Monthly Archives: January 2024

Uncomfortable reading

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“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.. Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: “‘The Lord will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,'” declares the Lord.

(Jer 25.15,30-31)

The tempter came to [Jesus], and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread,’ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every mouth that comes from the mouth of God,'”

(Matt.4.3&4)

“You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

(Jn 5.39&40)

[Jesus] said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.

(Lk 24.25-27)

..continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

(2Tim 3.14-17)

In recent years, I have been privileged to spend time reading and thinking about Job, Isaiah, and Daniel in local bible study groups. These have been occasions of great blessing, but also very challenging as they bring me face to face with some difficult truths about human life, divine sovereignty, the reality of evil and the facts of suffering.

I am aware that over the years, I must have heard many sermons on these themes, and yet every time I come across another difficult, violent passage like the one quoted above from Jeremiah, I find myself wincing away from it, deeply disturbed by the images conjured up. What am I, a 21st century Christian who enjoys health, peace and freedom, to make of the sheer quantity of bloodshed, wrathful speech, grim forebodings of judgement and general gloom which characterise so much of the Old Testament?

I do not subscribe to the notion that our bible – combining as it does the Hebrew scriptures, the gospels and epistles – actual talks about two different deities. I do not believe that there is a vengeful Old Testament God, and a loving New Testament God. For one thing, there is nowhere that Jesus attempts to distance himself from the Hebrew Scriptures and their portrayal of the God of Israel. This was the only scripture which Jesus knew, and the one from which he drew in explaining his mission, calling and identity to his followers! If there were some deep issues with the Old Testament portrayal of God, the heavenly Father who so loved the world that he sent his son to die, then surely Jesus would have dealt with it?

No, my Lord and Saviour regarded the Hebrew scriptures as the word of God, the source of truth, and the place where all the teaching necessary to prepare his people for his coming had been recorded. I must then follow his lead, and begin from a place of acceptance, trust and willingness to learn – and to accept that my own human understanding is limited!

I want to grow in maturity of faith and understanding, I want to be able to handle the word wisely and not to be afraid of the difficult things, and so I invest in resources, I ask questions, I push myself to try and change lazy habits of thinking. Sometimes it feels like my brain is stuck – but I trust that the Holy Spirit can undo the knots and barriers to comprehension, and that as I continue to approach the word humbly, willing to learn and to face hard things, to hold seeming contradictions together, I will indeed be better equipped to serve my Lord, wherever he may call me.

What am I afraid of?

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The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever.

(Ps 19.9)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

(Ps 111.10)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs,… and they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

(Isa 6.1-5)

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.”

(Matt10.28-31)

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died… we implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

(2Cor 5.11,14&20)

What is it to fear? Why is it that on one hand, we have so many exhortations to ‘fear God’, and on the other, so many instances where God encourages and reassures his children that they are not to be afraid? I think that – like the word ‘love’ – the word ‘fear’, has a range of meanings, and that the idea of a healthy, even liberating fear has got lost for many people – especially as applied to their spiritual lives and relationship to God.

It is a complex topic, too large for a short conversation, but I want to tease out one or two things – if I can! Since the word of God to us includes such a strong message that to fear him is to enter into wisdom, to know freedom and peace, then it must be more than dreading the infliction of pain or loss, because our God is holy, loving, gracious and good – we see in Jesus a generosity of compassion which takes our breath away – why should we be afraid of that?

Paul’s fear of the Lord propelled his mission, driving him on to spread the good news of the salvation and transformation which Jesus offers to all who will accept him – and Paul was no craven, trembling slave of a forbidding divinity, but an exultant apostle, shouting for joy about the love of God! If that is what ‘the fear of the Lord’ can do, then we need not be ashamed of it, but rather pursue it!

As fallen humanity, we dread the approach of purity, light and love, because we have rebelled against it, and shut it out – to have such light shine on us is unbearable as it shows up our poverty and filth, shows how we have squandered our potential on ashes. But, as God’s redeemed children, we approach that purity, worship that power and glory, and tremble to think of grieving the heart of Love – we rightly ‘fear’ to dishonour and disappoint him, to fail to use all we are and have for his glory. This kind of fear is indeed the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowing what it is to be fully human!

When, through faith in Jesus, I am restored to my true calling or vocation – to be God’s image bearer in his creation – I am what I am made to be, and need fear nothing else. My hearing is obedience waiting to spring into action, and nothing has any power to daunt me, because I am utterly secure in my identity as God’s beloved child. I may fear to offend, not because I dread punishment, but because the heart of Love is tender, and I long to honour and imitate it. And even here, I need not ‘fear’ when I fail, because my Lord has forgiven me, accepted me, and my mistakes cannot derail his purposes.

I will not fully live without unhealthy fear until I am made new, but I rejoice to know that God is at work to change me, to loosen the hold of lies on my thinking, and set me free to take courage for each day. He cares for me, what need I care for anything more than delighting to do his will and enjoying what he sends me? As I wrote this blog, the words of this old hymn based on Psalm 34 came to mind, and I share them with you as encouragement today.

Through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and in joy, the praises of my God shall still my heart and tongue employ.

O, make but trial of his love, experience will decide, how blest are they, and only they, who in his truth confide.

Fear him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear; make his service your delight, your wants shall be his care.

(Nahum Tate: 1652-1715)

Just say it….

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“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift…

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life… Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? … But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness… therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Do not judge, or you too will be judged.. How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? .. so in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

 (Matt 5.23&24; 6.25,27,33-7.2,5&12)

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

(Mk 11.25)

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves..

(Phil 2.1-3)

 

I am very conscious of the privileged life which I lead – the health, strength and financial security which are precious gifts in our troubled and unequal world. I am also thankful that I have been spared the anxious temperament, which in spite of so many blessings tends to dread the future and assume the worst.. I thank God for all those who have modelled trust and obedience for me, helping me in turn to leave my future well being in God’s hands and to await his resources for what He chooses to send me.

But, I do worry, I do get anxious… about relationships! It is these which bring me weeping to the Lord in prayer; which leave me weak with fear over some unresolved issue; full of dread about the future consequences of a present trouble. Does Jesus’ command speak to these things? 

We are created by God to thrive in relationships, his gifts to us and a means of growth, encouragement, discipline and deepening faith as well as joy-givers and love-teachers. But in this broken world, these good gifts are tainted by the polluting effects of human sin, and we will never experience them in their full perfection until our life in the new creation begins. Nonetheless, each day we live is within the context of relationships, and that ever-present quality means they are a valid object of our concern, will and love! We are in them now, and while we can’t control their future development, we can always love well in the present.

What does it look like to love well today? Jesus gave us so many ways to do this, and my frequent prayer is to know for each situation just what love looks like, how it should be expressed! I am called to forgive, and to receive forgiveness; to extend grace and comfort; to be slow to judge, and quick to recognise that the small fault in one person is actually much greater in myself; to speak encouragement or even express hurt and ask for change and better understanding; to resolve disagreement as quickly as is within my power and live at peace with all so far as lies with me. All should spring out of love, with the humility that seeks the good of the other as its primary goal, seeking to love more than to be loved. 

In every day, as I navigate my relationships, I have a choice about whether I will demand from others, or seek to give; to parade my needs or seek to minister to theirs. Will I speak love – in whatever way seems right – or will I not? May God give each of us the courage and wisdom to speak love – to say it with flowers, with hugs, with prayers, with words… just say it!

AND when I am aware that things are still not right, but I can’t see anymore that I can do, then I must not be anxious. This is God’s issue ultimately, and I must not let anything – even the most important relationships in my life aside from him – become bigger in my life, more important to me, than Jesus and his kingdom. 

Our God is sovereign over all things, including the messiness of human relationships, and is at work to be glorified and to see his kingdom realised through this as well as every other aspect of our lives. It is not up to me to fix everyone, and I must be humble enough to accept that – even when the consequences are relationships that remain difficult, fragile and even broken. In this too, his strength will be sufficient for my weakness.

Heavenly Father, Loving Saviour, Indwelling Spirit, grant me the humility to recognise that only you can love perfectly, and that I can trust you to deal with the consequences of my failures to love others, and their failures to love me. Be glorified as you demonstrate your grace, transforming power and sustaining divine love in us. Amen

To ease the parting..

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But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”… when you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed… God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body… so it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

(1 Cor 15.35,37&38,42-44,48&49)

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him…. and so we will be with the Lord for ever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

(1Thess 4.13&14,17)

Life is enriched by the people with whom we share it. Each and every single one is equally important in God’s eyes, all of them matter to him and therefore to us. We are made in God’s image to be in relationship, firstly with him and then with one another. Often, we receive God’s gift of love to us through one another; thus also compassion and help, presence and guidance, rebuke and instruction are given from God to his children.

The precious ones, so close that we can’t imagine life without them…

The constant ones, woven closely into our lives and as reliable as the sunrise…

The remote ones, who bring us such joy when we meet – and those meetings are all too rare…

The ones we barely get to know and then have to leave behind, leaving so much unsaid and undiscovered…

The especially gifted, beautiful, able and inspiring ones that we long to know better but can’t…

The ones we haven’t met, but know of – from the past, in the present and the barely glimpsed future…

The words of the scriptures assure all those who trust in God and not in their own goodness, that this longing for connection is not wrong, it is rather an expression of God’s likeness in us. It is part of his great plan of redemption, that all his people should share in his joy by knowing and loving one another. And as those who have been saved through faith in Jesus, we share an amazing future. We can know that we will meet again, never to part, and that when we do, everything will be perfect!

Today I saw a pair of eagles, giving effortless expression of worship, and glorifying God by just being what they are. Their ecstatic soaring was, for me, an illustration of our future, of fearless living with no shadow of imperfection to hold us back, and a supreme contentment in being who and what I am designed to be – fully human, and beloved by God.

God is making all things new, and we are at the centre of his purposes – that we might live with all his people in a perfect world, enjoying it, him and one another as we were always designed to do… with nothing to diminish our joy or inhibit our worship. Our home will be the new earth, where our God dwells with his people as he always planned and laboured through history to achieve.

When I have to part from people now, I don’t need to grieve too much that I may not see them again this side of my mortal body dying… I can rejoice in knowing that we WILL meet and be together again in eternity, sharing the divine life and exalting our Lord together. We will live in this world which we love so dearly and see it made perfect, in bodies that will have been perfected and transformed in ways we can’t begin to imagine, but yet recognisably our unique selves.

This assurance can strengthen us as we persevere in hope, and obedience, and especially it sustains us through loss, bereavement and change. All God’s people will be together – imagine it! All those unfinished conversations, the enjoyment of each unique personality with its gifts and particular ways of reflecting God’s glory. We will have eternity in which to share together, and nothing to make us grieve over parting ever again… thank you Lord, for this great encouragement to us, may we hold fast to you in faith and let the promise be our guiding light.