“For to us a child is born, to us a
son is given; and the government shall be
upon his shoulder, and his name
shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace!” (Isiah 9:6, ESV).
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
As we enter into the new Christian year through the Advent season,
it seems like we have a huge competition going on in this world so called World
Cup 2022. Quite an existing world event, isn’t it? So, many people around the
world raising their voices of joy or vice versa as a result of each games. I am
pretty sure that many people are praying for winning of their teams or
countries.
But I am just wondering if all Christians are praying for the victory
of their own countries or teams, what is going to be God’s answer because no
matter how hard people pray, there will be always winners or losers? Then,
where is the living God when our team loses and do we still see hope when our
team loses? But here is the truth.
“But the Lord is in his holy
Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven” (Psalm 11:4, NLT).
The Lord still rules from heaven? What’s that mean? When there was
a severe drought in Israel about twenty six hundred years ago, one day, a prophet
Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and
prayed with his face between his knees. Looks like a loser, wasn’t he!
Then, he asked his servant, “Hey, do you see any sign of rain from
the sea in the sky?” So his servant went out and looked. However, there’s
nothing! Then Elijah prayed and asked him again and again and again because
there was no sign of rain at all. Looks like a loser again! However, finally
the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of
a man’s hand rising from the sea!” What? The size of a man’s hand? Looks like a
loser again! However, not long after that, the sky turned black with clouds and
a heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm. Wow! Victory!
I am pretty sure that Elijah’s servant might not think that there
would be rainstorm when he just saw a very tiny little cloud about the size of
a man’s hand from afar. It was truly trivial, meaningless and ignorable;
however, for Elijah, it was a sign of the end of the drought. Why? Because he
prayed and he knew that God still rules from heaven!
So he told a king Ahab in faith, “Climb into your chariot and go
back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you! (1 King 18:44b, NLT).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we seen any signs of a tiny
little cloud, the size of our hand in our life as we begin this special month
of December, I mean, as we encounter with the time of many forms of drought
from the hopelessness that we experience around the world; from the uncertainty
that the world shows us right in front of us; or from the confusion that the
kings and lords of the world brought us into our life? So what do we do? We
will pray like a terrific winner, Elijah. Why? Because sooner or later, we will
see a tiny little cloud in a manger, I mean, a powerless child in a lowly place
who makes everything anew. His name is Immanuel, God with us! We will see tat
this tiny baby will grow with us to fulfill the promise of God.
“For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have
eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV).
So now, I’d like to invite you to come and join us in this month
of December to see the little cloud in the sky, I mean, to meet with the tiny
little baby Jesus in a manger, through our prayers. We will truly see how that
tiny little baby grow in us to bring the newness of the whole world! Isn’t that
exiting? So now, join us!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Kyochul
