「御言葉はあなたを照らす灯」 二月第三主日礼拝 宣教 2025年2月16日
詩編 Psalms 119編105節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. I am so thankful to be able to offer praise and worship together with you this morning in the midst of grace. The cold wave will return the day after tomorrow, and the forecast is for much colder days in Kanto as well, but the Sea of Japan side from Hokkaido to western Japan is predicted to have heavy snowfall again. We pray that those living on the Sea of Japan side, including those living in the disaster area of Noto Peninsula, will be protected. Mr. and Mrs. K, who live in Joetsu, Niigata, doing well, but let us remember them in our prayers.
Well, for the first half of this morning’s service, we offered praise with the sound recorded by my daughter before her night shift. After the message, she said she would rush back to the church to play the piano, and I think she is on her way to the church now. I told her it was okay to use the recorded sound, but she said, “I will try my best to come and play the piano,” and left for work. I believe her words. Although she is my daughter, I am impressed by her enthusiasm and thankful to God for giving her such a strong desire.
When I became pastor 26 years ago, we always had four pianists for worship services, so we used to sing praises to the accompaniment of a piano and organ duet. However, since there were times when there was only one pianist, we invited a music minister 14 years ago. Currently, two pianists lead the weekly worship services, but there are more and more cases where it becomes difficult to secure time for practice due to work on Sundays or poor health. We will probably have more opportunities to offer praise with recorded music in the future, but let us give thanks for the dedicated work of our two pianists whom the Lord, in His mercy, has provided, pray for their blessing, and at the same time, pray for new pianists, volunteers to be given to us.
There is one more appeal: on March 9, three weeks from now, we will offer the Sunday service as “Remembering 3.11” to remember the three churches and their ministries in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures that were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 14 years ago. In the weekly bulletin, there is a section titled “Tohoku Support” in the offering report. This offering is to support these three churches. As of the third Lord’s Day of February last year, over 100,000 yen had been given, but this year, not even one-third of that amount has been collected. In the midst of rising prices, our lives are also in a difficult situation, but the churches in rural areas, where the aging of the population and the rapid outflow of population cannot be halted, are in an even more difficult situation than we are.
The pastor and his wife of the church in Fukushima suddenly became ill and resigned around last summer, and their successor was recently appointed. The pastor of the church in Miyagi is suffering from heart disease, we were told at a recent meeting. The churches in Iwate are a very small flock. We would be grateful if you could remember to pray for them starting today and place your generosity in the wooden box on the book box before entering the chapel. We would greatly appreciate it if you could remember and pray that our kindness will give the churches in Tohoku the reassurance that they are not forgotten, that they are being prayed for, and that they will be greatly encouraged.
Now, this month, we are listening together to God’s speaking to us with the key word “God’s Word”. This morning, we hope to listen to God’s gentle words from the famous Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is the light of my path, a lamp to light my way.” Some of you may love this verse.
The Psalms is a compilation of 150 psalms, the longest of which is Psalm 119, with 176 verses. It is in Hebrew alphabetical order, with 22 paragraphs of 8 verses each. But while the central theme is “God’s Word,” there are diverse sub-themes in each paragraph. The theme of the “Nun” paragraph in verses 105-112, which you will hear with us this morning, is “The Word of God guides me.”
In the case of the Israelites listening and obeying together as a nation, the subject would be “we” in the plural, but in Psalm 119, the subject is “I” in the singular. In other words, the emphasis is on each individual to face God seriously, listen to His Word carefully, and obey it responsibly before listening and obeying as a nation. It is true that we also need to listen to the Word at the national, church, and family level, but first of all, I believe that God demands that each of us listen to and obey the Word on a daily basis. We need to listen on a more personal level.
In Psalm 119, the psalmist cries out to God in verse 107, “I am greatly despised,” and again in verse 110, “He who opposes the Lord has laid a snare for me”. This tells us that the psalmist was in the midst of darkness and suffering. Even believers who fear God and trust in Him experience unreasonableness and absurd darkness.
We too experience deep darkness in our lives. This darkness can be as follows: being attacked by people to an unreasonable degree, being treated in a way that is impossible, being subjected to unjust pressure, being troubled by relationships, feeling insecure because we have lost our way, mourning and grieving over the loss of something precious, losing everything we have accumulated in an instant, being struck with fear when illness or injury strikes suddenly, experiencing loneliness, being depressed because of irreversible failures, and being unable to see what we are living for or where we are headed.
There are countless people in the disaster areas of Tohoku and Kumamoto who are still recovering, people in the Noto Peninsula who are still living in a state of untouched reconstruction, people who are trapped in their houses and forced to live in inconvenience due to repeated heavy snowfall, people wandering away from their familiar land due to war or conflict, people with young children in their arms who are running away and There are countless elderly people who are unable to escape.
I believe that I and all of you are often find us in the midst of such darkness. To us, God, who is rich in mercy, offers true comfort, encouragement, and hope through His Word. Promises are given. That truth and promise is summed up in verse 105, where the psalmist confesses, “Your Word is the light of my path, a lamp to light my steps.”
I believe there is a long term aspect and a short term aspect to this word. The long-term aspect is faith in God that even though we are going through darkness, the Lord God is always with us, giving us encouragement and hope. The short-term aspect is trust in God that even though we are going through darkness, God is with us at this very moment, giving us comfort and peace. I think I need to speak more clearly.
“Your Word is the light of my path,” the psalmist says of his own faith. “Your Word” is a word given in the context of a long-term walk. “My path” refers to life. Nowadays, it is said that we live for 100 years, and in the 70 to 100 years of our lives, we will pass through various darkness many times.
However, if we see “light” beyond the darkness, we will walk toward that light. This is because light is our hope. If we find the light in total darkness, we will not hesitate to move toward the light. I don’t think anyone would turn their back on the light of hope and head in the opposite direction, or try to go further into the deep darkness.
God has sent us the Word, Jesus Christ, into this world of darkness. This Word leads our way and brings us out of darkness into light. It is the Word of Jesus Christ that allows us to see the light of God’s Kingdom, that continues to give us hope, and that leads us to the light. Therefore, even when we go through hardships, we can trust God and move toward the light. The Word of Jesus Christ is the encouragement and strength that God gives us as we walk through life. Therefore, it is important to listen to Jesus’ words on a daily basis.
The psalmist expresses his trust in God by saying, “Your Word is a lamp to light my steps”. A lamp is a very small light. It is not a light that you can see five or ten meters away in the dark. “My steps” refers to our feet within one meter. It is a very small light, so small that we cannot even see tomorrow or next week. But it is a sure light that lets us see our feet, our “steps” for today.
Life is the accumulation of each day that God gives us. We should be thankful for each day as a day of grace given by God, and walk with Jesus, trusting in the Lord, day after day. The accumulation of these efforts will become a path toward God’s Kingdom and a life filled with grace.
Lastly, Jesus said in the latter half of Matthew 6, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. The hardships of the day are enough for that day alone” and “Seek first and foremost the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” come to mind.
Leave everything that is beyond your control, tomorrow, and life to God, and enjoy this day to the fullest. Once it has passed, it is a precious time that will never return. Let us walk carefully, rejoicing and thanking God for the day in which we are protected and kept alive by His love and mercy. Let us listen to the Word of God with faith and walk toward the light and toward eternity through the Word of God.