The best is yet to come

Psalm 118:17-18

“I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.” (v17)

Covid-19 has brought some of you face to face with death, but the Lord delivered you – and now you can recount (proclaim, tell) the deeds of the Lord.  Praise His name.

Yes, when we have been really sick, we feel that He has “disciplined me severely” – He has taught me through this sickness and brought me closer to Him – “but He has not given me over to death.” (v18)   He has been good to us.  When we have normal services again, we will be able to give testimony to God’s deliverance.

The amazing thing about being a Christian is that these verses are true whatever happens, because of the resurrection.  Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

In France, in the 1700s, there was a group of true believers called Huguenots.  They were persecuted and some of them were executed for their faith.  They went to their death declaring Psalm 118, knowing that, “I shall not die, but I shall live, and (in the presence of God face to face in glory) I shall recount the deeds of the Lord!”

The Christian cannot lose: you either live on earth and declare the deeds of the Lord, or you live in glory and declare the deeds of the Lord.