First Response

Harshala Emmanuel - 16 January 2022

Dear friends, greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

The past two years 2020 – 2021 have been very unusual and challenging with the arrival and devastation caused by the pandemic Covid -19 virus and its variants. Each and every nation has been affected and powerful nations have been brought to their knees. Relationships have weakened, anxiety, stress, loneliness, depression, and strife have increased. Job losses, redundancy and unstable economy keep people on the edge. Uncertainty about the present, and the future are commonplace topics today.

Yes, we do know we are one day closer to the second coming of our Lord and Saviour but the question on our minds is how do I face today? How do I face each day of this year, especially when everything around me looks grim?

At this time, I would like to share a childhood incident with you. As a child, I used to love to explore new places, climbing trees, and gaining a different perspective of what was happening in our neighbourhood. On one such day, I was scaling a tall lush may flower tree in our garden. I first scaled the tree trunk and soon reached my wooden tree house, perched on the sturdy main branches. But wanted to have a higher view from my lofty perch, I started climbing up higher and higher, pushing up smaller branches, when quite suddenly, I lost my grip and started to fall. I slipped and fell down with a thud, on my mum’s rock garden filled with her collection of cacti and succulents, that was at the bottom the tree.

That was quite sudden, unexpected, and painful especially as I had landed on the sharp rocks and prickly cacti thorns. With shooting pain and bleeding arms and feet, I cried at the top of voice, “Ma, Pa”. Within minutes, my father came running to my rescue, closely followed by mother. They wiped away my tears, removed the prickly cacti thorns, and cleaned up and bandaged my wounds.

Mother got me a tall glass of fresh lemon juice and I felt refreshed and energised. My parents have always been my first responders as a child.

Very rapidly the throbbing pain disappeared, and I felt fine again, as I recounted my climb and what I thought was my solo adventure. I thought that no one was aware of what I was up to. But my father quietly interjected, “We were watching you all the time, especially as you climbed higher and higher up the tree”. Immediately, I recollect a deep sense of being loved and protected by my parents entered my heart and my spirit.

Dear friends, our dear Lord Jesus who is our Creator, our Elohim, is far, far better, stronger, and wiser than our earthly parents or family!

So, in times of distress and trouble, when we think we are all alone, battling giants of ill health, grief, loneliness, anxiety, redundancy, financial hardship, broken relationships, and uncertain times are we aware that our Heavenly Father is always watching us as the apple of His eye?

1. Where are we looking?

2. Whom are we calling for help?

3. What are we expecting?

1. Where are we looking? Do we look to our family members or close friends to help us in times of danger or fix our problems when we are at the bottom of the pit? Are we so focussed on the destination that we forget God’s warning signals, or red flags? If it is a broken relationship, are we looking for the other person or the offender to make the first move to bring about reconciliation? If it is a financial crunch or a work-related challenge that seems unsurmountable, are we looking for a breakthrough by figuring it out ourselves, or are we trusting in Jehovah Jireh, our Provider to provide for us even during times of hardship and famine? Is the problem or challenge we are facing consuming all our attention and are we forgetting or ignoring the Divine Problem-Solver? Where are we looking? Where is our focus?
   

2. Whom are we calling for help? When conformed by an emergency, our first instinct is to pick up our phone and dial 111 for help, for the ambulance or police to help. In times of trouble, whom are we calling for help first? Is it our closest friend, confidante, mentor, life coach, pastor, servant of God, doctor, or anyone else?
   

3. What are we expecting? Do we have the unrealistic expectation that others will fix our problems? Yes, God Almighty has placed us in communities to build up and support one another. But the critical question is, are we turning to our Saviour Jesus Christ and Way Maker to help solve our challenges? Friends, God’s Word, from cover to cover is filled with the promises of God to us, and the commands that He expects us to obey, motivated by love for Him, in order to live a blessed, successful, and fruitful life. Psalm 121 is a beautiful yet profound answer to these life questions. A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary states that some call Psalm 121 as the soldier’s psalm and think it was penned by King David in the camp, when he trusted God to cover his head in the day of battle. Others call it the ‘travellers psalm’, as this psalm encourages us to commit ourselves by faith into God’s divine care.

God Almighty is the only true and faithful help of those who earnestly seek Him.

1. Elohim, God the Creator, Preserver, Keeper of His Covenant; El-Shaddai – He is the one and only Almighty God, our all-sufficient supply, the Bestower of power, gifts, blessings, and the One who makes us fruitful. Colossians 1:16 (NIV) ‘For in Christ all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Christ and for Christ. God’s Word clearly highlights the omnipotence of Elohim, God the Creator over all creation, time, matter, and space. So, we are encouraged to lift up our eyes to the Creator of the entire universe. In 2 Kings 19:14 to 21:9, we come across King Hezekiah of Israel who was surrounded by the mighty army of his enemy King Sennacherib of Assyria. Sennacherib sends a threatening letter to King Hezekiah giving him two choices – one to surrender or two, to fight a battle that he as doomed to lose. Hezekiah’s first response was to go tear his clothes, cover himself in ashes and immediately run to the temple of the Lord, humble himself and lay the letter before the Lord’s presence. He then with all his heart and soul, acknowledges Jehovah’s sovereign lordship and supreme authority over all creation. In verses 16 and 19, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes Lord and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the Living God… Now Lord, our God, deliver us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, are Lord God!” Hezekiah also sent his servants to the prophet Isaiah who replied, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return; he shall not come into this city. For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses - all dead. So, Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home to Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. This is how Elohim answered Hezekiah and saved the lives of the people of Israel. This bold and audacious prayer should also be our prayer to Elohim, our Creator, especially when the enemy hits us relentlessly from all sides. We must deliberately seek all our help only from our Heavenly Father, and trust in his power, his authority, his goodness, his providence, his grace, and his favour. Then we will receive answers like King Hezekiah.
   

2. Jehovah-Rohi - Jehovah is Our Shepherd, our watchful Keeper, our Provider and Protector. In verse 5 of Psalm 121, God himself has personally undertaken to be our Keeper, our Protector. El-Rohi, Jesus is our Good Shepherd who keeps watch over each and every single sheep of his flock, 24/7, so that not even one of his little ones perish. He never takes a nap, or sleeps, and never gets tired. John 10: 11–16 (NIV) ‘I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.’
   

3. Jehovah-Shammah / Emmanuel - Jehovah is there for us, Jesus our Saviour and Refresher of our souls Jesus is not only our Saviour who saves us from our sins and eternal death, but also the one who encourages and refreshes us, by the presence of God the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. He is our shade at our right hand, secure shelter in times of trouble. He is like the cool shade provided by a tree during the scorching summer heat; or the safety and comfort provided by a mother hen who hides her chicks under her wings. God is Jehovah Shammah, Emmanuel, who is always with us; He is never too far away from us. Isaiah 44:3 (ESV) God is the Refresher and provides nourishment by pouring out His Spirit on us. The Holy Spirit is able to fill up our hungry and dry hearts. When our souls are refreshed it is like water is being poured onto a thirsty land. Isaiah 32:2 (NIV) ‘A shelter from the wind, and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land’.

God Almighty is not only at our right hand, in our daily activities (Psalm 16:8), He will guide and protect us from evil, harm and danger, if we choose to walk in His ways. He will protect us from falling into temptation and its consequences. John 10:10 He has come to give us a full life on earth and an everlasting life forever with Him in future. God’s promises do not have an expiry date!

Therefore, let us choose wisely, obey God’s word, walk in His ways humbly, do good and continue to spread his Gospel of hope joyfully, till his second coming.

It is as simple as that, friends! In conclusion, friends, let our first response always be to connect with our Heavenly Father. Let us as Apostle Paul said in Romans 12:2, not be influenced by the world around us but be influenced, transformed, and renewed by God’s Word and the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. Whatever trees or mountains we have to climb, barriers or rivers we have to cross, our Lord God Almighty is our Keeper, and He will help us overcome them all. Jehovah Nissi, there is victory in the name of Jesus! Amen.