Pastor's Column 10/9/22

PASTOR’S COLUMN

“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you, my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1, NLT

“Reclaim, Recharged, Reconnect!

The world we have inherited is quickly becoming depleted of the resources that bring and enhance life. This is not new. When the aspiring physician turned Welsh minister, William Williams, wrote a famous hymn; a line many Christians are familiar with reads, “Pilgrim through this barren land.” The hymn is “Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah. The lyrics Williams employed reflected his own personal anxiety, compared with the children of Israel in the wilderness enroute to the Promise Land. Struggling with fatigue, hunger, and fear, the pilgrims were in search of water to quench their thirst, and bread to satisfy their hunger. The needs of the Israelites are good metaphors for life; times of pandemic, social upheaval, and retreat from justice and righteousness. David certainly felt the backlash of a crisis, when he was forced to wander in the desert, with the enemy close on his trail. But even there, David knew that although famished and disheveled; God would provide him with springs in the desert to quench his thirst. David reminds us we will find relief and refreshment, when we “earnestly search for God.” The Lord does not intend for us to have quick-fix solutions for our problems. Our anxieties will not go away, simply because we believe they will; or we have the capacity to diminish them. God must be somewhere in the equation. Human effort alone, cannot solve every problem. If it could, we would live a perfect life in a perfect world. What we do know, is that we can reclaim what the enemy takes from us; become recharged within our spirits; and, reconnect in fellowship with the One who holds us in His gracious care. Elsewhere, David said “Restore to me the joy of your salvation (Ps. 51:12a, NLT). The depletion of our world is pale, in comparison to the life God gives us!