Dear Amy,
What now?
After three years your time in the village has finally come to an end! You have served the Lord so faithfully, and I’m sure I’m not wrong in saying that you have put a smile on the face of your Heavenly Father (Psalm 147:11). Well done! Well done indeed!
While some may see your return to New Zealand as a home-coming, perhaps for you it seems to be the opposite, as you are leaving the village and the friends who have been home to you for these three long years, with whom you have journeyed sharing joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs. And as you return you’ll surely feel like a stranger in a strange land, for isn’t that what New Zealand has become?
And that’s exactly how it should be.
Consider how the writer to the Hebrews describes the faith of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Sarah.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
― Hebrews 11:13-16
People living in western affluence can become so self-satisfied and complacent, distracted by comfort and privilege. Expect to find this thoroughly jarring on your return. But know that this is not your home. It is not my home. It is not any of ours. We long for a better country, a heavenly one. And in this longing of ours, astonishingly, God is not ashamed to be called our God.
This will be my last letter to you, Amy. It has been such a privilege to be able to offer you these small encouragements from afar, and I have certainly encouraged my own heart as I have sought the Lord over what to offer to you. I have one last offering for you now.
Here’s my question. How can I live a life of humility and contentment, honouring the Lord in the midst of all this self-satisfaction and complacency and privilege, when all around me people with agendas are chasing after the limelight and my own life seems rather small and disregarded?
David has the answer.
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.
― Psalm 26:1-3
This is how I am called to live, and it is joyous.
The Lord’s chêsêd love is before my eyes because I think about it all the time. In fact it is the lens through which I see the world. It rescues me and enables me even to live my life. And the overflow of that love spills into every relationship and every conversation. It is life-changing love.
Praise him for his wonderful chêsêd love and faithfulness!
Walk in your integrity, Amy, and in his faithfulness! 🙏❤️