FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
OUR THEME FOR 2025
(Part 10)
A GOD OF MIRACLES
December 6, 2024
Today’s readings (from NJB):
Isaiah 29:17-24
Psalm 27:1,4,13-14
Matthew 9:27-31
Isaiah talked of God’s plan in terms of reversal of His people’s dire situation.
- Rather than desolation, “Lebanon shall be changed into an orchard, and indeed a forest!” (Is 29:17).
- The deaf shall hear and the blind shall see (Is 29:18).
- The poor and lowly will rejoice (Is 29:19).
- Tyrants and those who are evil will be cut off (Is 29:20).
In other words, God works miracles. He reverses what seems impossible situations. His covenant love for His people Israel is His covenant love for us Christians today. He is the unchanging God who wants only our well-being.
Many people today, including Christians, experience poverty, want, desolation, serious illnesses, oppression, persecution. They would consider their situation hopeless, with no way out. But there is always hope, if only God is present in their lives.
Jesus himself worked many miracles. One dire situation is physical blindness. But when two blind men asked Jesus to have pity on them, he healed them “and their sight returned.” (Mt 9:30a). They had looked to Jesus as the Messiah and believed in his power to heal them. That is when Jesus “touched their eyes saying, ‘According to your faith, let it be done to you.’” (Mt 9:29). Faith in Jesus unleashes the power of God!
David himself had his share of heartaches, including threats on his life by King Saul and rebellion by his own son Absalom against him. But he held on to God, saying, “Yahweh is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear? Yahweh is the fortress of my life, whom should I dread?” (Ps 27:1). Jesus is the light of the world. With him in our life illuminating our path and guiding us, we need never walk in darkness, or stumble and fall, or go on wrong paths.
Much more, Jesus is the Savior. Out of great love for us, he went to the cross to redeem us, and restore us to the Father. With Jesus as our refuge, we need never be afraid. With him as our fortress, we are protected from the slings and arrows of the enemy. And in the end, Jesus will bring us to dwell in his house eternally.
That certainly is great cause for hope!
And so David is telling us today, “Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.” (Ps 27:14).
But Jesus is not only the light of the world but more importantly is our Savior. So the ultimate healing is from sin. And the ultimate miracle for us sinners is to make it to heaven. We not only ask for relief in this life, but more importantly should have this posture: “one thing I ask of Yahweh, one thing I seek: to dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to enjoy the sweetness of Yahweh, to seek out his temple.” (Ps 27:4). If we believe and look to Jesus, it will happen. “This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living.” (Ps 27:13). Miracles in the here and now, and then heaven in the afterlife.
Have faith in Jesus. In him hope abounds.
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