The Weekly Epistle 12/2/20

“Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Those words from 2 Kings 6 and verse 16 are spoken by Elisha to his servant.  What is interesting is the context of these words.  The scene is the Syrians waging war with Israel.  There was a whole army surrounding Israel.  Inside the house there were two people- Elisha and his servant.  Outside the house there was a great army with horses and chariots.  It was two against a whole army.  Has Elisha lost his mind?  Can’t he do simple math?  
 
Elisha knew something that the servant didn’t.  He knew his God was greater than what he could see with his physical eyes.  Elisha then prays, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.”  The Lord answers Elisha’s prayer and the servant saw, “that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  In that moment, the invisible became the visible and the servant realizes that it is the army of Syria that is outnumbered, at least spiritually.  
 
Church, there is more going on around us that we do not see.  We see the physical world.  We look for natural explanations.  We hope that our favorite news station can break it down for us so that it makes sense.  But doesn’t a Biblical worldview point us in a different direction?  In accepting the Bible, aren’t we also accepting that there are spiritual realities that infiltrate everything?  
 
There is more going on around us that we do not see.  It may feel at times as though we are outnumbered.  But may the Lord open your eyes to see that He has you covered, protected, and is working out His purposes!  And as we will look at this week in our study in 1 John, instead of looking around, look within for “greater is He that is IN YOU than the one who is in the world.”  
 
Our Christmas series beginning on 12/13 will remind us that our God is with us, he is for us and he is in us. Collectively as a church, Christmas will feel differently this year.  I understand the sentimentalism and nostalgia that comes with Christmas.  I find that when it comes to the Christmas season, I like my traditions.  Having a Christmas Eve service by remote doesn’t sit well with me.  But it drives me to ponder the wonder of it all that God took on humanity to be our substitute on the cross.  The truth of the incarnation must overshadow the good feelings of the season.  What is the big deal with Christmas?  Jesus is God with us, God is for us, and God is in us!  Embrace that truth!  Live with anticipation of the second advent, when our Savior will return to take us home with Him.  
 
We see dimly now; we will then see everything clearly.  We will see what it was that He was up to in the world and in our lives.  The eyes of faith will then be sight.  Press on, church, press on.  
 
“And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,” Horatio Gates Spafford wrote.  And for now, we can say, “It is well, it is well, with my soul.”  
 
With wellness of soul, Pastor Brian