I wrote this for a Cambodian new years celebration that I was invited to, and I thought that I might as well post it because I think its pretty good.
As we celebrate khmer new year, i am told that cambodia prays to angels to bring blessings and protection for the new year. This is a wonderful sentiment but we are praying to the wrong place. Where we need to be praying is to the Lord God. The sustainer and giver of life. God offers his protection to us for free, he offers protection in this life and protection for when we die. I am going to tell 2 stories about Gods protection and blessing
In the Bible There was once a young man named daniel, and he was a good man, one that loved God and followed his commands. Daniel was an advisor to a powerful king. One day some men who didnt like daniel plotted a way to get daniel killed. They said let us tell the king that people should only pray to you, and make praying to any other god illegal. And the king thought this was a great idea. So the law was changed. Now daniel prayed to God everyday at the same time, and the bad men knew this. So they waited until it was time for daniel to pray they arrested him. And had him thrown into a den of hungry lions. The king was saddened because he liked daniel alot. So the morning after they threw him in the lions den, he went and checked on daniel, to see if he was still alive. When he got there he called to daniel and said, daniel can you hear me? And from the pit daniel called back and said yes, and not a hair on my head has been injured, for the lord god has put his protection on me” the king was overjoyed and he said to the kingdom, let us all worship the god of Daniel, for he truly is the lord God.
So daniel experienced God’s protection in a very real and physical way, now let me tell you a story about God’s blessings
These was one a young boy who loved to run, he ran track with all his friends and was very good at it. And he was happy. But one day an accident caused him to break his leg very badly. His parents rushed him to the hospital where he had surgery. The boy was scared, he was afraid that something might go wrong. The doctors told him he would never be able to walk right again, this made the boy very sad, he loved running. He wondered why this had happened. For a while he was in a wheelchair and then crutches and he got used to not being able to walk right. Then the doctors sais he needsd another surgery because his leg had started to heal wrong. So another surgery happened and more crutches and more metal in his leg. Through the next 6 months he did physical therapy, and something began to change, God was working. He had been working, he wanted the boy to ask for help, to follow him, and the boy did, the doctors had no idea how to explain it, his parents called it a miracle, his leg started to get better, by the end of physical therapy it wasnt just healed, it worked better than before. The boy was able to go back to running, and he knew who made it possible.
That boy is me. You can see the scars on my legs and hip if you would like, God provided blessing for me, he healed me of a life changing injury. And all he asks in return is that we follow him.
Gods blessings take many forms, it could be joy, it could be a peace not of ourselves, it could be something physical like food or clothing. So in this new year, lets look to God for protection and blessings. For he is the giver of all things good.
