Lord’s Day, Vol. 10 No. 23

(I) Special Thanksgiving Service

We were gathered for a Special Thanksgiving Service last Lord’s Day (29 May 2022) to praise the Lord for sustaining and strengthening His Church in the past two years during the course of the pandemic. We recounted God’s grace and goodness toward the church. Psalm 116 was the text for our meditation to depict the plight of the church during the testing that God has put us through in the past 2 years. This psalm is a personal testimony of God’s goodness experienced by the psalmist in the time of great affliction. 

1 John 4:19 (KJV) We love him, because he first loved us.

He tells us that our faith can sustain us in the severest trials. He expressed his gratitude for God’s deliverance and re-consecrated himself to love the Lord even more for all the good things that he has received from the Lord.

• Our Sorrowful Plight – Prayer (v1-4)
• Our Merciful God – Salvation and Deliverance (v5-11)
• Our Utmost Expression of Thanksgiving – Worship and Praise (v12-19)

• Our Sorrowful Plight – Prayer (v1-4)

¹ I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. ² Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. ³ The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. ⁴ Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 

The psalmist testified that God answers prayer. He has experienced God’s love in his life and he expressed his revived heart to love the Lord even more in the days ahead.

The psalmist speaks of a near-death experience (v3) and its accompanying distress. It is described as hell. And he called upon the Lord who heard his cry.

He described God’s character that he extolled – God is gracious, righteous and merciful! 

• Our Merciful God – Salvation and Deliverance (v5-11)

⁵ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. ⁶ The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low (affliction and trial), and he helped me. ⁷ Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. ⁸For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. ⁹ I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. ¹⁰ I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: ¹¹ I said in my haste, All men are liars (He finds it in vain the help of men – whom shall we trust?)

The “simple” describes a pure mind towards God, honestly keeps the plain ways or commandments of God, is free from dissimulation, and expects salvation from Him alone. [Treasury of David]

Jesus exhorts us in Matthew 11:28-29 (KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

When we are blessed by God, our response must be one of gratefulness. He resolved in his heart to testify of God’s goodness. He knew it is the right thing to do. He says that indeed he will be a servant to repay his Master’s goodness.

God’s deliverance was well said in v8, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” How great is our God!

In our affliction, we are tempted to lose heart and lose faith and blame God. He realized his weakness. May the Lord help us too to serve Him for all that we have received from Him.

• Our Utmost Expression of Thanksgiving – Worship and Praise (v12-19)

¹² What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? ¹³ I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. ¹⁴ I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. ¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.  ¹⁷ I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. ¹⁸ I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people, ¹⁹ In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

We expressed our thanksgiving in wholehearted worship and praise, testifying what the Lord did for us in the past 2 years. 

Psalm 107:22 (KJV) And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Hebrews 13:15 (KJV) By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

All praise to Him. Amen.

(II) Mdm Lim Chor Kheng’s First Church Service

Mdm. Lim Chor Kheng attended the Mandarin Thanksgiving Service on 29 May 2022 in the morning at 10 am. It was her first worship service together with her husband Mr Yew accompanied by their loved ones Mr Leong and Mrs June Leong (Mr Yew is June’s brother).

An ambulance was chartered to bring Mdm. Lim to church, a half-hour journey from her home in Punggol. 

Upon reaching the church, the paramedics checked her blood pressure, heartbeat, and sugar level. “All well, have a blessed service, Mdm.” She would raise her hand to indicate that she was listening and following the service.

Thank God for His grace and guidance. 

Yours lovingly

Pastor Lek Aik Wee