Category Archives: honesty

Praying in a broken world

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“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets.. Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame.. the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see.. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

(Dan 9.4-7,14,17-19)

I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard.. While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth.. “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision my lord, and I feel very weak. How can I, your servant talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”

(Dan 10.8-12, 15-19)

I have greatly appreciated recent studies in the book of Daniel, the faithful-in-exile, who served pagan rulers with integrity and always maintained an intimate and obedient relationship with the Almighty God, the Lord of his people Israel. Daniel models so much for us in our own day and age, and even though in the later chapters the book is full of strange visions, yet we can still learn much from them. Above all, we learn that the books of history are open before our God, and nothing takes him by surprise. It is made clear that while this broken world endures, there will be human conflict, evil will continue to manifest itself in many ways and suffering will be widespread. And yet, over and over again, Daniel is shown the final unveiling and prevailing of the eternal kingdom of which he – and we as followers of Jesus – is a member. God wins, and as his precious children, we are already secure in that victory.

Daniel also models how we should be praying for ourselves and others according to God’s word and will; how in the midst of turmoil, we bring our concerns to the Almighty and ask him to do what he has promised – to reveal himself, to extend mercy to sinners through Jesus, to make a people for himself, and ultimately, to reveal his eternal glory. God’s people are called to pray God’s word; recognising God’s sovereignty and submitting with grace and trust to his will but also claiming his promises. We pray not out of our own righteousness, but because God IS always righteous, and can be depended upon in every situation to be good, holy, and true.

It is easy for us to enter into Daniel’s experience of overwhelming distress as we contemplate the mess of our world, and the judgement which humanity is bringing upon itself. Daniel’s visions often shattered him for prolonged periods of time, and it is wonderful to read of the compassion and strength which is extended by the divine messenger to this faithful but traumatised servant. Three times, words of encouragement, tenderness and compassion are spoken over him; three times, he is touched by the divine hand. This speaks deeply to me of my heavenly Father’s concern that the cosmic scale of this battle should not be something which I seek to enter or understand in my own strength. It is the Lord who is waging war against his enemy, a defeated but vengeful, vicious and utterly unscrupulous foe. I can be honest in sharing my fear, helplessness, confusion and distress – God’s compassionate response never fails, and I find peace as I recognise that the Almighty has all in his hand, including me!

Heavenly Father, thank you that you meet my distress with compassion and raise me up to stand in your presence as you speak words of encouragement, wisdom and direction. Thank you that the future of this world is in your hands, and that my task is to follow Daniel’s example: Let me go my way, with your help, until the end of my days – the way you have alloted to me. Let me rest in your faithfulness, not my own understanding or strength. Thank you that, at the end of the days, I will rise with all your saints to receive the inheritance you have prepared for us. Thank you for Jesus, through whom alone all this is done, and to his name be glory, Amen.

On being reminded of one’s weakness..

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“You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you. Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theatre, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to it..”

(Matt 5.48-6.2)

Something relatively trivial happened today, a long-awaited plan to meet a friend fell through due to an error on my part in naming the date. She had arranged her diary to accommodate me on one day, but I was hoping to see her the next day… Two disappointed people, and one with every good reason to be irritated at the other! And my reaction to the discovery that it was my error gave me pause to reflect… Why was I so upset? My friend has (I think) forgiven me and we will manage a short meeting, but I am left with a rather sick feeling and discomfort. I realised that it is because I am rather proud of myself as a friend – as the one who keeps appointments, makes a lot of effort to maintain relationships – and this episode has undermined that good opinion! I have been gently and clearly reminded that I am mortal, frail and as prone to error as my neighbour – there are no grounds for pride here, only gratitude for the kindness and friendship of others who are willing to forgive me.

This small event has also served as a reminder of the larger and more important relationship in my life – with Jesus my Lord, and my Heavenly Father, with whom I live by the Spirit at work in me. I need to guard against the temptation to think well of myself as a believer, to remember that of myself, I could do nothing towards my salvation and that I am utterly dependent on my Father’s love and the Son’s atoning death in order to receive the kindness and forgiveness which I need. I will never deserve God’s goodness, in the same way that I do not deserve the kindness of my friends. But I am so grateful for both!

Some of Jesus’ harshest words were for those who were proud of their spiritual habits, performance and status, whose self-worth derived in large part from being known for their public piety, generosity and diligent attendance at synagogue or temple. Believers are just as vulnerable to this trap, whereby the devil twists what are actually good habits into becoming a source of false pride. When we like to be thought of by others as somehow extra-specially holy, biblically knowledgeable, or prayerful, then we are trapped into performance and base our worth on actions instead of on Christ’s sacrificial death for us.

I am brought back over and over again to the truth that it is only in God’s naming of us as his beloved, redeemed children that we find our significance and self-worth. When I begin to value the opinion of others (and my own opinion of myself), then I am drifting away from my only security, which is in Christ. I want to be kept prayerfully aware of my own weakness in this regard; to keep asking to be cleansed by the Spirit from all false pride in myself and filled instead with gratitude for what I have been made by Christ, and am being enabled daily to do by the Spirit. If there is any pride, then it should be in my Saviour, by whose blood I am bought, and whose life in me is the source of all that is good.

This reliance upon Christ alone also releases me from excessive reaction to my own ongoing weakness. My friend knows my heart and has forgiven me – I am not less in her eyes because of my error. How much more does Jesus know my heart, and forgive my errors! I need not spiral down into self-condemnation after making mistakes, but instead rejoice that my value as a person in God’s sight is unchanged! His hold on me is as firm and tenderly secure as it will ever be, and my experiences of failure or error simply make his love and faithfulness to me even more precious and life-giving. I truly rest in him, I give over the burdens and accept in return the weighty gift of grace.

Hope…

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Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterise us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next….. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do!…. Isaiah’s word: ‘There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse, breaking through the earth and growing tree-tall, tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!’ 

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

(Rom 15.1-13 – selection: The Message)

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

(1Pet 3.13-16)

Jesus commissioned his disciples – and thus all those who would follow him – to go and make disciples, to proclaim that God’s kingdom was near and to call people to saving faith. Do you do that often? I don’t. I am scared of causing offence by speaking about Jesus and his unique position, his claim to be the only means by which we must be saved. I don’t know how to present the need for salvation to people who don’t have any concept of sin. I am scared of getting into arguments and of upsetting those whom I wish to love in Jesus name… I avoid the challenge to be a witness. I am in very real danger of succumbing to the temptation to abandon what God has revealed in scripture about himself and humanity, in order to make the gospel acceptable and attractive.

When it is written down like this, it is clear that this is disobedience to Jesus’ Great Commission; it is to fail in our calling as the Church. And yet, don’t we see it all around us? The pressure to abandon the culturally uncomfortable bits of the bible’s teaching is enormous; the argument that if we just ditch certain doctrines, then the gospel will become madly attractive is insidious… We must resist it, and yet the temptation persists.

In this context, I am encouraged by Paul’s prayer for the believers in Rome – quoted above – and by the picture of human lives so filled to overflowing with divine joy and hope that they shine like lights in the darkness and draw people like moths to a flame. I want that kind of life! I want to be so bright for Jesus that people will ask for a reason for the hope that is within me – not least because if they have asked, then I have full permission to share my own experience of Jesus, my own faith-story, no matter how weird it may sound to their ears! Who knows what God may then do with that story…

This is the hope that drives loving mission, compassionate service, and sustains believers in every trial of life. This is hope in Christ, not in human abilities or innate goodness; it is not arrogant, but humble because it is all Christ’s work which has achieved the solid ground of security we have as believers. It is not mere human optimism, or resilience, but an otherworldly certainty which informs all our choices and values.

O Father God, thank you that you know my weakness and fear; thank you that in Christ, I am strong and when you call me to serve, to witness, to live for you, I can be sure you will enable me in each situation. I pray that you will indeed so fill me with a fire-bright hope that I might shine for Christ my Lord; may I be a channel through which you draw people to consider the claims of Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. In humility, with honesty and also with childlike trust in you, may I live to glorify my Lord and to bear faithful witness to him. Amen.

Living with brokenness

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… I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

(2Cor 12.7-10)

… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

(Phil 4.12&13)

 When I am very weary with hard thought,
And yet the question burns and is not quenched,
My heart grows cool when to remembrance wrought
That thou who know’st the light-born answer sought
Know’st too the dark where the doubt lies entrenched –
Know’st with what seemings I am sore perplexed,
And that with thee I wait, nor needs my soul be vexed.
(George MacDonald: The Diary of an Old Soul, 1905)

Where does it come from, the dangerous and deeply ingrained fallacy which tells us that we are somehow entitled to a life free from pain, disability, mental ill health, relationship stress or breakdown? Any gospel message which tries to convince believers that God intends to make their lives and bodies better in every way on this side of glory, is a lie, and should be robustly challenged. I find the apostle Paul’s experience in this regard extremely encouraging! The great man experienced a very challenging health problem, one which he was convinced God could remove, but instead, God asked Paul to accept this weakness, even to embrace it. And, even as Jesus had done in Gethsemane, Paul said, “not my will, but yours be done”. He models for me what it looks like to come to terms with the particular limitations – of whatever kind – I am called to accept in my life. He accepts, and then chooses to rejoice in the very weakness which he has deplored, because now he sees how God is being glorified through it.

To accept our weaknesses, whatever they are, as God’s appointed calling and then to expect to see him at work through them, is not in any way to deny God’s power to miraculously heal, transform and change any situation. But, it is to come to the proper attitude of submission to a sovereign and almighty God. I am in no position to dictate to God just what is right and best for my life. God is good, all the time and He can deliver his children. When He chooses not to, He is still God and still good, and I am called to trust that he can and will use my weakness, my open wound, for his glory.

I am coming to terms with what I might describe as a faith-wound, a profound weakness which often causes me to stumble and suffer. I have long prayed for deliverance and healing, and what happens is that over and over again, my God strengthens me, and displays his power in my weakness, so that I continue in faith and perseverance, but still wounded.

I want to live with my wounds in humility and acceptance – since God is in NO WAY limited in His work in and through my life by the burdens which He calls me to bear. I am no less equipped for my calling by illness, incapacity, any kind of brokenness, than others who do not share my own particular issues. The glory is all His, because in my weakness, He is strong! If I truly long to exalt God, and to do his will, then I must accept the place and method which he appoints.

Heavenly Father, I praise you because you are good, eternally good, and your love for me is trustworthy. Thank you for helping me to accept the weakness which you call me to bear for your glory. Thank you for all the soul-medicines which you provide to enable me to live with this ailment, and for your faithful keeping of me through pain and turmoil. Thank you that I can offer up my struggles and grief as my sacrifice of praise, and that you use these according to your will and for your glory.

Thank you most of all that I can bear witness that you never leave me alone in my suffering, I am never abandoned to the darkness or imprisoned in silence. In Jesus, I am always in your presence; always gently held; always deeply loved; always completely forgiven. Thank you. Amen

 

 

 

 

When it’s rough…

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Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures for ever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore… Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart..

(Ps 125.1,2&4)

Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy; those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

(Ps 126.4-6)

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for while they sleep he provides for those he loves.

(Ps 127.1-2)

May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children – peace be on Israel.

(Ps 128.5&6)

“A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more…”

(Jer 31.15& Matt 2.18)

As God’s creation, a woman, I know that I am made in his image – I reflect his nature and character in spite of the many ways in which sin has blighted and contorted that image. My experiences as a woman, as a mother, sister, and daughter are places where I gain insight into the nature of God. Many of my emotions are prompts, by which I am moved to pray according to God’s will for the situations around me. My mother-heart is a pale reflection of the passionate, powerful love which God has for his children – and as such, I believe that my pain is also an insight into what it costs for the Almighty to watch his children suffer, to be rejected by them, to know that their choices will cost them dearly. A father will know the pain perhaps in a different way, and that too is a reflection of our great God in his unfathomable richness and depth. I speak only for myself..

And sometimes, I am Rachel… weeping and lamenting for losses which seem unbearable. I have believing friends whose children are astray from the faith in which they were raised, seemingly immune to the love of Christ and resolute in resisting the Spirit. I have believing friends who have lost adult children and young grandchildren to illness and death, who daily have to choose to keep going in the face of unimaginable grief. I have believing friends whose believing children are facing huge challenges and who are struggling to find courage to persevere.

What do God’s believing people do when their lives are assaulted by such storms – when their lives become the storm and there is no hope of relief or abatement? In these circumstances, the blessings which the psalms call down on the heads of God’s faithful people ring hollow, and we resent their apparently easy assumption that faith brings prosperity in health, family and inheritance. In these circumstances, we return to Job on his ash heap; we sit with him and silently acknowledge that God is sovereign, his ways beyond finding out and that we are but dust before him. We follow the psalmist in lamentation for the very real grief and pain, threat and danger which we are seeing and experiencing. And then we follow the psalmist in preaching to himself, in deliberately choosing to consider the God who has revealed himself to us.

We see a covenant-keeping, self-sacrificing, patient, gracious, merciful, generous, powerful and all-knowing Lord. We see Love written large in the words of the prophets, in the ministry of Jesus and ultimately across the Cross itself. We see reason to hope, when the darkest and bleakest day in history becomes the moment when light triumphs completely and for ever over death, sin and evil. If we cannot find a refuge here, then we are truly astray without any guide in a cold and hostile wilderness, and life has no more purpose or reason to be prolonged.

So let us cling on my friends, because the Cross happened, the Resurrection is true. We have a saviour who knows what it is to be human, and what grief and despair can do to us. We have a God who knows that we are frail, and who invites – no, who begs – that we continue to come to him in all our troubles, for ourselves and for others. He promises, not that it will all suddenly become easy, but that He will NEVER leave us to bear it alone.

O Lord, the mystery of your divine purposes mean that we often fall bewildered and grieving in your presence, unable to understand or bear the pain of life, and struggling to hold on to your promises. When those we love are oppressed – by pain, bereavement, unemployment, illness, and despair – we pray for your deliverance and are disappointed if those prayers appear unanswered. It is not simple.. in so many grievous situations where your believing children suffer, we are overwhelmed by the pain and your ways seem utterly obscured. O Lord, you know our frame and what we can bear – spare us, strengthen us, protect our faith and keep us clinging to you when the waves mount high. Truly, we have no hope apart from you! In Jesus’ precious name, we cry to you.. 

  • Image courtesy of Neil Urquhart – with sincere thanks!

Can these dry bones live?

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The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones… bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

Then he said to me, “Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you and you will come to life….. Then you will know that I am the Lord… I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…”

(Ezek 37.1-6&14)

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened… If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

(Lk 11.9,10&13)

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died…. that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again… All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and … he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

(2 Cor 5.14&15, 18-20)

Do you, like me, respond to this command by Jesus to ask, seek and knock by saying… ‘yes Lord, but what about……?’. Perhaps it is just me, with my tendency to see the negative instead of the positive, to focus on the ways that I am not seeing the answers that I want instead of discerning what God is doing.

I am enthralled by the vision of the dry bones coming to life as the word of the Lord is preached to them, and the breath of God, his very Spirit, brings them back from death. I believe that this is a picture of what God does every time a person accepts Christ as their Saviour – they pass from the dry, dusty death which is exile from God and slavery to the ruling powers of this world, into the vivid, spirit-filled and joyous life which is knowing the love of God and fulfilling our place in his plan. The power of the vision is compelling, and motivating – as Paul testifies in his entreaty to the Corinthians not to reject the hope of life which is offered in Christ.

BUT, how many of us have been privileged to witness such transformation? How many of us have prayed for it to happen in the lives of family, friends, work colleagues, members of our community… and seen no change at all? Is this because God’s power is somehow limited? Is it lack of faith on our part, do we fail in perseverance? Surely God is not like some automated vending machine where sufficient input of determined prayer will guarantee the results! But where then does Jesus’ exhortation to persevere in prayer take me?

I have no easy answers to this question, and in honesty I have to confess that at the moment, I am almost apathetic about prayer – the kind of prayer that believes in and hopes for great things to be done; the prayer that keeps on asking, seeking, knocking; the prayer that wrestles with God and will not let go. How can I find the courage and faith to pray like that when I see so many reasons to be hopeless, to lower my expectations as much as possible, to accept the power of sin over so many lives and stop fighting against it?

And so it seems that the dry bones are my own… it is my spirit which is dust-dry and lifeless; my faith which is bowed down into the ground, blind and deaf to God’s work and word. And so I must start with my own heart as I come to God in prayer – prayer as an act of will, a discipline in the teeth of discouragement and weariness, a cry from the heart for renewal and a work of the Spirit in my life so that I may not fail my Saviour. Only God can do this, do I have the strength and faith to keep asking for it?

Lord, have mercy on your child; restore her courage to believe, and strength to live in that faith. May her stumbling efforts at obedience, her dogged attempts to listen and to pray, all these poor rags of discipleship, be objects of your love and compassion. You know how to give good gifts to your children, and you alone know how needy I am. Make these dry bones live, that I might serve you in this place and time, for your glory and in the name of Jesus my Lord, Amen.

If.. such a big little word

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While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

(Lk 5.12&13)

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down, and prayed. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

(Lk 22.39-42)

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

(Jas 4.13-15)

I wonder if you, like me, can identify with the leper in his words to Jesus – “IF you are willing..”? I share the leper’s conviction that Jesus has power to save, to deliver from disease and death. I also share his awareness that it is not for us to dictate to the Sovereign King of all kings, the Ruler of God’s kingdom, the precise ways in which He should exercise that power. It is not for us to grasp every pixel in the big picture, to hold together all the threads of history as it is woven through the lives of millions, across countless thousands of years. We cannot know in detail at any one time just exactly what is best – either for ourselves, our loved ones, or our nation.

If.. is such a little word, but it holds all the dreary and debilitating power of doubt to hold us back from trusting God with all our desires, hopes and fears. We know that down the centuries, God’s children have prayed for peace and had to endure war; they have prayed for rain, and had to watch their children die due to drought; they have prayed for godly leaders, and had to endure persecution, and the authoritarian exercise of power explicitly denying God’s existence. We know from our own experience that faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of Lords and King of Kings does not give us all that we pray for, and we wrestle with disappointment, unanswered questions, crippling grief.

Is God not willing then? Have we misunderstood? I don’t think there are any straightforward responses to this little word, and the massive challenges it raises. But what do we see when Jesus used it? We see an agonised but complete submission to God’s will; a determination to surrender himself to the Love which planned the overturning of human bondage to sin and death, in spite of the price which he would personally pay.

We are called to live as those acutely aware of the frailty of life; of the uncertainty which shrouds our lives even only 24 hours ahead. God asks us to take our hands off the controls (since being ‘in control’ is an illusion in any case), and to let Him be in charge of the world and our lives. We may not always know what God might do in a particular situation – even as the leper was unsure when Jesus came to him that day – but we can always pray for God’s will to be done. We can pray with thanksgiving that in every situation, we have Christ with us and for him to be working in those situations for his glory and our blessing. We can pray for Jesus name to be honoured and for his kingdom to come, heart-by-heart, home-by-home, in our world. We can pray for the Spirit within to motivate and enable us to witness to others by word and deed. We can pray for one another as believers, that we might persevere and grow in our faith, hope and love. We can pray for those who do not believe, that they will repent and return to God before it is too late – since we know that God longs for all his children to know him..

Beloved, let us pray and not lose heart, but, confessing our doubts, bring all our burdens to God, and commit ourselves to submission to his will and obedience to his word. Let unanswered prayer, and especially what look like ‘failed’ prayers bring us quickly to God’s throne in renewed dependence, so that the devil may not render us helpless in despair. Let us pray…

When I feel so useless..

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Declare what is to be, present it – let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is none but me…

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and  carried since your birth. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. 

I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please… What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do… I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendour to Israel.

(Is 45.21; 46.3&4,9&10,13)

“When [our plans] are interrupted, his are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years which seem most useless, or wasted, or unendurable).” (Elisabeth Elliot; 1926-2015)

The sun is splitting the skies, the birds are singing and there is a tangible excitement as spring dances on the edge of our days, with so much light and colour and the promise of more to come.

And I am unwell; confined to the house; moving stiff and carefully; sleeping badly and feeling as though my world has contracted to a tiny space. What will I do with this challenge? Last week, I wrote that our speech and actions should not be determined by our circumstances… and now I am labouring to prove the strength of the Lord in pursuing patience, gentleness and acceptance of his plan for these days.

Such situations are always a good exercise in recognising how our ego likes to continually add up ‘worth-points’, totting up every activity on some invisible register which somehow makes me significant or valued by God. It is humbling when – as now – there is nothing to add up! Will I accept that for the moment, my Lord asks me to embrace inactivity, weakness and discomfort, and in and through those things, to find ways to praise him? There is so much to be thankful for; will I poison those good things by resenting what God has chosen to withhold? And surely that would show clearly that I value the gifts much more than their giver..

So often in these situations, I go to Elisabeth Elliot’s strong spiritual sense – she never pretended to anyone that being a Christian would be a bed of roses, and her uncompromising words brace me, showing me the truth – that my furious rejection of this season of illness is simply a tantrum of self, and a refusal to trust that God is good, and has a right to do as he pleases with his creation. I am not indispensable, and I am loved, saved and accepted not because of what I do, but because of Jesus’ love and death for me.

I have been brought into relationship with the God of creation, the Almighty and eternal One in order that I might share in his great purposes for the kingdom of Jesus. Do I believe that He will complete what He has begun? If I do, then my own part – anything which I can do is a privilege and not a means of earning my place – is entirely up to God to direct, and certainly not up to me to dictate! Pride and self-importance have no place in this relationship, all comes to me as God’s free and loving gift. The challenging and austere words of William Law show me how I can truly glorify the Lord in the trials of this time.. and also show me how very far I am from that state of highest faith and deepest trust.. may the Lord have mercy and sustain me to glorify him in whatever he may decree should lie ahead.

“Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, darkness and desolation, with both thy hands, as a true opportunity and a blessed occasion of dying to self, and entering into a fuller relationship with thy self-denying and suffering saviour.

Look at no inward or outward trouble in any other view, reject every other thought about it: and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in, and fullest resignation to God.” (William Law; 1686-1761)

When it’s far from merry and bright

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The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 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 gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour…. and you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God..

Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

(Isa 61.1-3,6&7)

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

(Lk 1.76-79)

The story at the heart of our celebration of Christmas is not about families round a table, or about friends enjoying a night out. The story is not about comfort and plenty, about noise and colour, making merry and eating fine food. The story is not about prosperity and wealth, or about privilege and ease. The media creates unbearable expectations around Christmas, piling image upon image, until we are swamped by the false story they are selling and telling us. For many, those false and unrealistic stories are creating an agony of isolation, driving people to despair as they see the difference between their lives, and the media’s stories.

I sometimes wish that I could rule the airwaves, and the internet for a day, to give the truth about Christ’s coming a chance to be heard! But each of us in our own lives and communities has the opportunity to do that – to share the message and to be the voice which – like John the Baptist – tells others of the rising sun, the one who comes to shine light in our darkness and to guide our feet into the path of peace.

When you are alone, in pain; when hope is hard to find and the future is bleak – the message of Christmas comes for you to say that you are never alone, that the Lord God who made all things loves you and chose to take on human flesh to show that love.

When you are tasting a bitter cup of disappointed hope, failures and broken dreams – the message of Christmas comes for you to say that the Lord God has plans for you, eternal life in his kingdom where you will know and be known by him. He has glorious things in store for you to know and do and be, and your deepest longings will be satisfied as you commit yourself to him.

When family is a bad word, when your wounds are raw and deep, and there is no sign of reconciliation or flourishing; when those whom you loved best are gone and life is a daily struggle with the effects of their absence, rubbing salt into the already aching places – the message of Christmas comes for you to say that the Lord God has brought you into his family, into a place of love and belonging where you are accepted and welcome as you are. His tenderness is powerful to heal you, and his spirit is strong to change you, and he waits to be there for you in all the places where you most grieve those who are gone…

The heart of the message of Christmas is of God breaking into human darkness; of God’s love refusing to leave us in our lost condition. It is a message of hope for the bleakest situation if we will only receive it, and it is a message we can all share.

O Lord of the lost and lonely, Lord of the broken and despairing, Lord of those whose lives appear perfect but are in fact hollow and bitter: grant your people courage to speak the true message of Christmas, of hope and help and light and love; of stability and of lasting worth given to those in deepest need. May we have strength to resist the media’s message, and discernment to know when and how to share the truth. Thank you, for sending light and healing to our darkness, thank you for Jesus!

Where are you?

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Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

(Gen 3.8-10)

The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert…. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” She answered. then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back… I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”… She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,”

(Gen 15.7-10&13)

Then a voice said to him: “What are you doing here Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”… The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came…. I reserve seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal”…

(1 Kgs 19.13-15&18)

O Lord, you have searched me and you now me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways..

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 1-3,11&12)

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 numbered. so don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

(Matt 10.29-31)

Does God ever lose people? Have you ever wondered just why, in the story of the garden after Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit and are hiding, did God ask where they were? Surely He knew?!

One of the most comforting – and challenging – things that we find about God as revealed in the scriptures is his omniscience, or all-knowingness. We are told that there is absolutely nothing – in any realm of creation, and inside our own minds and hearts – which escapes God’s eye and comprehension. There is nowhere, literally in anything that exists, which is not open to God. Think about that for a moment or two.. it means that when we shut up our shame over sin, or harbour grudges for the hurt done to us by another – we are wasting our efforts because God sees it all. It means that when evil, or good, are being conceived and carried out anywhere, by anyone, God sees it and can perfectly judge the true justice of every situation. Thus we can be both reassured – we are never lost to God – and challenged – since He clearly sees all our actions, thoughts and motivations.

So, I return to my question.. why does God ask where Adam and Eve have got to? Is it to gave them the opportunity to respond with the truth, to tell it like it is and acknowledge that they have messed up and are in big trouble? I think we can all agree that if a person is plainly in trouble, but refusing to accept that reality, then they cannot be helped. A person needs to acknowledge – to confess or call by its true name – their situation in order to be delivered from it.

When God says to you, or to me today, “Where are you?” what will be the answer? Am I at sea, amid great rolling breakers of pain or suffering which are like to swamp me? Then the Lord reminds me that he is greater than all that assails me, and his power is able to hold me until the stilling of the storm.

Am I part of a happy family party, celebrating connection, anniversaries, shared life and varied experiences? Then the Lord reminds me that all good things come from him, the Father of all, and that as I celebrate and give thanks, I give glory to him.

Am I astray amid doubts and weariness, or in a far country spending my life’s riches on those things which my culture and popular wisdom tell me will bring happiness? Then the Lord, when he calls, invites me to recognise the barrenness of my real situation, and to confess that I am hungry and thirsty the water of life, for the bread and wine of the covenant, for the only thing which will truly satisfy me – Jesus.

As I hear my Lord’s voice today, calling to ask where I am, let me be honest and by the help of the Holy Spirit, confess the truth and share my need, no matter how ashamed of it I may be. Jesus has made sure that my home is with him, and when he says that I matter to my heavenly Father, I can believe it. There is no need for any of God’s children to face life alone, He knows where they are all the time and is waiting to be invited to join them.