29 December 2009
Psalm 2, 26; Isaiah 49:13-23; Matthew 18:1-14

The comfort of the Lord to His people through the prophet is beautiful. The promise is that they will return to the land and that once they are there they will experience the blessedness of the Lord. I can only imagine what it would be like to be in exile from my homeland and know that it had been utterly demolished and devastated, reduced to rubble and ruin. How much worse when your homeland is truly the city of God, the one you have confessed as creator of heaven and earth, who lives and who loves you and the city He had chosen, where His Name was great, where His glory dwelt? What a wonderful promise to hear that He has not forgotten you or His city! The promises here are extraordinary and in Jesus we see that all nations have been blessed from this nation.

What does it mean to come like a little child? I believe it means that we are able to simply believe. We can find many objections to faith and belief and yet I find that the more I come with simple faith the more understanding I receive. St Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury in the late 11th century, had a motto, “faith seeking understanding.” That motto, in my opinion, captures this statement of Jesus’. We come with a love of God and an implicit trust of God in search of deeper knowledge of Him. The Israelites who heard Isaiah’s prophecy had a choice to make, believe it or ignore it, but believing it with their whole being would enable men like Nehemiah and Ezra to undertake things like the rebuilding of the city in the faith that God would enable the impossible to be done. The same goes for the apostles, including Paul, who undertook the Great Commission to take the world for Jesus and William Carey, known as the Father of Modern Missions, whose motto was “Attempt great things for God, expect great things for God.” Do we trust Him enough to believe Him for all things, including the fulfillment of His promises?

Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.