Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during August 2020]

Today we are returning the to subject of memory verses or, more specifically, to the value of being able to recall words of Scripture when the occasion warrants it. Of course, that assumes that we know the words of Scripture in the first place!

Psalm 45 begins with the words: “My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king”. It seems to me that there are two audiences identified here.

Firstly, we see ‘my heart’, which means that the recalling and retelling of the verses brings a benefit to those speaking them. We can extend this not just to the speaker but also those who are listening.

I have just finished re-reading Richard Wurmbrand’s account of the horrors that he endured during a period of 14 years of imprisonment at the hands of the communist regime in Romania. On many occasions he was able to debate with his fellow prisoners and with his captors using an enviable level of recollection, not only of Bible texts but also of the writings that formed the basis of his captors’ motivation. In addition, he was able to use the passages that he knew to bring comfort to many of those in prison with him as well as to encourage himself.

Both Mark and Luke remind us that we may be called before various authorities to give an account of our faith. Hebrews assures us that “the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword”. Are you suitably equipped?

Secondly, we see ‘the king’, which we can take to indicate that the speaker is addressing God as well. Authors often like to hear of their works being quoted – it demonstrates that somebody thought their words were worth remembering, even if only to disagree or deride them. So it is with God’s word with the added value that His word will never pass away.

Finally, the reference to a noble theme. The recalling of passages of Scripture is a form of worship and reverence. Many a powerful prayer has included words like “Lord, have you not have said …” – not so much reminding God about His promises but rather offering Him an opportunity to fulfil them.
Surely that is indeed a noble theme.

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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during August 2020]

Each Sunday morning on HBC-Online we enjoy the sound and sight of, generally, younger members of the church family reciting their memory verses. Well done to you all! My kids don’t do memory verses – the silly billies just keep bleating for their nanny. But that’s the sort of behaviour that one might expect from a couple of young goats.

In my early twenties I had a mentor, an older man who had been trained by Rolls Royce to work on their wartime aero engines. As part of his training he was taught never to memorise any critical measurements. Rather, he should take a pencil and a piece of paper to the instruction manual and write down the figure that he needed, every time. Such a practice makes good sense when a Spitfire pilot’s life and, potentially, the outcome of a battle might depend upon the accuracy of your work.

In contrast, there are many situations in life when being able to remember some detail is essential. The colours of traffic lights are an example of a collective memory – you need to know them but, if you forget, almost anybody could remind you. However, if you forget a PIN or a password then, theoretically at least, nobody can help you.

What about Bible memory verses? On the one hand, they are available to everybody but, on the other hand, many of them speak to us in a deeply personal way. Most of us who were brought up in a church-going family would have been, to a lesser or greater extent, encouraged to memorise Bible verses. It can seem like a chore but it is much easier when you are young and can develop the habit without have to clear out other debris first. Undoubtedly, there are benefits to come in later life.

In preparing these reflections there have frequently come to mind snippets of verses that I recall (not necessarily accurately) from years past. Unlike previous generations of Bible scholars, we now have the tools with which to verify those memories, to put them into context, to find parallel passages and even to relate to secular information sources. But that would be impossible without the ‘snippets’ in the first place. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing but without it we would not know that we don’t know what we don’t know!

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 16/Aug/2020]

Seven days without prayer makes one weak [anon]

Do you have a standing order with God? He sends you your daily bread and a generous selection of other blessings on a regular basis and then once a week, or whenever, you offer a generic prayer of thanks, add a dash of praise and finish off with your wish-list for next week. Every now and then you make a special effort but otherwise your relationship is well-established and you see little need to change it.

Does that sound cynical? – Think about it for a while and you might find it to be more accurate than you want to admit. On the other hand, you might be a Daniel or a David whose prayer and praise practices should be an example to us all. If so, we need your help!

We cannot claim that we do not know how to pray. Matthew^[1] records a template given by the Master Himself. It reminds us of our relationship with God, our respect for Him, our reliance on Him, our reaction to those around us and our recognition of His regal status. Curiously, one thing the Lord’s Prayer omits is how to thank Him, surely our second-most frequent use of prayer.

Of course, there are pressures on our time. We have so much else to occupy us so we could sub-contract our prayers – there are plenty of pastors, priests and vicars who are paid to pray on our behalf. But that loses the direct dialogue with God that Lesley described last week^[2] and, anyway, would you use a ‘thank-you writing agency’ when you receive a gift from someone with whom you have a loving relationship?

Perhaps, more realistically, it’s a matter of priorities. Do we want to pray? Why are we so easily distracted when we try? How do we stay focused? Jesus Himself taught us these words, ponder upon them.

“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.”

[1] Matthew chapter 6, verses 9-13
[2] Prayer is a Dialogue HBC ‘Yours’, 09/Aug/2020.

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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during August 2020]

How many of you enjoyed a full English breakfast this morning? Is that combination of toast (or preferably fried bread), eggs and bacon, sausage, tomato, beans, mushrooms and black pudding a regular part of your diet or something special for Sundays? Perhaps it’s just a distant memory or does the mere thought give you indigestion?

Do not feel guilty about the indulgence – in April 2010 the ‘Daily Mail’ published an article which argued that “starting the morning with a fatty meal may boost the metabolism for the rest of the day and prime the body to burn fat more efficiently”. So let’s look a bit more closely.

The bread comes from wheat. We recall the words of Jesus when He said “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” God the Father provides our daily bread; we die to ourselves in Christ and the Holy Spirit can multiply our witness 30-fold, 60-fold or 100-fold.

Eggs are a by-product of the hens’ natural functions. In most cases they are infertile and are useless for producing a new generation of fowl. They are surplus, even a waste product, but we like them. They are also Trinitarian – shell, albumen and yoke, a useful aide-memoire.

The production of mushrooms is associated with darkness and decay but they have great nutritional value. We have been saved from darkness and decay, to become light and salt for those around us. Meanwhile, beans supply valuable proteins but they also have an unfortunate reputation. Are you contributing to the well-being of God’s people, or simply generating hot air?

Tomatoes come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, representing a global diversity. They grow on vines. Jesus said “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener … Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” [John 15 v1,4]
Are you receiving nourishment from the True Vine?

The sausage could be beef or turkey, or even that artificial stuff, but the bacon incurs a sacrifice. The pig lost his life-blood to provide the bacon and the black pudding. This reminds us of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made, giving his life-blood for our salvation.

Is breakfast just a meal that sets you up for the day? Or more than that?

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[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during August 2020]

Last week, Mark asked us to pray about an accident involving US marines in southern California. We now know the outcome of that incident and we need to pray for the bereaved and those trying to console them. May God give them His words, not to provide an explanation but rather to offer comfort during a time of distress.

Why do these things happen? Why do the good go too soon and the others hang around too long? Why could God, who made an iron axe head to float, not have kept a boat buoyant for a bit longer?

‘Why’ is a question that has been asked many times. In the Bible, the first use of ‘why’ as a question comes in Genesis chapter 4, only one generation after the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden. God asked Cain “Why are you angry?” Anger against God is one of the natural reactions to disasters. Why did God allow it to happen? Later, God asked Jonah “Are you right to be angry?”

Another question is “What have they done to deserve this?” Were the passengers on Air India flight IX1134 last week particularly sinful? Are the residents of Beirut especially decadent? Jesus countered that question in Luke 13

“Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!”

For those of the Moslem faith the reaction to such events is “God is greater”. To us that sounds trite, an over-used phrase that seems to be more one of defiance rather than acceptance, but it has a core truth. Job asked “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Consider this passage from John 9:

“His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”

God is working His purposes out; He has a plan but we cannot see the whole picture.

We have a God who is greater – we may not have the answers, or even the right questions, but we can approach Him and ask for His blessing for those who are suffering. Lord, hear our prayer!

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 09/Aug/2020]

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face,as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp…(Exodus 33:11)

Two friends sat down in their favourite café, looking forward to sharing a coffee and a cake together, and chatting about their lives – all the ups and downs, the joys and the worries, the cares and concerns, and most of all, the news! They had both been so looking forward to it. But as their meeting went on, it was obvious to anyone looking on, that one of the two had started to slump a little, as the get-together had not quite turned out as well for one, as perhaps the other. The problem was that only one of the two was communicating, leaving very little space to pause for breath! Hence it was very much a one-way conversation.

The above account may be fictional, but how often does this scenario play out as we come to God in prayer? I know my prayer experience has so often looked like this in the past, rushing into God’s presence with a list, and rushing out again!

“Prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue. It’s a two-way communication. God’s voice is the most essential part of life’s journey. When we listen to God’s voice as we pray, it gives us confidence that He too is listening to us. So often we have been taught that prayer is petitioning our wants to God. We have not practised listening to Him nearly enough. He is eager to speak to us, but we are the ones who don’t know how to listen or claim to not have the time to do so.”
(Excerpt from an internet devotion on prayer.)

Learning to listen to God, as well as to speak to Him, has been a transformational part of my walk with Him. I don’t always get it right but know that when I do just sit in His presence and allow Him to speak to me, it makes such a difference. God wants to have a deep relationship with us, and this can only happen if we let Him speak into our lives. Of course, He can do this in other ways – through the Bible, in conversation with a friend, at church, through circumstances – but when we open our spiritual ears and listen attentively when we come to Him in prayer, we can often hear his heart for us, or for someone else, in a way that we may have otherwise missed. Sometimes, His voice comes as a strong impression, and other times as a small whisper, but over time we come to “just know” that God has spoken, as His voice becomes so familiar to us.

Recently, a friend was sharing something with me, and while I listened to her, I had an ear open to God too for her, asking what would really bless her at this time. When she finished speaking, I just literally said a few words that I felt God put on my heart, and she started to cry. Apparently, those words had touched her heart and, in her words, were “just what I needed to hear”. Did a little bit of healing happen that day for my friend? I believe it did.

There’s nothing wrong at all in bringing our requests to God in prayer – He absolutely loves it when we do! But, let’s remember to pause when we pray, and listen to what He has to say to us too.

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