The_unfailing_Protector

Now a days we see many people going through a lot of misery in their lives. They do not experience the ‘joy of living’. Some are so heavily burdened with the problems they face, and they even think of committing suicide. Why is it so? Does our loving Heavenly Father, who is our Creator God, want that His children go through such miserable lives?

The loving God has a plan of welfare for His children. He reveals it to Prophet Jeremiah: “I know what plans I have for you, plans for peace and not for disaster; plans to give you hope and future” (Jer. 29, 11). Christmas is the time we celebrate the coming of this God who was incarnate and lived among us. If we call upon Him in our misery, He will answer us and come to our help. “When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from their distress” (Ps.34, 6). Let us turn to Him in faith. As we journey through the Season of Advent, we often become too busy with the mundane affairs, but let us not forget to spend some time with the Lord daily pleading with Him to intervene in all the miseries of our life; not only ours, but also of others. Let us have  faith in this loving God who calls all of us to come to Him and rest. “Come to me, all of you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11, 28)

Recently I heard a preacher explaining the meaning of the alphabets of the word ‘joy’. J stands for Jesus, O for others and Y for you. Jesus should come first in our lives; others should be second (and hence we need to turn to our brethren and help them in their spiritual and material needs); you should come last. When we have this attitude, we can really experience the joy and meaning of our living. As we give the prime place in our lives to Jesus and to His Word, like David who went through many crises in his life, we too can say: “even though I walk through the shadows of death, no harm would I fear, for you are there by my side. With your rod and your staff you give me comfort” (Ps.23, 4).

As long as we are on this earth we will encounter problems and trials. We experience a lot of negative things, things against our dreams and aspirations happening in our lives. But these problems should make us a victor, not a victim! Problems are challenges for us to overcome so that we may become victorious. This is possible only when we stop looking at the problems and turn to our Loving Lord who has become God Immanuel, God with us as the ‘Prince of Peace’.  In order to become radiant in spite of the problems that we face, we only need to look at Him. “Those who look to him are radiant with joy; their faces are never clouded with shame” (Ps. 34, 5). “All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom.10, 13).

Let us pray: ‘Come Lord and save us from this Godless, faithless, joyless and hopeless life’.

Mary Pereira