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SCRIPTURE READINGS

JEREMIAH 31:7-14

EPHESIANS 1:3-14

JOHN 1:1-18

REFLECTION

The theme for our reflection is “Rejoice, the Lord delivers”. To rejoice means to feel or show great joy or delight. To deliver means to set free or to save a person from bondage, suffering or an unpleasant situation. Rejoice, the Lord delivers means that we must be filled with great joy because our salvation comes from the Lord. Dear friend, the Lord delivers, and a believer must rejoice for two reasons. These reasons are presented to us in our three Scripture readings:

1. Rejoice because the Lord remembers and delivers us according to His covenant relationship with us.
2. Rejoice because the Lord delivers those who repent and accept Jesus as the Saviour.

First, a believer must always rejoice because the Lord does not forget His covenant relationship with His children, and for that matter, He hears their prayer of deliverance and delivers them from oppression and harm. Jeremiah assures Israel after they had been attacked and conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army. The nation was devastated. Many people were taken away as captives, and some were left behind with their hopes shattered. Family and friends were separated, and properties were destroyed. Hope was completely lost. It is important to note that Israel was defeated by the Babylonian Empire because of their sins and unrepentance. God actually redrew His divine protection but when they cried to the Lord, the Lord remembered His covenant relationship with them and assured them through Jeremiah that “Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping, they shall come, and with pleas for mercy, I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn…or the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31: 8-9, 11-14). In other words, Israel must rejoice because the Lord delivers according to His covenant relationship and promises when they call on Him. Similarly, we must also rejoice because we Christians or believers have a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In our troubles, challenges or sufferings, the Lord remembers us when we call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Joel further assures us to rejoice for “…it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. (Joel 2:32). Remember, it is not merely everyone but everyone who has a covenant relationship with the Lord. I invite you this new year to have a covenant relationship with the Lord so that regardless of the economic hardship and the other challenges that are ahead of us, He shall deliver you when you call on His name.

Secondly, how do you have a covenant relationship with the Lord? It is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ; therefore, rejoice because the Lord delivers those who repent and accept Jesus into their lives as their Lord and Saviour. John reminds us that Jesus came into the world as the light of God to save us from the darkness of sin and unrighteousness. “In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (John 1: 4-5, 9-13) Dear friend, rejoice because the Lord delivers those He has saved through Jesus Christ, it is for this reason, Paul further assures us in Ephesians 1:7-8 that“In him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” Beloved in the Lord, the choice is yours to make as we begin a new year but I will admonish you to repent and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, for in Him we have total deliverance, joy and peace. A life without Christ is a life of crises. With Jesus in your boat, you will rejoice and smile at the storm even in times of turbulence, tribulations and temptations. Truly, we must rejoice for the Lord is our deliverer!

In summary, we have reflected on the theme “Rejoice, the Lord delivers!” After carefully studying the three Scripture readings given to us for our meditation, we discovered two important facts. One, we must rejoice because the Lord remembers and delivers us according to His covenant relationship with us. Two, we must rejoice because the Lord delivers those who repent and accept Jesus into their lives. May the Holy Spirit sustain our joy in the Lord even as we experience the year 2026 as the year of the Lord’s restoration and deliverance. Amen