Title: Reflections on 2003
David, the godly king of Israel, looked at himself every day and listened to the voice of God. David says in Psalm 4:4, "Take ye not and sin; lie down, speak in your heart, and be still." Every night when I went to bed, I checked how I lived before God.
How have you lived over the past year? Now, as the year is coming to an end, instead of exhilarating openly, you should look back on yourself before God. Today's text asks the people of Israel to examine themselves through the prophet Isaiah. “Listen to me, you who seek the Lord in pursuit of righteousness, consider the rock from which you were dug, and the hollow pit you dug out” (verse 1).
Stones were removed from the quarries, polished and carved into works of art. However, the place where the stone was removed remains a hollow pit. It's ugly to look at, but it's undoubtedly the place from which it was created. Today, God tells us to look back on our past. He tells us to think of a hollow pit.
1. We must look back on the traces of our shameful past.
It is a problem that people are always bound by the past, but it is also a big problem that they cannot look back on how they lived in the past. So the apostle Paul often looked back at himself. "I was a persecutor of the church, and I was a leader among sinners. I was a short-lived human being. I was a very small and humble human being."
Verse 1 of the text says, “Remember the rock from which you were taken.” A rock has no shape, no personality, and is just a flat stone plate. And the deep pit is a dark past that nothing can fill. You have to know yourself.
Pearl Buck, a famous American female writer, is well known to us for writing the novel "The Earth" set in mainland China. The main character, Wang Ryong, who appears here, could not imagine how he lived by starvation. Have we not betrayed the love of the Lord and turned our eyes to the world without our knowledge? Have we not criticized the world and the church and blamed the Lord over the past year? At the end of the year, I hope that you will thoroughly present yourself to God and become believers who know how to repent.
2. We must know how to count the blessings God has given us.
Verse 2 says, “Remember your father Abraham and Sarah who gave birth to you, and when Abraham was single, I called him and blessed him and made him multiply.” We all remember the sad things that happened to us. I am used to counting days of pain or misery. He meticulously dismisses the person who made him sad and doesn't forget about them. As the year draws to a close, I hope that you will become believers who reflect on each and every one of the graces and blessings God has given us over the past year and give thanks.
No matter what practical difficulties we face, we must not forget that we are God's blessed people. We must not forget the blessing that God gave us as workers in the Church of God. We must remember the blessing that we were sinners but were saved by the grace of Jesus and became children of God, and we must not forget the blessings that have been with us through daily bread and spiritual words. The grace you have given us over the past year is also amazing. Please believe that God has filled us with good and beautiful things even though we have not all done our best.
3. We should welcome the new year with joy and gratitude.
Verse 3 says, “For I, the LORD, comfort Zion, and comfort all her desolate places; I have made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and rejoicing, thanksgiving, and the sound of singing will be in her midst. "I did. These words are the words of prophecy, including the expectation of God. He says that no matter how shameful our past is, if we honestly come to the cross of the Lord and repent, we will become like white snow and wool. The Apostle Paul said that we forget what has already passed and move forward toward a new goal.
God is rich in love and mercy. He says that if we know where we are, are deeply aware of the wretchedness of the past, and know how to count the blessings of God who has led us up to this day, God will comfort His people by restoring all the desolate places like Eden. Believe in God's love and mercy. And I hope that you will welcome the new year with joy, thanks and praise, believing that greater grace and blessings will come in the new year.