GOD’S PROTECTION IS UPON THE LAND AND COLONY WHERE HIS WILL IS DONE
Among all the recent terrible disasters being reported around the world, we often hear testimonies of God’s miraculous protection. ...
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy. For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling-place he watches all who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.
PSALM 33.
On the day David experienced God’s mighty deliverance out of mortal danger, he sang to the Lord with joy:
…in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (Ps.18:18-19).
In Psalm 33, quoted above, his joy in liberation is expanded further. As the first verse of Ps.33 is very similar to the last verse of the previous Ps.32, both were probably once related. In Ps 32, the psalmist, David confesses his sin and then in Ps 33, he rejoices in God’s great deliverance and forgiveness and confirms how God faithfully relates to sinners in the past, the present and the future.
Firstly, David affirms the truth of God’s Word, the credibility of His work and faithfulness to His own character, and the fact that ‘the earth is full of his unfailing love’.
Secondly, going back to Genesis, he recalls God’s creation by His Word at the beginning and affirms that God continues to have control over His whole creation; the heavens, the sea and the earth.
Thirdly, David sees God standing behind all of human history, regardless of whether man obeys His creation order, and consequently ‘the plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes of his heart through all generations’.
Fourthly, God has been concerned about His creation and history ever since His original formation of the universe. Right up to the present time, He has been fully attentive to every person’s (including His foes’) every thought and deed. From heaven, God’s eyes look down and instantly see what is going on. The Prophet Ezekiel described strange heavenly creatures with wheels and their rims which are full of eyes and in the same way, the writer of the book of Revelation, John, described a living creature covered with eyes. These pictures depict our God who can see His creation from every direction in an instant.
Lastly, there is God’s promise for the future as well. The hope of His followers depends solely on His unfailing love.
This Psalm encourages us, Christ's faithful remnants in the end of the world to continue to trust in Him alone, so that we will experience more and more of His supernatural intervention in any crisis that lies ahead, as David testifies in Psalm 34:4-7,
I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Among all the recent terrible disasters being reported around the world, we often hear testimonies of God’s miraculous protection. There are many miraculous intervention of God taking place in the continually war-threatened land, Israel. The following news with the headline: ‘God Protects Israel From Over 150 Gazan Rockets’ is one of them. The article of 12th November puts it with a bible citation of Psalm 121:4, ‘See, the guardian of Yisrael neither slumbers nor sleeps!’ (the Israel Bible):
At least 150 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza on Tuesday morning. Schools were closed and mass transportation was shut down. …With hundreds of cars on a busy road, a rocket launched from Gaza lands right in the middle of them…hitting a construction dumpster that happened to be blocking that same road avoiding all the vehicular traffic – A one in a million chance!’ Click for the video
In Japan, an article written one month after the deadly Typhoon Hagibis has reported that some 20 % of the town’s population of Marumori, Miyagi Prefecture is estimated to be living in damaged homes and ten residents died as a result of the typhoon. The town will soon start building temporary housing and this task force has been established in Kariga community, where a Christian ministry uniquely exists. This ministry was founded shortly after the Second World War to distribute “The Concise Bible” free of charge to the locals and its supporters have since grown in colonies. I believe that God specifically protected this district and the supporters are fervently praying over its restoration project.
