The wells of salvation
“You will draw water joyfully from the wells of salvation. And you will say at that time:” (Isaiah 12:3)
Thanksgiving Day is a special day of the year for thanksgiving worship to God the Lord. We should anytime live with the faith that appreciate everything in life. But in fact there are so many times when we live without being thankful. It would not be easy to have a mind of appreciation because of the situation that received severe damage by this summer floods and autumn typhoons and, moreover, as the suffering by the COVID-19 disease. But even though we were once under God’s wrath, we must look at the Lord who gives us again a comfort in grace. A person who is not grateful when in need, will not be grateful also when in good circumstances.
It is a very respectable to have an attitude of faith that shows strength even during pain and despair. God says us not to follow those who do evil deed. God’s whipping us isn’t just for a reproof, but to make awaken. That’s a way to make stand up the loved one not to fall down into weak condition. When people listen to reproach, the mind of interpreting and accepting it will vary from person to person. There would be two kinds of people who think positively, or negatively. Praising the Lord and the prayer of gratitude would be naturally expressed from the people with positive mind. Isaiah prophesied in the text that Israel will later sing with gratitude.
In the history, Assyria was destroyed and Babylon was destroyed, too. Any country in the world will decline and perish at any time. These countries, Gojoseon, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, Goryeo, and Joseon, which had been existed on the Korean Peninsula and the north and the north-western region of the peninsula, changed over time and eventually all disappeared. The same went for China in history. Han, Yeon, Tang, Song, Yuan, Qing, and other the dynasties had been already disappeared in the past, and now the People’s Republic of China occupies the land. All the lands, dynasties, and cultures of the countries on earth have no choice but to be altered with the stream of time. However, Isaiah prophesied one thing that would never change. That is the words of , “A shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch will bear fruit from his roots.” This is a prophecy of the eternal kingdom of Christ. Our praise and gratitude toward God must be based exactly on Christ and His salvation. But some people who would like to be blessed with something try vaguely to find any ways by snooping around here and there. They might go to temples, fortune tellers, and sometimes visit churches. Or according to what others do, they learn this or that and memorize them like a spell. And they try to participate hard in activities and even give offering money with their own name labeled, because of the saying they have to give their heart and soul. However they feel after all it looks meaningless for them everything even if they had done such the endeavors. After then some people think the church would be better, so they become church members. But they soon think the church is strange group different each other, so they went here and there churches and lose their fun in the end. So they end up saying goodbye to everything, and into dissolute life of spirituality.
Those who know what the eternal kingdom of Christ can confess as in “Look! God- yes God- is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. For the Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Some people say these days COVID-19 has reduced the number of church members to attend chapel. They complain that not only the number of church members has decreased, but also cannot pay even the monthly rent per church due to lack of offering money. Oh, that’s a saying both pathetic and regrettable. If they are true believers belonging in the eternal kingdom of Christ, can they be let alone for church to be insufficient the number of members and their money of offering? Even in past times, when it was more difficult than it is now, the church members had helped their pastor’s life by offering to church a handful of rice from their rice chest at home. Now some of them might say when they heard what I said, “Oh, you also talk to pay money to church.” But, no, it does not mean like that, but it is I say please be a true believer even if it’s hard.
The church, the body of Jesus Christ, is the well of salvation. Those who drink the water from the wells of salvation have to praise and thank God. The church of Christ is a fountain of eternal life, different fundamentally to any others in the world. Whether there is a drought, a flood, or a disease, it is the church of Christ and the saints that has solidly existed in the world as usual. Let us overcome all present difficulties in the sincere faith of praise and gratitude to the Lord. Hallelujah!
(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Nov 15th 2020)