Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
(Ecc 12.13&14)
“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed,, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 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 outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid, you are worth more than any sparrows.
(Matt 10.26-31)
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 must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him… Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.
(Lk 12.35&36, 40, 42&43)
With every passing year, I find myself more moved by our acts of remembrance, this formal and communal acknowledgement of all who have died in defence of their country, and recognition that many who survived yet still pay a terrible price. And I wonder whether with the passing years, each one echoing with the clamour of wars around the world and yet barely touching our lives – except where we personally know those on active service overseas – we are becoming more and more afraid of war itself and all the suffering which it brings.
It is an amazing privilege to live in a land which has been free from conflict for decades, where our children delight in fireworks and the breathtaking displays of aerial fighters, because they have absolutely no associations of fear with those things. Do we give thanks more than once a year for this blessing?
It is also perhaps a perilous state, since – like our relative material prosperity, health and longevity – we begin to think that these things are normal, are our right and proper experience of life in a world which the bible says is profoundly broken. The experience of humanity as a whole, and God’s people in particular down the centuries would caution us against such folly. There have always been famines, plagues, genocide and persecution, wars and rumours of wars; and in the midst of those things, God’s people have rejoiced, prayed, served and found peace. They knew by experience what we struggle to hold onto as a possibility – that God’s promised presence, and the hope of life in the coming new creation is enough to sustain human flourishing in the face of things which to us are overwhelmingly dark.
This world is going to be re-made, one day. We will be at home here in a profound sense which we can only dimly sense – those echoes of a song from a far country, a scent that hints of unspeakable beauty, all the things which make us homesick for a land we have not yet seen but which is promised to us. We were never meant to found our happiness, joy and peace upon the transient blessings of this life, they are simply the bread for the journey which is ours today – and if tomorrow is much darker, more painful and terrible than we can bear to contemplate, then we are summoned by scripture and by all those centuries of saints who have gone before, to trust as they did, and prove that our God is faithful. What we are called to, day-by-day, is faithful obedience to Christ’s call upon our lives, following him in loving our neighbour, serving and praising, and speaking of light and grace and hope to all who will hear us.
O Heavenly Father, I confess again my fearfulness as I contemplate the savagery, the darkness, the despair which permeates our world. I confess that I struggle to hold on to your victory and sovereignty over these things. And how I fear to face the testing of my faith by such trials.
Thank you for the faithfulness of your saints down the years, and from the help we may win from their example of courage in face of suffering, war, want and injustice. Let us, like them, know your enabling when our time of testing comes.
Thank you that you have given us work to do for you today, help us then not to be fearful of tomorrow, but to be like the faithful servant, who was found at their post, doing their job when the master returned. Let holy fear of you, our God, drive out all other fears; let the fathomless love which is ours in Christ nourish and enable us to stand firm in the face of every threat, confident that nothing can separate us from you, no matter what the trial may be.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, whom we serve, and whose coming we long to see, Amen.
