The meaning of marriage, the model of marriage, is found in Christ and His church. Therefore, there is meaning for us all. For struggling marriages, for singles, for the church.

The doctrine of God’s providence, made gloriously clear in the gospel of Christ, is for us to hold in our minds and hearts when life moves beneath us - when life is hard. Providence makes a huge difference to every detail of life.

For all who weep, grieve and visit cemeteries of loved ones, in the same way humans have done since that first funeral of Abel…we have hope we can see – even if through bleary-eyed tears.

For one day in human history, the Risen Jesus will come again, and he will empty the cemeteries.

Everything could change for you, because of Jesus. For the answer to all our sin, guilt and shame is hearing and believing Jesus himself when he says, “It is finished.”

This is the pattern of the salvation. Suffering, then glory. It’s like that phrase from the Reformation city of Geneva, where John Calvin was.

It’s chiseled into the Reformation wall, and you’ll have to excuse my Latin:

post tenebras lux, “After darkness, light”.

For the Reformers, for us as a Reformed Church, this phrase about is hope after hardship. This is the joy of Reformed theology, a pastoral theology that is deeply grounded in the grit of suffering.

Anyone can welcome by having the right skillset, but welcoming actually gets real when the Lord has us welcome those who have hurt us. This is what is before us in Genesis 45 – 47.

A lot of heartaches in this life that are hard to treat are those of fractures in families, ruptures in relationships. The kind of heartaches that happen inside due to irreconcilable differences, or at their worst, unrepentant sin we show toward others.

Providence often works in that quiet querying, eerie silence. But the God who rules dreams, prisons, kings, and famines…
is the same God who rules your life.

Judah starts recovering his humanity in repentance and we see him mature to be more like the man he needs to be, like Jesus eventually.

"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace; behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face." ~ William Cowper

Providence through People with Problems (Genesis 37:1-11)

Rejecting God = Living a Lie (Psalm 14)

Worshipping in Abandonment and Despair (Psalm 13)

Where Do You Put Your Trust? (Psalm 11)

Contrast, Purity, and Trust (Psalm 12)

Peace in a Peaceless World (Psalm 46)

Treasure in Christ (Colossians 2:1-5)

“We all have spiritual leprosy. We all are spiritually paralysed by our sin. We all are sick, that’s why we need Christmas. I am praying, that you will look into life with Jesus this New Year, and that you will truly have a Happy New Year!”

Come and adore Him, who frees us from our sin.

Do you see how he nourishes you in the wilderness of waiting, this Christmas? It’s not by bread alone…nor by chicken, prawns or whatever you eat on December 25th.

It’s better, it nourishes you forever.

It’s feasting on being fed his word, in the gospel, that comes from the mouth of God, and is preached to your heart, entering your spiritual bloodstream, nourishing your soul.