Good News from a Far Land

"As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country."

Proverbs 25:25

 

I've been watching "The War," a 15-hour World War II documentary which aired on PBS some years ago.  I bought my dad the DVD box set and my mom and I have been catching a little here and there when time permits.  One thing infantrymen and soldiers of the cross have in common is the great value they place on news from loved ones.  Almost more valuable are the letters written by the soldiers and sent back home!  Periodically throughout the film, letters are read with a voice-over written by a soldier named "Babe."  Every letter was dated and treasured by the family members who received them.

 

Most every day I check my e-mail.  Often I'm like Ralphie in "The Christmas Story," who looks into the mailbox every day for his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring only to find an empty mailbox.  But some days I open my e-mail inbox and read a message which refreshes me with encouragement.  Today was one of those days.  It was like cold water to a weary soul.  The American infantrymen interviewed after World War II said they learned how to sleep while marching, like walking in a coma.  That's how a lot of us go through each day at times, churning through day after day, grinding on and on.  Sometimes a little good news from friends or the Word of God snaps us from our slumber.

In my devotions this morning, I came across Genesis 4:26:  "And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord."  Before church, worship music, Sunday School, Communion services, baptisms, church traditions, home fellowships, missionaries, apostles, prophets, or gifts of the Holy Spirit are mentioned in the Bible, there was prayer.  Man fell and then men prayed.  I wonder:  when we are in the midst of the desert spiritually, do our prayers to God bring as much refreshment to Him as good news from a far country does to us?  Whether we have rebelled or drifted far from God, He is pleased to hear us direct our hearts toward Him in prayer.  He is the God who leaves the 99 to pursue the one who is lost.  God's love never sits still.   God speaks as the beloved in Song of Solomon 2:10:  "My beloved spoke, and said to me:  "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away."  How important is it for you to come away and spend time with God - not for you, but for Him?

 

As I saw the horror and catastrophic loss of life through the documentary, it is evident heaven is not to be found on this sin-soaked blood-stained earth.  But we have a risen Savior who stands at the right hand of the Father, living to interceede on our behalf.  He has granted us the Holy Spirit who indwells us and teaches us according to God's perfect will.  We can hear from heaven, my friends.  It is not the rustling of angel's wings or the chorus of cherubim:  it is the Good News from a distant land that refreshes the soul with Living Water.  The Gospel truth rings lound and clear and resonates in the heart of all who trust in Jesus as Savior and LORD.  There is a God in the heavens who has come down to earth to save sinful flesh.  There is hope for the hopeless, restoration and redemption for the damned.  John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. [17] For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."