Shepherd's Corner (August 6, 2025)

Shepherd's Corner August 6, 2025Brian Lee

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“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6)

As I write this, my heart is grateful to the Lord for His grace that has overflowed in the lives of His covenant people, especially in the Children's Ministry. For the past three Sundays, our Children's Ministry—from Kingdom Totz to Kingdom Kids—was blessed with teachers and volunteers who brightly shined. I was fortunate to witness, firsthand, how the little saints of Riverside were being welcomed and nurtured. From the 10 AM devotional with the Lord’s Supper to the presentation before the parents, fun learning stations, and the Bible lessons, I am confident that the children learned that Jesus is our “True North” in all circumstances. Praise the Lord!

Today is Wednesday, and already, my mind is looking forward to the retreat weekend. With the wars, rumors of wars, economic uncertainty, earthquakes (in New Jersey?), and downpours in scales unheard of, we are truly living in the most uncertain time of human history. (Well… each generation may have thought that as well, but only ours is the generation of the internet, which gives us almost instantaneous and global news at our fingertips.) We need certainty more than ever, and we need to look no further than the Bible in our hands, which points us to God.

So, if you’ve doubted whether anything different can happen at this retreat, please re-read Zechariah chapter 1 (which we are reading and meditating on together). Our Heavenly Father had brought Israel back “home” from their captivity, and yet they only saw the ruins and not the Redeemer. If it was their disobedience to God that scattered them earlier, now it was their active forgetting of how gracious and steadfast God’s love is! If we think to ourselves that it will be “just another church event,” then please, let’s rethink that.

I believe God is good and He is up to something great among us. I believe our Heavenly Father desires us to be renewed, refreshed, and revived. So, I am praying for a great awakening this weekend. Even as I write this, there’s a part of me that is critical of myself—“What if nothing special happens this weekend? How will you handle the embarrassment?” To which I am answering, "I’d rather be embarrassed by overexpectation of God than to be apathetic about underexpectation." If I am "embarrassed" because I think God can do all things through Him who gives us strength, then so be it.

So let us come to the retreat not with lowered expectations, but with open hearts, waiting on the God “who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4).

Since ancient times no one has heard,    no ear has perceived,no eye has seen any God besides you,    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

See you soon, Riverside family. Let’s expect great things, not because of what we may bring, but because of God who acts with might and mercy.

In His Grace Alone,

Pastor Brian Lee

P.S. It's never too late to attend the retreat. Don't forget this week's Sunday Service will be livestreamed at 9:30 AM (instead of 11 AM) from the retreat center.