Devotional reading 020611

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Our Lord is gracious and kind. He cares for all those who seek for Him. When I look back to the brothers and sisters whom we visited in Africa, we can’t cease to give thanks for how the Lord protects and provides for all those who serve Him with obedient heart.

Pastor Melody, the woman missionary from Taiwan, who answered God’s call to Nairobi many years ago, served faithfully among the poorest of the poor. Up to this day, she is still passionate in serving the people in the slum area. She is really outstanding in that area, because she was the only Chinese woman walking through the dirt road to the only school that she founded in the slum.

Pastor Jeff, the missionary from Singapore who was crippled by polio, answered the call to serve God in a war torn Uganda twenty some years ago. Even though the civil war had been ended many years ago, you could still see helplessness on many people face and inner city roads filled with many holes. A common joke in Uganda says, “If you drive straight in Uganda, it means you are drunk.” What is the hope of this country? Our Lord Jesus is their only answer. God used obedient servants like Jeff to bless this country with hundreds of new churches, two seminaries and all kinds of charitable projects among the poor. God demonstrated His power through a cripple in accomplishing all these for His glory. Indeed, it is not by human plans or power for all these good works. It is the work of God through His obedient servants

Again, the proclamation of God in Isaiah 30 proves to be true. This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it" (v15). God is the one who accomplish the impossible. Salvation and strength come from Him. Our busyness is not the way to accomplish His work. Only when we repent from our self-reliance and truly obey Him, we can witness His good work shines through impossibility.

If we are ready to calm down and let God be god, then we realize the source of our strength is in Him alone. God continued to reassure His people in verse 18 of the same chapter, "The LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (v. 18)

Do you believe in this promise that God will bless those who wait for Him?

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence