NOTES FROM THE PASTOR
"For you who obey Me, My saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun's rays."
~ Malachi 4:2 (GNB)
Recently I have been ill and kept myself awake with all my coughing. I hate these experiences when you seem to have one of those endless nights, and you can't sleep, and you wait for the sun to come up and release you from the depression of darkness. I think that most of us have experienced this at one time or another. We all know that feeling of relief - - "there is the light, the night is over."
The rising of the sun does not end our troubles, but it often gives cease to the torment of our souls.
Our world today lies awake, terrified by the dark. War, famine, natural disaster, terrorism, disease, violence, immorality, oppression; all of these concerns and more haunt the dreamless night and bring a longing for the light of day. Yet that day seems delayed in coming. Things are getting darker, problems are getting bigger, life is getting more difficult. And we may even feel like that new proverb: “It’s always darkest just before it goes pitch black!” Consequently, the world is rapidly losing hope that the morning will ever arrive.
Yet we have God's promise that this night will not last forever. If we will only obey God, then He promises, "My saving power will rise ... like the sun." We Christians have a sure hope that the darkest night will end with the day of our Lord. We know beyond doubt that our God is in control and that His love will never end. Indeed, we know that the sunlight (the Son's light) is spreading over the earth even now.
If our sunlight is the Son's light, then we will never be without hope. And if we have that light within us, then we can share it as a beacon of hope to a darkened world that feels it is without hope.
~ Pastor Michel
