- Dec 2, 2015
So where was God during the recent acts of terrorism? Hasty responses to that question will only produce simplistic answers such as: God doesn’t exist; God isn’t loving enough; God isn’t powerful enough; God gave people free will and now he’s stuck with the consequences; God was punishing individual people or God is not the Sovereign God (i.e. all-powerful God) that Christians claim him to be. Based on my understanding of the Bible and my experience as a Christian for more than three decades, I reject such notions.
Rather than being tempted to doubt either the goodness or the power of God, I suggest that we consider how we each respond to God when bad things happen. We are all subject to both good and bad things. Good things may turn us to God in thanksgiving but can also turn us away if our blessings cause us to become complacent and self-reliant. Equally, bad things may turn us to God as we recognise our mortality or, conversely, they may harden our hearts towards him.
One does not need to be a prophet to say that there will be, without doubt, further terrorist attacks, more wars and natural disasters, besides many a personal sadness to come. May I urge you not to allow bad and evil to cause you to demean the power or the goodness of God. Better by far to trust that God is with us at such times. And that is what the Christmas message offers. It offers us Jesus who is Emmanuel, which means God with us; not baby Jesus in a manger but Jesus as he is now, saviour and the Lord of all things.
Basic to the Christian faith is the promise that ‘All things (good and bad) work together for (the ultimate) good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.’ Are you able to perceive that call? Jesus speaks as God when he says, ‘come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you …. and you will find rest for your souls.’ Now, that is a Christmas gift worth having.
- Nov 5, 2015
The new James Bond film, Spectre, is set to draw in the crowds. What caught my attention is the theme tune for the film, sung by Sam Smith and entitled ‘Writing’s On The Wall’. The expression ‘the writing is on the wall’ originates from the Bible. It is found in the Book of Daniel. The story goes like this…
The all-powerful King of Babylon had thrown a great banquet. He and his guests were luxuriating, revelling in their power and wealth while drinking choice wine from gold and silver goblets. As they congratulated themselves on their good fortune, they worshipped the gods of gold, silver and material things. Suddenly, a human-hand appeared and fingers wrote words onto the plastered wall.
The King was frightened out of his wits. The words had no meaning to those present. Experts were summoned; wise men, philosophers, astrologers etc, in order that they could interpret the meaning of the words. They couldn’t. Enter Daniel – God’s own interpreter. The writing had come from God and Daniel’s explanation had a sobering effect.
The message announced to the King was, ‘Your days are numbered’ and ‘You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting’. He was devastated. What could his dumb idols of gold and silver do to save him? Nothing.
Is God speaking to us through that writing on the wall today, or was it just for the King of Babylon? I believe that the words are for us also. We each know that the number of our days is finite and that we do not know how near our final one is. However, we probably feel more affronted by the second part of the message. Does God really put us in the scales of his justice and declare that we are giving him short measures?
At this point, I look to Jesus to confirm the relevance of Daniel’s message. Jesus does confirm it, not only in words but in loving action. He does not soft pedal about the way the scales have rightly tilted against me but voluntarily gets on the scales in my place. This is another way of looking at what Jesus was doing when he died on a cross, paying the due penalty on behalf of people like me and you who have contravened God’s good law.
Today, God welcomes all people who will come to him by first going to Jesus who has weighed in on their behalf. Maybe you’ll think of this next time you hear Sam Smith’s song, ‘Writing’s on the Wall’.
- Oct 2, 2015
It is that time in the year when Jews celebrate the festival of ‘ingathering.’ This is a harvest celebration dating back thousands of years. At the same time, traditionally, the Christian church holds its own harvest thanksgiving services; a useful reminder that our food does not primarily come from supermarkets but rather the land and, ultimately, the gracious hand of God.
In his teaching, Jesus frequently made use of parables involving harvest, farming (both animal and arable), good and bad seeds, good and bad soil, wheat and weeds etc. The most familiar of these is probably the ‘parable of the sower’. Here, good seed is scattered on the ground where the majority apparently lands on unsuitable soil. Of course, the parable was not concerned with teaching about the difficulties of farming. It was about the word of God (likened to seed) taking root in the soil of men’s and women’s hearts. Some seed fell on the packed earth of the path and so failed completely to germinate. This equates to the heart that is indifferent to God. Some of the seed entered into shallow soil but, when the tender young shoots were subjected to the heat of the sun, they withered and died. This equates to the heart that lacks depth. Further seeds had a good start but hostile vegetation (in the form of weeds, thorns and thistles) strangle the life out of it. This equates to the heart that is weighed down by cares, temptations and distractions to the detriment of things that really matter.
We know that one needs to sow bountifully in order to reap a harvest. When God sows the seed of his word, although some soil is invariably poor, the scattered seed will produce a harvest because some will certainly fall on good soil. The resulting yield from this soil is pleasing to him.
What, in the context of this parable, should we understand by good soil? A farmer will plough up a field and dig in fertiliser, so preparing the ground. Then, when the seed goes in and the earth is watered, the farmer can expect strong, healthy plants to grow.
Christians will often tell of how they heard the message about Jesus and his call upon their lives, the time when God’s Word germinated in their hearts. With hindsight they may well be able to see how prior to that event, through circumstances both good and bad, God’s own ploughing and fertilising had been preparing the ground.
I don’t know what your circumstances are at this harvest time, but it may just be that God is behind the scenes doing some ploughing and manure spreading, so that you may be fruitful and included in his forthcoming harvest. The ultimate harvest of which Jesus so often spoke.