Pastor's Corner: God has not forgotten us

If you have ever watched a documentary about wild life on the Discovery Channel you would have seen the hunting habits of the predators in the wild. When the predator sees his/her prey, they watch, they wait and then at the exact perfect time they attack.

The predator does not attack the strongest of the herd, nor does the predator attack the herd as a whole. The predator will wait for the young, an injured, or one of the herd to wander off and isolate themselves from the herd. The predator knows that their prey is extremely vulnerable when they are alone.

We as human beings can learn so much from wildlife. There is a predator who seeks to devour us just as the lion looks to devour the water buffalo. So how do we protect ourselves from this predator, Satan, an enemy we can’t even see?

First and foremost is we can’t give into fear. There are several places in the Bible where we read God tell us, “Do not be afraid.” The god of this earth, Satan, is doing everything he can to make all of us afraid. He knows if we are afraid we will surrender our liberty, we will accept theories as scientific fact, and we will not question those who are doing us great harm but promising us they have our best interest at heart.

We as humans were not made to be distant from one another. We were instilled within us a need for community. We need to have the interaction with one another. When we lose the bond we have with family, friends, church family and neighbors we lose a little piece of ourselves every day.

I know that there are many of you that are afraid right now. Let me encourage you that God has not forgotten any of us. I believe God is setting us up for greatness. If you have ever produced olive oil, the only way to get the oil out of the olive it to press the olive on all sides. That is what 2020 has been for the Church, our neighborhoods and each of us individually. We are being pressed to get something of value out of us.

Don’t be like the prey in the wild where we allow ourselves to be separated from the herd, but let us fall on our face before God and pray for our nation, family and communities. Now is the time to stick together and be the friend or neighbor that our community so desperately needs.