April 2020
Need some encouragement in these unsettling days? King David, in Psalm 27, has a good word for us about fear, gathering for worship, and waiting on God.
Fear
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation —whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life —of whom shall I be afraid?
Though we should continue to be concerned about the Coronavirus, the elderly and compromised, and our first-responders, we should never operate out of fear. Fear is not an attribute of a child of God. Throughout scripture, we see the command, “Fear not.” The perfect love and salvation of Christ has cast out all fear.
Gathering
4 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Me too! That’s exactly what I want to do with my church family—to gather physically for worship and, together, to focus on the beauty of the Lord. How about you?
Waiting
13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Yes, we have to wait to gather physically for worship and LifeGroups. Some small churches are trying to find a way to meet. But the six-foot social distancing rule is still in place, and masks are strongly encouraged. I am in a weekly Zoom meeting with pastors across Nebraska and denominational leaders discussing plans for how and when to reopen. The consensus is to wait. The time is not right logistically or socially. Yet, church leadership and I continue to plan, prepare, and seek new paradigms for future ministry even as we wait.
While we wait on God’s timing for tomorrow, let’s remember that He is working today, in the present! How is he changing your life and the lives of your family? What good is He doing through you? He is mightily at work in our church and the community! Needs are being met, and souls are seeing God’s love in action through caring people.
So, we might not be happy campers, but we can wait upon the Lord!
Pastor Steve