Encouragements for our troubled times No. 52
COVID-19 Series | Date: 18 March 2021
The Elders and Deacons want to encourage the members and those who regularly meet with us through this weekly letter. If you have news which you would be happy to share with the fellowship or request for prayer, then please let us know.
A message from our Pastor
1 Peter 3:12
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Here is a text which should encourage us and, at the same time, concern us. The great truths it tells us about our Lord cannot fail to lift our hearts and assure us of His love for us. But those same great truths are a constant reminder to us that nothing is hidden from our God.
How wonderful it is to know that the eyes of the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth; those all-seeing, all-knowing, all understanding eyes are ever upon us, watching over us and guarding us. He notes our laying down and our rising up. He sees us every moment of the day and night; for He never slumbers nor sleeps. The very thoughts and intents of our hearts are open to His searching gaze and He knows what we have need of before we ask for it. They are the loving, dotting eyes of our Lord who looks upon us as the apple of His eye; very vulnerable and very precious to Him. And how wonderful it is to know that it is not our righteousness that draws our Lord's attention to us, because this waxes and wanes, but we stand before Him clothed in the never-changing righteousness of our Saviour. Therefore, His eyes will ever be on us.
But, it’s not only His eyes that are ever upon us, but His ears are ever open to our prayers. What a privilege it is to know that our Heavenly Father hears all our prayers. He never tires of them or is too busy to hear them; even though He has all the universe to govern, and every moment of every day the whole universe, and every living thing, clamours for His attention. In spite of all that noise, He hears us. And He not only hears what we have to say but he is intensely interested in everything we have to say. He wants to hear our prayers and encourages us, throughout the Bible, to bring our prayers, our supplications, and our petitions to Him; and to persevere in them. As the book of Hebrews assures us, we can ‘therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’
Our God is omnipresent (He is everywhere) and He is omniscient (He knows all things), ‘and there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.’ So, these great truths about our God, that comfort us so much, also should concern us. His eyes that are ever upon us and see and know all things about us also knows the evil that we do. We cannot hide them from Him. And when we have sinned, we cannot hide from Him. Even our inmost thoughts and feelings cry out to Him. Those things that no one else knows and we hope they will never find out about, are all known to Him. He reads us like an open book.
Therefore, we should take great care over our lives; what we do and say and think and feel. We must never try to hide anything from Him but seek to live before Him in righteousness.
Psalm 139:1-6
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.