the world I know there are days when we feel hopeless ,desolate or feel that God has turned his back on us, we may even feel as if these disasters are a result of our sins. If like myself you have been feeling this way it means we can all relate to the Jews and how they felt after the intrusion of the Bablyonian army which wreaked havoc on their nation.

Even though the Jews were being constantly warned to turn away from their sinful ways and to obey the commandments, they would not listen. They continued to defile themselves and the Lord’s temple and as we all know , “who can’t hear , must feel”. Their disobedience caused God to allow the Babylonians to invade their land, kill them , leave their bodies to be eaten by animals and to destroy the holy temple.

Asaph started to feel overwhelmed with what was happening in his nation and he began to pray and ask God for deliverance, forgiveness and also asked him to turn his anger away from them. He hated the fact that the Babylonians were asking “where is their God? “ and he asked God to silence their nation by being the avenger of blood for his people .

After praying to be rescued, Asaph ended the prayer with thanksgiving and hope that God will look down on their needs and and answer his prayer , he also had faith that better days were ahead . God tells us he is our shepherd and we are the sheep of the pastures, it is for this reason that we can rely on God wholeheartedly because shepherds ensure that their sheep are safe and well taken of. Asaph vowed that he will praise God and continue to praise God in all generations to come and tell the stories of his marvelous works.

So instead of worrying or feeling overwhelmed with all that’s happening around us let us continue praying that God will rescue us and trust that better days are ahead. Until next time stay safe , stay blessed

Toni-Ann Poyser