“If you do not stand in your faith, you will not stand at all” Isaiah 7:9
This last year and a half our pastors, church staff, leaders and members have written how God’s Word has given them comfort and greater meaning to their lives. At the same time the Pandemic has not only inflicted on us sickness, and even death, unemployment, financial insecurity, increased political division, civil and social unrest. Many of our children have been left behind, being deprived of their grade level education and the social skills required to complete mapping their future career. The Pandemic certainly has changed our lives and how we view society. Our State continues to experience extreme drought and fires. Throughout all of this, the one thing that has not changed and will not change is the absolute truth communicated in God’s word. We seek comfort in the words of Ezra in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Matthew 13:3-8 tell us, “Then Jesus told them about many things in parables – A farmer went out to sow his seed, as he was scattering his seeds, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. The seeds sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
These passages remind us of the importance of remaining humble before God, seeking Him continually, and persevering in our faith. Amidst everything going on in the world, it is our faith in God that is most important. It is by our faith in God that we stand. If we have our faith in God, we ultimately have everything; if we have everything in the world, but lose our faith, we have nothing.
In the words of Patrick Henry, “I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one more that I wish I could give them and that is the Christian Faith. If they had this and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if they had not that and I have given them all the world, they would be poor.” Amen.