Title: Why I Can Be Happy
Contents
Why you can still be happy
Text: Isaiah 41:8~16
Key Verse: Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, yea, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(See Lena Maria's video.)
Who is this applause directed at?
A woman born without arms, with only one leg short!
Still, is it the sound of applause for Lena Maria, who sings that I am happy?
It will be.
But the real meaning of the applause is
to rediscover his own happy song lost in her praises,
‘Yeah, that’s right, I can be happy’
It would be an applause for themselves who whisper quietly.
We also applaud from the bottom of our hearts as we are moved and happy together while watching this video.
Could it be that Lena Maria is also who we are?
This text teaches us why we can be happy.
Because there is a God who says, ‘You are my most precious being.’
You are the most precious being to God. So you can't help but be happy.
Jacob lives a tough life.
Siblings fight and hate each other in order to live a better life.
I live in anger as much as I want to kill.
Jacob lives in a world that is so difficult that he cannot survive without even taking advantage of his brothers.
However, in the end, she loses everything and leaves her loving parents and leaves for a long, hopeless journey, and has no choice but to live in an unfamiliar and unfamiliar country.
The person he met in another country continues to deceive and take advantage of Jacob.
They do everything they can to survive. But the situation seldom improves.
Jacob was unable to do so and had to return to the land he had fled from.
People do not view this Jacob favorably.
On the one hand, they catch Jacob and run to seize him in order to treat him like a slave again.
On the other hand, they come out facing each other to solve the problem after making all the preparations to solve the resentment.
Now he has nowhere to go.
No one welcomes him.
But there is someone who calls his name.
He is God.
My servant, you Israel!
Jacob, my chosen one!
Son of Abraham my friend!
forgotten man,
a person who has become an ugly thing,
A person with nowhere to go and nowhere to go.
In this kind of Jacob, God says you are the most precious to me.
And I give three reasons for that.
①“You, Israel, my servant”
The word “servant” means that the owner has the right to escape from life or death.
When used negatively, it means an absolute slave without freedom.
However, its use in the text means ‘I will be responsible for you’.
Now Jacob is being pursued. They are being chased from the front and the back.
But he has no power to defend himself.
But there is no one to help him. Only he has to fight them hard on his own.
God said to Jacob, “I will take responsibility for you.”
But God is calling his name ‘Israel’.
Israel is a name that means that God's absolute love will be with Jacob so that he and God will rule the world.
After all, what He called, “You, Israel, my servant,”
who come and go,
A person who is in danger of being tightened every moment by being caught in the nets thrown by those who are filled with greed and resentment both before and after.
That's what you called.
I will take responsibility for you.
Don't be afraid.
I love you.
You will rule with me those who cast their nets to catch you.
This word means “my servant you,” Israel.
Israel is the name of Jacob, but it is also your name and mine.
If Jacob lived a fierce life, we also live a fierce life.
If Jacob cheated, quarreled, and hated his brother in order to get better, we are living in a time when we also have no parents or brothers or friends in front of what money is.
However, in the end, he loses everything and has to return empty-handed.
They do everything they can to survive. But the situation seldom improves.
I keep looking at this person over and over again.
Now he has nowhere to go.
No one welcomes you.
But at this very moment, God calls us by name.
i still love you and i am with you
This is why we can be happy.
② “Jacob, my chosen one”
Jacob is a poor man.
A man who was born as a boy, but preferred to cook with his mother in the kitchen rather than go hunting in the fields.
A person who has no ability but a lot of greed.
He was born as the second son, but he is greedy enough to give up his brother's friendship in order to take away the property because he is greedy for the property that will return to his older brother.
Jacob is the one who can do anything to satisfy that greed.
But God declares that Jacob has been chosen.
Dear saints,
Do you have any wounds of being abandoned?
Do you have the pain of being abandoned by your parents, siblings, or friends?
Do you suffer from the loss of a loved one due to a sudden accident and the pain of having to part with your life?
Have you ever been sad because you didn't have money, or you were ill and had a hard time?
It is difficult to be abandoned,
Losing is painful,
It's sad not to have it.
So I don't want to suffer again, I don't want to suffer again, I'm afraid of being sad again,
I don't know how many people can't say it's hard when it's hard, can't say they're lonely when they're lonely, and can't say when they're sad and sad.
But now, don't hide your sadness anymore.
Don't be afraid and pretend you're not afraid. Say you're lonely when you're lonely.
The reason is that God has chosen you and is calling your name now.
This fact is what makes us happy.
?Letters to Lily? is a compilation of 28 letters written by an old Cambridge University professor, Ellen McFarlane, for his young granddaughter.
This book, with the absence of ‘Letter to my granddaughter’, is a book that conveys the love of a grandfather in preparation for not being able to be with his granddaughter in a really difficult time.
“Son, I hope that today will be the day you live, not just live.
To think of the obvious as not being taken for granted once more,
Don't be afraid of anything, spread your wings to your heart's content,
Promise.
No matter what life you lead, I will support you!”
Why can we be truly happy
no matter what we are
“I am on your side, I will always support you!”
God is always on my side!
It is because God the Father, who always supports us, is with us.
This is the God who has chosen us.
This God says to us:
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God,
i will strengthen you
will really help you
yea, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.”
So we are happy.
③ ‘Son of Abraham my friend’
God calls us “my friend”.
Doesn't the word 'friend' mean 'friend' when referring to the person you cherish the most, the most precious, the closest, and the closest?
And God calls us, “Son of Abraham.
This word refers to unchanging and faithful love, eternal love.
God is once again confirming his unchanging and eternal love for us.
The world is changing.
People change, the people of the world change, rivers and mountains change, and time changes.
So people are always nervous and afraid.
How will my life change?
How will my children change?
Wouldn't my job be bad?
What if I lose my health?
What if people forget me?
Nervous, worried, afraid.
But God tells us:
you are the most precious to me
i love you forever and ever
Abraham is now being forgotten by people.
An old man who has moved away from his hometown.
A man waiting for the day he will die without a son.
No one noticed Abraham like this.
But God came to Abraham and spoke to him.
“Abraham.”
“You are the most precious person to me.”
At this time, what did Abraham answer?
You would probably have answered this way.
“God, this old, useless old man has come all the way here to say that he is so useless.
Now that I am old, I have no memory, no strength, and my legs are shaking. What do you think is precious? It’s no use.”
Would you have said this?
But God speaks.
Do not be afraid, Abraham. i will be with you
Don't be surprised. I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will uphold you with this strong right hand of mine.
People don't make friends with ugly, sick, or powerless people.
However, human beings are beautiful like Miss Korea when they are young, and even if they are slim, they will not do business in front of time. A pretty face has blemishes, wrinkles, and a dull complexion. The waist is bent, and the stomach is out.
Even those who are muscular and command the world get old, their skin flabby, their hair bald, their eyes dim, and their ears deaf.
But God sees Abraham like this and calls him “my friend.”
God, who called this Abraham a 'friend' and that you are my most precious person,
Even when he calls us, he says ‘my friend’.
You are my eternal love, you are my most precious treasure! He does.
Therefore, we cannot help but be happy.
God calls us our most precious treasure.
The book ?Our Happy Hour? is a novel about the life of a nun with death row inmates.
In this book, the author describes the psychology of death row prisoners as follows:
“In the morning I prepare for death, and in the evening, ah! I live another day.”
There are no executions at night. Executions are carried out only during the day. It is said that when the sound of the jailer's footsteps approaches, death row inmates are horribly surprised. After spending such a time, it is said that they feel relieved only in the evening.
In this book, the words of death row inmates to all human beings living in this world are
“Humans are heroes.”
“Humans are amazing.”
People are good people and bad people. It is said that it is only in the face of death that we come to know the fact that humans are great and that humans themselves are heroes, regardless of who has and who has not.
Why can we still be happy
As you call our names,
you are with us,
It is because the God who calls us ‘the most precious’ is with us.
Because we are precious, He says we are responsible.
He says he chose us because we are the most precious.
He says he loves us because we are most precious.
God is with us forever.
God will support us forever.
So we are happy.