Psalm 117 (NIV) Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.
The shortest Psalm – within its words are such deep truths.
The Easter season is always such an important time for us as Christians to pause with our fellow believers and consider the depth of God’s love for us, His faithfulness to us from before time began, as we remember the ultimate sacrifice Jesus paid for our sins, once for all, on the cross. This is coupled with His victory over death, seen in His resurrection and His ministry in the forty days immediately after that on earth amongst us.
I had the considerable blessing of spending time over the school holidays with believers in several countries, first with staff and students in our German partner school in Paderborn in Germany, and then in a number of different settings in Central Asia and the Middle East in the period approaching Easter.
In Central Asia and in many settings in the Middle East, you make a choice in identifying as a Christian that could put you at risk, sometimes considerable, by making your faith known. It was with people who deal with this daily that I found myself in the company of, at home in the places where they lived out their witness for Jesus, during the second half of the school holidays.
I found it to be a particularly moving time. To see hope eternal in the eyes of these Jesus followers as they engaged in conversations about the way God blesses them in spite of the opposition they face was very special indeed. The emotion that was consistently missing was fear. In the most difficult of circumstances, God’s love was overruling – fear was replaced with deep trust and a celebration of God’s provision of salvation for all who believe.
Perhaps the most profound experience I had whilst away was to share in worship times with men and women, many of them recent converts from either committed atheistic or (in contrast) devout Muslim backgrounds. To hear their testimonies, to have the privilege of singing with them and praying with them – most of it in languages I did not understand but where it was abundantly clear we were all in fellowship together – I felt a strong sense of the promises of Psalm 117 being lived out in our modern context.
Whatever your current context, wherever you currently are in your faith journey – may I encourage you to share with others in our College community the way God blesses you. As Jesus followers together, we are unified in Jesus’ death and the redemption that sacrificial act provided for us. May this truth, rather than fear or distracting thoughts, inform our collective conversations together in the weeks and months ahead.
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