The Journey 255: Corporative Prayer=Collective Power=Freedom
Read: 2 Chronicles 32
The Christian community in the last few months used to fervently pray about two issues. One was about the detention of an Iranian Pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani who remained in jail for almost 1,062 days and the second one was about a thirteen year old mentally challenged girl named Rimsa Masih from Pakistan who was arrested on the charges of the desecrating a Holy Book of a different faith. This week the community of believers all over the world rejoiced at the news that finally the Iranian Pastor has been released from jail. So also the thirteen year old girl Rimsa Masih was also given bail in a case where now a Muslim cleric who is a neighbour of Rimsa has been arrested for allegedly manipulating the case and falsely accusing and fabricating evidence against the teenage girl. When we live in a country like United States and in India, we may not be able to comprehend the true situation of believers in countries where the blasphemy laws are so outdated that usually people settle personal scores with each other by alleging blasphemy in the name of religion. Neither do we comprehend the price the Christian believers pay to hold on to their faith while we are least bothered as to how valuable and important is the “ ground and foundation of our faith”. The news release with these two individual helps us to focus our life on the importance of the power of corporate prayer, praying more for others than for our needs and also about how God is still working in history when the forces of injustice still prevails in this world. Are we able to discern these truths in our life is what we need to think about?
The theme of our meditation is “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from 2 Chronicles 32: 9-22. Here we find the account of a King of Assyria named Sennacherib, who plotted against Hezekiah the King of Judah. What separates both these kings was that Sennacherib plotted against Hezekiah because he was against the worship of false god and he brought about reforms in the religious realm. He destroyed idols and also made the temple worship more meaningful and pleasing to the Lord. Hezekiah appointed the division of priests and Levites according to their services and many other reforms due to which God’s favour was shown on Judah [ 2 Chronicles 31]. But this did not go well with Sennacherib and he wanted to see the downfall of Hezekiah. He begins plotting against Hezekiah by trying to instigate the people against the King. That is when Hezekiah realizes that there is a battle on hands and he cries out to the Lord in distress [ 2 Chr 32:20]. The Word of God says when Hezekiah cried to the heavens, the Lord heard his prayer. What you see here in this incident is that Hezekiah does what is just in the sight of the Lord, while Sennacherib is using subtle and crooked ways to achieve what is unjust and also what is not pleasing to the Lord. But the sad part is that when doing justice it is Hezekiah who goes through pain and crisis. I think this is something that we need to learn in life. When we do actions that are just and when we stand for justice and the rights of others, we shall be condemned and there will be others who will plot against us. But God who is in charge of history will stand with us in our fight for justice and common good and hence we need to be fervent in our faith living. The release of both the Iranian Pastor and the teenage girl in Pakistan gives us the writing on the wall that we need or order our lives in a just manner and that we need to look up to the Lord both personally and corporately and unite as a corporate body to address issues of justice and freedom.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
The Christian community in the last few months used to fervently pray about two issues. One was about the detention of an Iranian Pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani who remained in jail for almost 1,062 days and the second one was about a thirteen year old mentally challenged girl named Rimsa Masih from Pakistan who was arrested on the charges of the desecrating a Holy Book of a different faith. This week the community of believers all over the world rejoiced at the news that finally the Iranian Pastor has been released from jail. So also the thirteen year old girl Rimsa Masih was also given bail in a case where now a Muslim cleric who is a neighbour of Rimsa has been arrested for allegedly manipulating the case and falsely accusing and fabricating evidence against the teenage girl. When we live in a country like United States and in India, we may not be able to comprehend the true situation of believers in countries where the blasphemy laws are so outdated that usually people settle personal scores with each other by alleging blasphemy in the name of religion. Neither do we comprehend the price the Christian believers pay to hold on to their faith while we are least bothered as to how valuable and important is the “ ground and foundation of our faith”. The news release with these two individual helps us to focus our life on the importance of the power of corporate prayer, praying more for others than for our needs and also about how God is still working in history when the forces of injustice still prevails in this world. Are we able to discern these truths in our life is what we need to think about?
The theme of our meditation is “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from 2 Chronicles 32: 9-22. Here we find the account of a King of Assyria named Sennacherib, who plotted against Hezekiah the King of Judah. What separates both these kings was that Sennacherib plotted against Hezekiah because he was against the worship of false god and he brought about reforms in the religious realm. He destroyed idols and also made the temple worship more meaningful and pleasing to the Lord. Hezekiah appointed the division of priests and Levites according to their services and many other reforms due to which God’s favour was shown on Judah [ 2 Chronicles 31]. But this did not go well with Sennacherib and he wanted to see the downfall of Hezekiah. He begins plotting against Hezekiah by trying to instigate the people against the King. That is when Hezekiah realizes that there is a battle on hands and he cries out to the Lord in distress [ 2 Chr 32:20]. The Word of God says when Hezekiah cried to the heavens, the Lord heard his prayer. What you see here in this incident is that Hezekiah does what is just in the sight of the Lord, while Sennacherib is using subtle and crooked ways to achieve what is unjust and also what is not pleasing to the Lord. But the sad part is that when doing justice it is Hezekiah who goes through pain and crisis. I think this is something that we need to learn in life. When we do actions that are just and when we stand for justice and the rights of others, we shall be condemned and there will be others who will plot against us. But God who is in charge of history will stand with us in our fight for justice and common good and hence we need to be fervent in our faith living. The release of both the Iranian Pastor and the teenage girl in Pakistan gives us the writing on the wall that we need or order our lives in a just manner and that we need to look up to the Lord both personally and corporately and unite as a corporate body to address issues of justice and freedom.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla