How are you? How is your week going? How are you handling this COVID-19 pandemic?
I was reading through the first half of Exodus last week, and I reflected on the Ten Plagues. Through these Ten Plagues, we see an undoing of Creation. It is chaos and judgment upon Egypt.
Not only that, God was breaking down and stripping away the gods of Egypt. Each element of creation was its own god in their religion, and God was stripping them down. God was showing Himself to be the true God. The Nile was the river of life, and yet, God turned it into blood. The livestock were gods, and they died during the plagues. The sun was a god, and God brought darkness upon the land.
I feel like this virus is stripping us of all our places of comfort, hope, and security. Some of us may enjoy going out and having fun, but that has been taken away by social distancing and restaurant closures. Some of us idolized our health and our life here on Earth, and yet it feels like our lives are in jeopardy. Maybe some of us trusted in our money, but we see how one virus can turn this economy upside-down.
It is times like these where we need to ask the hard and important questions. What do we believe in? Is this life all we have? Are the pleasures and securities that we hoped in truly reliable? What is our comfort? What is our security? What is our hope?
Our passage this past Sunday reminded us of the greatest and most important truth we need to believe in: God has reconciled us with Himself through the offering of Jesus Christ.
In the passage, Jacob confronted his greatest fear: Esau, his brother. But we saw that Jacob was at peace in the face of death.
How do we see such peace and transformation? It’s because of the previous night when he wrestled with God. Through that wrestle, Jacob experienced the grace and the presence of God. He received a new name and a new identity, and he was made right with God. He confronted man’s greatest fear in God and was made right with God at the end of the night. That gave him the peace and the boldness he needed to confront Esau.
But we saw that his encounter with Esau was not one of hostility but of peace and love. Through Esau’s interaction with Jacob, we saw God’s interaction with us. God had every right to kill us and to judge us. But if we believe in Jesus, He has made us right with Him. He runs toward us. He embraces us. He kisses us in love.
How does He do this? He is our holy God, and sin cannot stand in His presence. Then, how can He be so loving and forgiving toward us? It’s because of the ultimate gift and offering. It’s the gift of His Son. That gift is not one that we have given, but it is one that God has given for us. Jesus lived the perfectly righteous life so that we may be declared righteous. He died the death that was for our sin, so that our sins may be atoned for. He paid it all. And that’s why He was able to say, “It is finished.”
This is the source of ultimate peace and comfort. He is the most important and greatest truth for us to believe in. Do we trust in Him? Is He our everything? While we feel alone locked up in our homes, are we enjoying the blessing of His presence? While we see our savings and investments get smaller and smaller, can we say that Jesus is our ultimate treasure? While we feel the anxiety of facing illness or even death, do we believe that Jesus has defeated death already and that death is now just a gateway unto eternal life?
If everything is stripped away from us, can we still say that we have God? And if we have God, it is more than enough. It is well with our soul.
I am praying for you as you read this. I pray that you may have faith in Jesus Christ. I pray that you may experience His gracious and unconditional love as you have been made right with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son. And may that give you peace in this chaotic and uncertain time.
We are ONLY Live-streaming our worship on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk8O7T5Hspq8HdX14tZj89A) at 12:45pm. We are NOT meeting in person. Please continue to pray for one another, for our nation, and for this world.
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
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