THE LORD HEARS & SAVES - Louis Gervais
THE LORD HEARS & SAVES
Hello and greetings in the Name of the Son of Him Who Hears and Saves, Jesus Christ!
“This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles.” –Psalm 34:6
David wrote this psalm. The NAS notes that it could also read: “This afflicted man cried, and the LORD heard him…” And the God of David is our God. Here are a few verses which affirm the idea that the Lord hears, helps and saves:
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.” “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” –Psalm 121:1b-2, 5, 7-8
This song was sung by a pilgrim traveling through the hills to Jerusalem. He was comforted by the fact that God would preserve him from all evil and preserve his going out and coming in. We can draw comfort from this too: that nothing can happen to us which God does not allow, and if we are walking in His will then we are assured of His presence and comfort no matter what happens. “The righteous cry, and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.” –Psalm 34:17
And what about that part which says, “He shall preserve thy soul”? Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” –Matthew 10:28 . So, even in death, the Lord is capable of preserving our soul—something only He can do. And we are commanded not to fear our persecutors (1 Peter 3:14).
The Lord is skilled in rescue operations. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” –Psalm 46:1b . Or, to loosely translate the Afrikaans: “as a help during distresses He has been proved to a great degree.” It’s wonderful to know that we serve the Living God and He is almighty and He loves us. He is willing to go through this life’s ups and downs along with us—every step of the way—and is constantly available to us. May we continually remember God and thank Him for His mercy. May we call upon God not only when we’re in trouble but build our relationship with Him Who cares for us every single day. Amen.
The council of our Mission has placed me in the Free State again, for which I’m thankful, and we also plan to go to Natal and the southern Transvaal later in the year. Heinrich van der Berg has been assigned to be my coworker; he just finished his two-year training at our Bible School. His name can be translated as “Heinrich of the Mountain.” Yes, that means icebergs are just “ice mountains” after all.
This week, five years ago, I arrived in South Africa. The country has yet to recover. One statistic states that 90% of all missionaries don’t last five years. It has been said that after five years an immigrant feels more at home in their new country than in their country of origin. The factors I see as decisive in my survival of this critical time period are 1) It really was God that sent me to South Africa, 2) Many people prayed for me, and 3) I already understood Afrikaans and the two-year Bible School training helped me to acclimatize to the new cultural environment. Praise the Lord!
A nurse removed the problematic earwax which revealed an ear infection. So I’m using ear drops. Over the past few days I’ve developed a fever, if you’d like to pray for my health. Heinrich and I were nearby so I decided to visit some of the teenagers in Senekal and Hennenman who had been at our youth camps. Not one of them knew about our Mission three years ago and some have since then testified of salvation. This made it exciting to go and encourage them in their faith because we were not merely building on a foundation laid by others. It was special to me because I shared Paul’s sentiment: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” –2 Corinthians 11:2b
–Louis Gervais
“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.” –Psalm 34:7