Dear Rose Park,
This letter comes from the desk of our beloved elder Joe DeVette…
Do you feel like God was absent from your life, and maybe the whole world, last year? The joy of Christmas is over (hopefully you did find the joy) and the new year has begun. And, if you’re like me, you’re looking forward not only to a new year, but a better year as well. I can’t imagine that 2020 was a banner year for any of us (throughout the whole world). Where was God?
God was here, with us, in 2020 and IS in 2021. His presence is here with us no matter the circumstances. One of the most meaningful Christmas songs for me is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. Although it tells “...of peace on earth, good will to men”, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the words of this song as a poem during a bad time in his life. He wrote it a while after losing his wife and his oldest son had been seriously injured fighting for the Union army (which he joined without his father’s permission). Longfellow was probably also wondering where God was.
The song goes on later to say, “And in despair I bowed my head, ‘There is no peace on earth’ I said, ‘For hate is strong’…”. How often last year didn’t I feel the despair of the pandemic, and see hate showing its face over and over around our country. But Longfellow goes on to say “God is not dead nor doth he sleep”. He knew God was with him even in those difficult times.
The words to that poem/song can be comforting these days as well as we also can trust that God is NOT dead and is NOT asleep. We can depend on His love, through His son, Jesus, being with us in whatever we might be going through these days as well. It is promised in His word in my favorite Bible passage, Romans 8:38-39;
“38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No matter what this year, or the years to come, bring your way, you can be assured that God’s love is with you no matter what your circumstances. Believe and rejoice in His love!
In Christ,
Joe