Category Archives: assurance

A constant spirit…

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Who would true valour see, let him come hither; one here will constant be, come wind, come weather; there’s no discouragement shall make him once relent his first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round with dismal stories, do but themselves confound; his strength the more is. No lion can him fright, he’ll with a giant fight, but he will have a right to be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend can daunt his spirit; he knows he at the end shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away; he’ll fear not what men say; he’ll labour night and day to be a pilgrim.

(J.Bunyan, 1628-88)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

(Eph 6.10-18)

Earlier this week, I was privileged to stand at the graveside of a man who had served his country, his community and his saviour with grace, constancy and love for many, many years. We remembered and gave thanks for his life, and reflected with gladness that now he is in the nearer presence of Jesus, and one day, we shall be with him in the new creation, when there will be no more farewells..

He was a man who could have come straight from Bunyan’s great classic of Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress, and I would have called him Mr Standfast: a man who, once his loyalty was given, remained constant and unwearying in his duty. Like his loyalty to his country as a soldier, his loyalty to Jesus Christ as Saviour was unswerving, once given. He was blest with the happy temperament which never questions a promise, never considers whether it was really meant. Having committed himself to Jesus, he lived simply and contentedly trusting that Jesus would keep the promises  on which faith depends, and therefore there was nothing more to be anxious about!

We sang Bunyan’s great pilgrim hymn at the little church above the loch in Wester Ross, and I remembered my father who shared that same happy temper of complete assurance, and reliance on Jesus to be faithful. How blest we are when such saints come into our lives, reminding us that childlike simplicity is what we are called to, a foundational trust on which a rich and varied life can be built. Some of us are given rather less comfortable temperaments, and suffer from continual questionings, wrestlings and envy of those more stable characters! But the Lord knows each one, and our strivings, weaknesses and strengths are allotted to us as part of his great plan – he makes no mistakes. 

As a soldier, my old friend would have understood exactly where Paul’s exhortation to the saints at Ephesus was coming from – the need to be prepared, to stand firm in who and what we are, with the armour of God’s gifting and also the supreme confidence which comes from knowing we are under the leadership of a victorious captain. Even those of us who lack such constancy can grow steadier as we let the truth of our salvation shape our thinking – the truth of our security and the triumphant return of the Lord at the right time.

Almighty God, Father of our Saviour and victorious captain, Jesus Christ, we pray today for that constant spirit to be our portion. Let us never doubt your promises, but in childlike faith, live by them without fear. 

Let us live to glorify you; to love our neighbours; to exercise our gifts, resources and opportunities to the full in your service – and to enjoy being your beloved, secure and home-coming children. We are pilgrims on your narrow way, Lord God, guard and guide us safely to your arms and our eternal home. For Jesus’ sake we pray, Amen.

He has come… He will come again!

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Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him..

(Lk 12.35,36&40)

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples….. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the shroud that covers all nations; he will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

(Isa 25.6-8)

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

(Isa 61.1-3)

I saw heaven open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.. and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him.. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

(Rev 19.11-16)

The now and the not yet… the here and the hereafter.. the promise and its fulfilment.. as we learn the deep rhythms of the biblical narrative, we find this pattern of waiting recurs again and again. God speaks, and calls his people to trust his word will be fulfilled, to model their lives on that basis and live by its truth. As we celebrate the birth of the Messiah, the fulfilment of age-old expectations and prophecies, we also look forward to the second coming of that Messiah, to wind up the story and to exercise his role as judge, having already fulfilled his calling as sacrifice.

He came as a helpless infant to demonstrate God’s love to a broken world, to woo all and any who would respond in faith, and to welcome them into the loving embrace of the Father. He will come again and then it will not be as the wooer, but as the executioner of justice, and those who reject his love, will meet the implacable wrath which human rebellion and pride has brought upon itself.

Jesus warned his disciples against speculation about his return, instead urging them to be about their Father’s business in a spirit of glad service, and hopeful anticipation. We are not to disengage ourselves from living in order to wait, but rather to fill up our days by using all that we are given (the gift of our days, our resources and opportunities), for His glory and for the building up of the kingdom. We need not fear his return, since we are confident that judgement will not fall upon us, who are covered by the sacrifice of the Lamb. We can look forward for ourselves with joy and hope – but many others do not have that hope or confidence, and what faces them is eternal separation from God.

We are tasked by the Lord to keep on offering the gospel to them, lovingly copying His example of servanthood, and pointing them to Jesus.  He has given us so much to do – to enjoy the good gifts which are poured out upon us daily, and by our thankfulness to point others to the Giver; to delight in the Lord who has saved us and in the love which we now know; to serve our fellow believers with steady and patient commitment; to learn what love looks like in each and every situation, and to do it.

Sovereign Lord, let us your servants be renewed in our confident expectation of your return. May that expectation produce in us not mere endurance, but a glad and active embrace of the work to which you have called us. 

We worship with the shepherds, with Mary and Joseph, at the side of the infant Son of God, and we also await with eager expectation his return in glory and might, to finally put an end to all his opponents, and to make all things new. Come, Lord, come soon! Amen

A season of fruitfulness…?

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Blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on it they meditate day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever they do prospers.

(Ps 1.1-3)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

(Gal 5.22-26)

Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

(Rom 5.1-5)

As a perfectionist by nature, and one who is preoccupied in any situation of choice by the need to find the ‘right thing’ to do, I do not find it easy to accept my own faults and failings, nor to ‘bear with’ myself, in the prospect of a life which must inevitably be dogged by mistakes until the Lord chooses to take me home! It was therefore very good to be reminded by a friend that the fruit of God’s indwelling of us by his spirit is as natural as that apple trees should bear apples, and chestnut trees, chestnuts.. it just happens!! And what marvellous fruit it is too, how delicious, satisfying, nourishing and generous in the blessing it brings.

The idea, which is expressed beautifully in the opening of the Psalter, is also picked up by Isaiah, in his closing words to the Lord’s people, as he promises that the Lord’s anointed one, the Servant, the Priest King, will proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and bring comfort, justice and rejoicing to all who trust in him. The Lord’s people will be “called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour”(Isa 61.3)

It isn’t necessary to push the picture much further to see just how deeply reassuring it is to trust these words of our God, to accept that they are true and can be relied upon as a right way of understanding how he works in us. The point is that it is HIS work, not ours. A tree does not choose where it is planted, it simply puts out roots and takes in the nourishment available, responding to the climate and exposure around it and growing accordingly. We are assured by scripture that those who love the Lord and are loved by him are never carelessly planted, there is always purpose and care and intention for a glorious outcome which will display God’s splendour.

I am made in God’s image, and re-created by faith in the image of Jesus as the Spirit dwells within me and I am made new. I am formed for fruitfulness, and although I may experience traumas, droughts and storms, yet the Lord will take care that His work in me through these things is for his glory and my blessing. I can rest and focus on remaining close to him, on remaining trustful, and accepting what He decrees should come to me. As I do so, as I walk by the Spirit through the path laid before me, so the Lord is working to bring forth fruit – whether I am aware of it or not!

Each unique believer will bear the same Spirit’s fruit; and that fruit will be their own particular expression of the Spirit’s work, testifying to God’s faithfulness and power, and also blessing both the individual believer, but also the community within which they exist. Patience for me may not look the same as it does for others, but it will be God’s fruit in my life, the result of his work in the particular character and circumstances which He has appointed to me.

I don’t mind whether I bear apples, pears, hard nuts or soft peaches… only make me fruitful Lord, and help me to trust that work of your Spirit in me and not to fret or strive as if the work depended upon me! 

The way of faithfulness…

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But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

(Rom 8.25-28)

I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word. I gave an account of my ways and you answered me; teach me your decrees. Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds. My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word. Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.

(Ps 119. 25-32)

As I was reading Psalm 119 this morning, that phrase, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness” jumped out at me. For all our human weakness and frailty, our vacillating desires and wavering commitment, those who follow Jesus will affirm again and again that this is their choice – to be faithful to the Lord whose faithfulness to us is without limit and has powerfully delivered us from death to life. We long to live according to his word, that he might be glorified in and through us, and that others may join his kingdom of freedom, love and peace. No matter what storms may sweep through our lives, this remains our desire – to walk in the way of faithfulness and not to give up!

I have spoken recently with friends who are facing very challenging seasons, having been laid aside through illness and prolonged medical treatments, they seem to be in some kind of limbo. Their lives have changed out of all recognition and they must live from day to day, not planning far ahead and fighting to remain joyful and peaceful in the strange paths which now they tread. It is perfectly natural that their spirits should be low, and their energy drained so that every day can be an effort to overcome weariness.  The psalmist speaks from such a place of suffering, and his response is to cling fast to truth and to God’s word as it reveals the divine character; calling on the Lord to do for him what is needed, because the whole situation is plain before God. God can bring life from death; can give strength to the weak and understanding and revelation to the confused and despairing.

In such situations, we can find it hard to pray, but again, we have here a guide – to put into our own words an account of our situation and to speak to our Father about our need and desire to remain faithful to Him in the midst of it. Paul assures us that in those situations, we have the power of the Holy Spirit ministering within us and interceding for us before God. It doesn’t matter if we are baffled, so long as we come to the throne room of our Father with our confusion and ask his aid. The Spirit knows God’s heart and plans, and can speak for us.

It is indeed ‘wonderful’ , in the sense of being quite baffling to our minds, that God should be working out his good purposes through our trials, and yet we believe that this is so. The whole of scripture testifies to the providential power of the Almighty to turn darkness into light and suffering into triumph, and always according to his great plan for salvation and the establishment of his kingdom.

Dear loving Father, I pray today for all those who feel that they are wasting time by being ill; who miss their former way of life and wonder what this season of illness is for. May they tell you their story, coming in the trusting attitude of children to the one whom they know can help, and whose motives are for their good.

In this season, Lord bless your servants who have chosen the way of faithfulness, and show them Your faithfulness! Reveal to them opportunities to serve and glorify you in the path which they now walk; enrich them with new delight in your word and understanding of your ways; give them joys in the smallest and simplest pleasures and daily love-gifts from your treasury, each chosen to touch them particularly since you know them so well. Honour their daily choice to walk in faith, and bring them peace. For your glory and their blessing I pray, Amen.

Holy… me?!

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“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”

(Lev 11.44)

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.

(Ps 29.2)

Your statutes, Lord, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.

(Ps 93.5)

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds and his righteousness endures for ever.. the Lord is gracious and compassionate.. he remembers his covenant for ever… The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy.. enacted in faithfulness and uprightness… holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…

(Ps 111, extracts)

Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands… Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who … conduct their affairs with justice. Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered for ever.. their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord… their righteousness endures for ever..

(Ps 112, extracts)

… so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.. now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.. the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom 6.19,22&23)

In [Christ] the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

(Eph 2.21&22)

It is only recently that I have properly come to understand that the word ‘holy’ is almost a synonym for God – meaning as it does the otherwise indefinable ‘otherness’ of the divine in all his glory, power and purity. Psalm 111 expresses many of those qualities in lyric power. So when the bible talks about holiness adorning God’s house, it is in the sense that a person’s home expresses their character, their taste and interests.. Ultimately, the word can only be applied to God, but the bible narrative is clear that in relation to God both people and things may be described as holy – meaning that they are to be regarded as his peculiar property, and again, designed to express and mirror his unique qualities. Again, in Psalm 112, we find a description of those who reflect God’s nature, the same words being used of them as were previously used of God.

God made humankind in his likeness, made them holy, to reflect and express his nature as they exercised stewardship in his name in creation. After their rebellion, God’s purpose in all the great story of redemption and re-creation is to restore that god-likeness or holiness in humankind, so that we might return to the joy and fullness of life for which we are designed. Jesus has accomplished the victory which makes holiness the birth-right and inheritance of all who trust in his saving power, and we may be sure that God who has begun this work of transformation will not rest until it is complete.

Holiness therefore is not something to be afraid of as somehow depriving us of opportunities or enjoyment of life. Holiness is the likeness of God as revealed in us by the work of the Spirit, as our minds and hearts are transformed in the freedom which Jesus has won for us. Those qualities when blossoming within the church as a dwelling place of God by his Spirit are indeed an adornment, a beautiful expression of the master of the house and an attraction to all who would find peace, hope and new life.

You, O Lord, are holy – what a tiny word to encompass and denote all that is your glory and character, your essential qualities. To become holy is to be gaining in those qualities – reflecting in our human sphere those aspects of your character which are within our scope to express.

We are your people, made in your likeness, created to thrive in so far as we reflect you and fulfil your purpose for us. You have set eternity in our hearts and endowed us with the life of the age to come where your holiness will be perfectly mirrored in our sinlessness. Lord, grant us even now to grow in this godli(ke)ness, this set-apartness, which is your nature and our destiny, that we might be a clear and winning witness to you in our day and generation. Thank you, that because of Jesus’ victory, we know that you will not cease to work in us to this end; let us then be joyful and praise you. Holy and awesome is your name, God our Lord!

The gap….

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When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.. But as for me, it is good to be near God.

(Ps 73.21-28)

There is a gulf between the truth that I know, and my daily experience of living. There is a gap between what the bible teaches is true about me as a beloved child of God, with every reason to rejoice daily and to live in confident freedom; and the actual lived failure to find hope, to experience joy, to break out of a pessimistic and apathetic attitude to life. I can completely identify with the psalmist, describing a grieving and bitter heart…

I feel shame that the truth cannot banish the feelings, cannot move my perception of reality from my mind to my heart and emotions. I feel shame that I can’t seem to live in joy and peace and freedom, but am as one removed, behind a shield which hems me in with weariness and hopelessness, so that I long to be away from this body of death and sphere of failure. How can I as a believer even think this way? The truth exists to set me free, so how can I be in such bondage? There is a struggle, a desperate fight to regain courage, to find hope, to connect again with joy. And I am so tired of fighting every day…

Is it a passing phase? I hope so, but nonetheless intense and real while it lasts, so how do I deal with it as a believer? What is my witness while I endure? I cannot lie, I must speak truth and this is the reality today – the gap between what my faith tells me is true, and how I feel seems so deep and so wide, I cannot cross it.

I have been here before, and hold on to the assurance that it has passed and will pass again. But meantime, I am struggling each day to find motivation, to want to serve, to want to do anything at all – the weariness is real. I know I should preach truth to myself, should exhort and encourage but it feels pointless, as though I am cut off from God’s power. His strength does not fail, nor does his loving kindness. And yet.. my heart is failing, my spirit is so weary of trying and so ashamed of failing again, and again, and again..

Grant me grace, God grant me grace, for in you I have taken shelter, and in your wing’s shadow do I shelter until disasters pass.

I call out to God the most high, to [him] who requites me. He will send from the heavens and rescue me.. God will send his steadfast kindness…

My heart is firm, O God, my heart is firm. Let me sing and hymn. Awake, O lyre, awake, O lute and lyre. I would awaken the dawn. Let me acclaim you among the peoples, Master. Let me hymn you among the nations.

For your kindness is great to the heavens, and to the skies your steadfast truth.

(Ps 57, R Alter translation)

Father, consider your daughter today in her distress, shame and weariness. Have mercy on her, and come in tender reassurance. You know her heart is troubled by this season of apathy and weariness; troubled by the lack of joy and motivation; so deeply disappointed in her failures. 

Send from your throne my Father, send your Spirit in power to set me free to walk in peace again, to know joy and an appetite for living in spite of all my failures and shortcomings. O Father, help me to believe in grace and forgiveness in such a way that they make a difference to my life and I can live confident in you, witnessing to your goodness, love and transforming power.

In the name of my beloved Lord Jesus, who died so that I might be set free from bondage, might live to know and love and be loved, Amen.

Outlook.. changeable!

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He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

(Ps 103. 10-22)

There is a child in my heart; a child who fears to grieve those she loves, who is deeply ashamed to cause trouble or hurt, who longs to see those around her happy and untroubled. The child often apologises for things that may not be her fault, in an attempt to smooth over discomfort. The child is terrified to express desires, or make choices which may cause discomfort or inconvenience to others. The child is often tired of her failings, and of not managing to grow out of them. The child struggles to see any difference between her failings, and herself – often wishing that she herself were out of the way, so that the lives of those she loves could run without the continual irritant of her faults. The child sees little value in her own contribution to life, except as far as she can please others and make their lives better.

The adult in my heart knows that she is made by God for a purpose; made to know and be known by him; made to serve and delight in him; made to delight in the world, in other people, and all the good gifts which he gives day by day. The adult knows that she is loved, saved, guarded by eternal arms and assured of an inheritance in the world to come. The adult knows that she is forgiven, and forgiven again; and that the love that matters will never fail her and knows her heart’s desire is to be made pure.

The voices of the child and the adult are vying for my attention; first one, and then the other speaks loudest, and as a result I am in a pitiable state of turmoil, at the mercy of some deep, destabilising emotions. The outlook changes not only from day-to-day, but almost minute to minute, and it is very tiring. In such a condition, I do my utmost to cling to the rock which is my Saviour’s love and saving power; his settled disposition for my eternal good. I seek the discipline to recall and meditate on God’s promises to me, promises to forgive, and to transform. I seek ways to lift my head up out of my own mess to look at the great big story of His-story – of God making His kingdom come, and His will be done. In that gloriously wide perspective there lies the possibility of renewed confidence, of peace and the conviction that the battle is won, and I walk under the victor’s flag. The struggles which beset me are put into their place and revealed as skirmishes with the enemy of God’s children, who is using my weakness to draw me away from my Saviour, and bind me in a dungeon of self-pity and despair.

I WILL NOT be bound; I WILL claim the victory which Christ has won over all the powers of evil in this world. And this I do because by the Spirit, God will do it for me! He does not change, when I do. He does not weaken or get distracted. Let my soul praise the Lord!

Heavenly Father, Almighty and Everlasting, whose faithful love never fails, and whose purposes are sure of being fulfilled, I praise and thank you for your steadfastness. You know that I am struggling in these days, fighting a wall of noise which accuses me of failure, stirring up every old shameful act, and every memory of a good deed not done. Have mercy on me, you know that I am but dust. In your fathomless compassion, restore in me by your Spirit, the faith, hope and upwelling gratitude which should be the heartbeat and rhythm of my life as your child. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

Resting in His care..

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Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!.. who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice?

Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? …. Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jar of the heavens?

(Job 38.4-7,12-13,16-17,28-29,34-35, 37)

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Ps 8)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!.. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

(1 Jn 3.1&4.9)

It has been a cold, wet spring, but I walked today in woods full of the song of small birds, a veil of fresh green covers the trees, the air was warm and the light strong to promote growth and life. I rejoiced in the signs of change, the reassurance that the rhythms which God has created continue at his command, and our world remains under his care.

For all power rests in his hands – no matter what the turmoil and tribulation of our planet might suggest – and we are the object of his love and affection; this beautiful world was made for us to care for in his name. It should be our joy and delight to live as careful stewards of all that is… I am so thankful for the freedom, health and strength to spend time outside in the countryside, appreciating the marvellous handiwork of our great God, and sharing my joy with him. I am encouraged in my spirit as I consider the detail of design, the boundless creativity, the heart-nourishing beauty, and thus my Lord and God sustains and refreshes me.

These past few months have been a testing season for me in many ways – with uncertainty over employment, over where we might live, over the jobs, health, and residence of family and friends. I have not found it easy to wait for the Lord to answer, not always appreciated the answers which he has given. I have been reminded again and again, that it is not I who orders all things for good, but God himself, and it is my part to trust him.

Many questions remain to be answered, with issues unresolved, uncertainties being prolonged; but I was reminded again today that I rest in the hands of the Lord, the maker and sustainer of all things, and that he calls me to trust in his love, wisdom and purposes in all that happens to me.

Lord God, when you spoke to Job of your power and the majesty of your creation, you did not answer his questions.. but you answered his spirit in its agony, and he found rest and peace as he worshipped you. Let me also rest in you; handing over my burdens to you and choosing to trust, praise and glorify you as much in uncertainty and confusion as in times of clarity, certainty and direction. Thank you, that the One who knows and loves me is the One who called the stars into being, and his power and love will never fail me! 

Never abandoned or forsaken

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Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

(Ps 139.7-12)

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

(Dan 3.16-18)

But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze..”

(Isa 43.1&2)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him… Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom 8.25,35,37-39)

I suspect that I have written about this before, but it bears repeating…. as God’s beloved children, those redeemed by his son and alive with his divine life, we are never left alone to face anything that may happen to us… never.

The importance of grasping this was brought home to me again recently during a bible study discussion of the desolation of those who feel that God has shut them out, that there is silence and no sense of his presence with them. That experience is very real indeed, and can be utterly devastating to the confidence of a believer… not only are bad things happening, but the one source of comfort has become mute, and there is no perception of love, or even interest in their plight. What can we do?

God has asked his people throughout history to trust him in the darkness; to trust him for the improbable and the impossible; to trust him and praise him when things go wrong, and never to believe the lies which have been told from the beginning – that God doesn’t really care for our good, that his ways are not loving, and that we must look out for ourselves. God has called his people to believe that there is something worse than all the troubles which life may bring – and that is to choose to live without him, to deny ourselves the hope of glory and eternal joy, to refuse to believe that there can be a life worth dying for.

When, by faith and the blessed strengthening of the Spirit of God within us, we hold on to God’s promises in the face of severe trials, we defy the darkness and the evil; we claim God’s goodness and our inheritance as his children, and affirm that what lies ahead of us is worth infinitely more than anything we may lose here. This is what Stephen the martyr did; this is what Shadrach and his companions did, and what Paul stated as he endured so much suffering; this is the example that Jesus set for us – enduring the cross, utterly focussed on the good things which God had planned for him, trusting God utterly with everything.

All the promises, all the stories, are there to encourage us in the face of divine silence and apparent inaction. We are to learn that when we feel alone and forsaken, it is never true; when everything seems to be going wrong and we can’t see the good outcome we desire, it isn’t the end. God keeps his children safe as they cling to him in spite of silence and desolation; keeps them through devastating troubles and unspeakable pain; and through death itself he brings them into his nearer presence, prepared for glory and unimaginable fullness of life.

Friends, when the silence is deafening, and the darkness void of love’s warmth, let us take courage and stand firm: praying, lamenting, praising and living as though the promises were true, taking God at his word and knowing that we are not alone.

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)