Publishers of Great News

UV 1159/10,000 Great News


Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

Nahum 1 v 15


Our problems and challenges in life are the mountains on which our feet rest and walk in the name of the Lord. He will enable us to surmount them and give us the grace to hear and experience good tidings of great joy. Every challenge or test we confront and overcome will be a cause for rejoicing, testimony and celebration. Just before going overseas recently the Lord had told us that we would have many testimonies during our journey. Early one morning after we had disembarked from a bus from Washington to China Town, New York, I had forgotten to collect three small bags including my laptop bag I had placed on the pavement while I was taking the bigger boxes from the cargo hold. Half the way to a cousin’s place, the Lord reminded me that I had forgotten to take the bags, one of which held the passports of the four of us. To the surprise of my cousin who is a traffic police officer in NYPD, the three bag were exactly where I had left it. When I shared this incident with others both in New York and back at home in India, they marvelled. It gave me and my family greater joy than all the delicacies we can feast on in a celebration.
Even our lowly feet are described as beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. We are His messengers to bring the good news to those who do not believe or perceive or experience the goodness of God. The gospel of Christ is not just good news that you hear only once but great news that give us reason to rejoice and celebrate all our days and all our lives. We are publishers of good news and peace. In order to be a publisher of news, the events reported have to be true, happening real time. We need to collect every detail of the event or happening. We need to be faithful in reporting it on time and reach it to all persons possible. We have the inheritance of Judah, the elder son of Israel and we need to keep our commitments to and before the Lord. We are not to keep secret and confidential the marvellous things the Lord has done in our lives. Rather we are to share it openly so that we are truly His messengers to the world, to unbelievers so that they too gain faith and to believers to encourage them to grow further and stronger in their faith. Every day is a festival to rejoice. Every person we meet is an audience for the message from the Lord. Every experience is a testimony.

The presence of the Lord in our lives makes our lives a continual feast where we enjoy many choice dishes represented by the promises of God. But we are to know the limits that God has set for us- remember His commandments to be faithful, diligent and obedient. We need to be conscious of the promises and commitments we have made to the Lord. When we do this, it will lend a solemnity to our celebration of life. We need to take time to remember to praise and thank the Lord for His goodness, love, mercy, kindness and grace and for His wonderful acts in the lives of our children. The wicked, the unrepentant, the ungodly, the fiercely jealous have no place or influence in our lives. We need not feel threatened, intimidated or fearful of such as these. We can be unmindful of their hostile attitudes, actions and words. Their power to harm us has been completely annulled and negated.

Prateep V Philip