By Not Known
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3
In our Mission Emphasis Month, we emphasise on the reaching out to the lost through evangelism and mission. The Apostle Peter reminds us in the Scripture that we were once hopeless but now we have hope in Jesus Christ. In our gratitude to our Almighty God, let us consider, pray and ask God to help us to regularly support our church missionaries financially and in prayers; make plan to go and visit missionaries and participate in a mission outreach organised by our church.
In the Old Testament, God reached out to the poor and hopeless. For example, in Ruth 1, Naomi was filled with hopelessness after her husband and two sons died. The future without the financial and emotional support of her husband and sons was inconceivable. It was God’s work (v13) and grace to have led her out of Moab to Israel, to find blessing and protection.
God is a merciful God. He gave Naomi the hope. In v6, the writer mentions that the Lord had come to the aid of his people in Israel. In vv16-18, God did not leave her alone, He provided Ruth to be her companion and subsequently gave her a son. The last verse gives the hopeless a great hope of survival – “arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.” God had turned hopelessness to a living hope – blessings and salvation.
There may be times we may have experienced living in a hopeless world after losing a dear one or a precious relationship. We may know what despair, pain, suffering, loneliness and disappointment are. Although the world seems to continue on, but we may be struggling to make sense of it – everything seems meaningless and hopeless. Friends may not always be around, the only friend we could cling on to is the Lord Jesus, He promised that He will not leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5b). He is our only hope and meaning when everything else passes by. Turn to the Lord today and tell him you need Him.