Remembering

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‘When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant. Genesis 9:15.

As I was driving to church in the pouring rain with the sun also shining, I suddenly saw a rainbow suspended right over the building where I was heading. It seemed as if Gods had His protection over the place and would keep us safe.

When we read the above passage in Genesis we realise that it was God also who was doing the remembering. It wasn’t enough for us only to remember, it is God remembrance that we also need. His remembering brings power. We are frail and God knows that right well. When we as humans recall the past, we have guilt and regrets. When God remembers, He remembers His creation and that it was good and His love for us.

So when He saw that creation and mankind were not good, He did something about it. He sent His Son who by dying for our sins, made mankind good again.

So when we see the rainbow, both God and us are doing the remembering and we realise that God has made a promise once again. And we know from experience that God never breaks His promises.

Walking

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‘Then the disciples returned to Jerusalem… a Sabbath Day’s walk from the city.’ Acts 1:12

In the Bible we so often read of Jesus walking with His disciples. At the very beginning of the Bible we read Adam walking with God in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening. The children of Israel walked for 40 years on and off to reach the Promised Land. It was the usual way to get from one place to another in those days. The two disciples walked along the Emmaus road. Elijah walked in the desert and Philip was also walking when he encountered the Ethiopian.

When the history of our period is written, I doubt that walking will be mentioned very much. We don’t have time for it and now we have bikes, cars, trains and planes. This is a pity, there is no time to think, converse or ponder. Our concentration is on steering the bike, driving the car or sleeping on the train and plane.

What opportunities we miss, to walk along side someone to be in conversation with them, to get to know a person or even pray with them or for them. Now we don’t have time to stop and ‘smell the roses.’ We often complain we have no time to stop and think.

God took six days to create the world; He could have done it in one day, or in the blink of a moment. But after each day He stopped and pronounced it good and very good. May we slow down and hear God’s words, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’

Called and Equipped

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We read in Ezekiel that at the age of 30 he was called to take up his role as prophet. ‘I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation.’ It was a call from God that he obediently obeyed. We too are called by God to be His witnesses in the place He has placed us. But Ezekiel was not just called, he was equipped. ‘whether they listen or fail to listen ……. they will know that a prophet has been among them. Ezekiel 2:5. As he was to succeed his father, he had always been trained to fulfil this role. God also equips us to fulfil our role in the extension of His kingdom. He gives us His Bible, the source of His instruction.

We read in Ezekiel that he has to eat the scroll, Ezekiel 2:8 ‘Open your mouth and eat what I will give you.‘ We then note that it was written on both sides, meaning Ezekiel couldn’t add any of his own words. It must all be of God.

We further read that he laboured for 20 years without result. The calling and the ultimate result is of God and not of man. We can’t stop witnessing just because there are no results; the results are up to Him, not us. We are called on only to be obedient.

Who Will Tell Them

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I was saddened to read that there are still 4,490 unreached people groups in the world today not having heard the gospel. I remember hearing a similar statement when I was a teenager. I wonder how different the number is today than it was some seventy years ago.

I have not been called to share the gospel in a distant land, my calling is to share the ‘good news’ with my neighbours and people I meet every day. People so often tell me that they used to go to Sunday School as a child but attending a place of worship as a child doesn’t make them Christians!

As Hudson Taylor said, ‘The Great Commission is not an option to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed. ‘ So where do we go, who do we tell? We can’t just scatter the gospel anywhere, we must go where God wants us. He knows the situations where He can use us. He tells us in Matthew 28:20 ‘I am with you.’ He is the special ingredient, He will be with us. But where? It reminds me of the beginning part of my car registration DKA – Don’t Know Anything. I don’t know anything but He knows everything. Our job is to be obedient.

Nesting Birds

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‘God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.’ 1 Corinthains 10:13

Resentment and unforgiveness can fester in our souls. There are times when we just can’t let go of an injustice. We continue to re-play it in our minds, as if that will put us in the right.. Our lives will be affected if we do not get rid of resentment for if we do not forgive it is us who will suffer. We can be infected by jealousy and envy., both unchristian attitudes which will negatively impact our own lives.

Martin Luther gave a useful quote, ‘you cannot keep the birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building in your hair. ‘ We need to let go but we can’t do it in our own strength, God needs to help us. Paul tells us in his first letter to the Corinthians ‘When you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand under it.’

God is our answer in the time of temptation, He will show us a way out. So when the birds of jealousy, envy, resentment and unforgiveness are flying above our heads, we can make sure they fly away and have no reason to return and nest.

The Language of God

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‘There before me was a great multitude, that no-one could count. from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.’ Revelation 7:9

A local vicar advertised that he was giving classes to anyone where he would teach Hebrew and Greek. A number of people in the town applied for the classes. Among them them were applicants who were older men who already had a good grasp of the Bible but were obviously keen to learn more. There was a sprinkling of younger men, anxious to further their careers in the church. None of these applicants were surprising.

Among their number was a little old lady who seemed very keen. The vicar couldn’t help being curious. He doubted she would be able to grasp these complex languages and felt he had to ask. Her reply stunned him. ‘I want to be able to speak to God in His language when I get to heaven..’

What a misunderstanding! God speaks in every language as He is the author of them. Not only does understand every word spoken in whatever tongue, He understands every intention of our hearts, without a word being spoken. God recognses the words of the down-trodden, the weary or the arrogant. No whispered word or arrow prayer ever goes unheard by Him. He understands, really understands.

To the End

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‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.‘ Phil 1:6

In a period of my usual worrying about everything, God directed me to this verse. Paul was writing to the believers at Philippi. Maybe they too had been worrying about petty unnecessary matters. Sadly, we all seem to be plagued by worry from the beginning of time until now.

As we read through the Bible there are so many times we come across the words ‘Do not worry,’ ‘Do not fear.’ I ask myself a few questions, ‘

Do I believe God has begun a good work in me?’

‘Do I believe He is able to keep me to the end?’

‘Do I want to be held by God all the days of my life?’

The answer to every question is a resounding ‘Yes.’

In spite of my ‘yeses’ I still try to take matters into my own hands and struggle on my own. I need to keep my eyes on Jesus, it is He who holds me, not just me trying to hang on to Him. His grip is steadfast and sure. He will not let me go. My fingers are only weak. He will keep me to the end, not just till near the end. Let us relax in His love and care.

Practice

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‘He is like one who comes to Me and hears my words and puts them into practice.’ Luke 6:47

A famous pianist was giving an interview after one of his concerts. The interviewer gave him much praise and then said, ‘You are such a great pianist now that I expect you don’t have to practice much.’ With a wry smile the pianist replied, ‘If I don’t practice for one day I know, if I don’t practice for two days my wife knows and if I don’t practice for three days, the world knows.’

How like the Christian life. If we don’t pray and study the Bible for one day God knows, if we don’t speak to God and read His word for two days, we know and our closeness to Him is lessened. If we don’t study the Bible and pray to God for three days our lives will reflect this and our witness for Him will be less effective.

The word ‘perseverance’ is much used in the Bible with good reason. God knows how easily we can be drawn away from Him. The world is close, pressing in it’s demands. Good daily habits are necessary to keep this world at bay.

No Laughing Matter

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The wait for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to get pregnant was long and stressful. Abraham had received various promises from God that he would have a son and that he would be the head of many nations, but Sarah knew ‘she was old and well advanced in years and past the age of child-bearing.‘ Genesis 18:11. So when she heard the visitors announce ‘about this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son,‘ Genesis18:10, she laughed quietly to herself. Nothing was going to happen. But God had heard the silent laugh and said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ verse 13. This knowledge of God made her afraid and then she lied to make matters worse. ‘I did not laugh,’ verse 15.

There is a question we can ask ourselves. Do we believe there is a limit to God’s power. that there are some things He cannot do? When we think of someone we know, do we think it is impossible that they could ever make a confession of faith? Such thinking will restrict our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person. We ask, why spend our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person, who is too stubborn to yield to God? We must not restrict God’s powers and abilities. In Jeremiah 32:27 we hear God ask, ‘Is anything too hard foi me?’

The Difference of the Cross

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May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

We are again in the season of our national elections and are bombarded with literature urging us to vote in a particular way. Every party makes promises which, should they be elected, they would find difficult to keep. Each candidates wants us to put a cross against their name.

It can be confusing especially when we feel our cross will make little difference. Thousands of people will be voting and their cross can cancel out ours. Surely we can feel that our cross is insignificant.

But a cross which is not insignificant is the cross of Jesus Christ which brings salvation and newness of life. It is unique and momentous, bringing life where there was only death. Every soul since the time of Christ’s death has been affected by that one single cross.

So as we place our election cross, we hope to improve the lot of fellow mankind, all the while remembering the most important cross of all, the cross which saves our souls and has the power to save the whole world.