Recalling, Remembering, Relying And Returning
BRD REFLECTIONS:
2 Thessalonians 1, 2 Thessalonians 2 and Psalm 81 (NIV)
(Yeo Su Chen, Chairperson, Communications Ministry)
READ
For this devotion, I have focused on these verses from Psalm 81 (New Living Translation):
6 “Now I will take the load from your shoulders;
I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
7 You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you;
I answered out of the thundercloud
and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. Interlude
And
10 For it was I, the Lord your God,
who rescued you from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
And
16 But I would feed you with the finest wheat.
I would satisfy you with wild honey from the rock.”
OBSERVE:
As I write this reflection, the world has received news that Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, just as the Israelis were wrapping up the seven-day-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a “dark day” for Israel.
As I sat in the Los Angeles airport waiting for my connecting domestic flight, I watched different TV news channels broadcasting the news on the ground in Israel.
Out of all the news reports about the attacks going on in Israel, an interview with an American lady, Lynell Gordon, who is in Jerusalem, stood out for me. Lynell said: “I am not terrified because I know that God is with me and there’s so many people praying, but that’s what life is over here right now,” as she and her husband hid at home.
I am sure many of the people in Israel now are also counting on their faith to see them through this war. In times of darkness and terror, when there is nothing concrete to stand on, we recall and remember how God has saved us before and relied on the memories of His power and grace to see people through adversities and afflictions.
In verse 10, we read God has, throughout history, repeatedly delivered the Israelites when the situation seemed hopeless and dark. Not only that, but He also tells the people to be prepared to receive His generous mercy, grace, and goodness by expanding their spiritual appetite and increasing their spiritual hope so that He can fill them up.
In verse 6, God promises He will take the load from their shoulders and free their hands from the heavy tasks. The test is to lean in on His divine timing, even in times of affliction.
I have the blessing of not living in a war-torn zone, so what would it take for me to rely on and return to God daily? I have to remind myself that I must be centred on God and see His handprints in everything I do and everywhere I go.
APPLY:
In times like these when news of tragedies and trauma surrounds us and worsens daily, coupled with my personal struggles, I must remember God’s goodness in my life, rely on His strength, and return to Him daily.
DO:
No matter how bad and bleak the world can look to me, no matter how disappointing people around me can be, I must keep up with reading and recalling His word daily. I need to “open my mouth” (verse 10) so that I can savour the best wheat and be satisfied with the honey God wants to give me (verse 16).
PRAY:
Lord Jesus, thank you for your gift of these verses to me. Help me to remember that You have saved me many times and lavished me so much with Your grace and goodness that they are far better than the comfort and pleasures of this world. Give me the strength to rely on you and please help me return to you daily when I am tempted by the world. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
