Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during July 2022]

Complacency, procrastination and inertia. Surely we all can recognise these characteristics, in other people even if do not admit to them ourselves.

Shall I bother to write about them? Maybe a better idea will come to me if I wait a bit – it usually does. In any case I need to think about it for a bit longer before getting on with it.

There are verses in the Bible which, it could be argued, tend to provide some justification for such behaviour.

• Complacency: Contentment is great gain
• Procrastination: Be still before the Lord and wait
• Inertia: The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved

 
But surely this cannot be right. How can we reconcile these attitudes with the traditional Christian values enshrined in a conscientious work ethic and positive social involvement? Perhaps a closer look at these verses within their context will reveal a different intent on the part of their writers.

But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment (that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God).
1 Timothy 6 v6 [AMP]

Here the apostle Paul is describing contentment in a positive manner, a frame of mind to be desired and appreciated. By contrast, complacency is a negative state that often uses a pretence of contentment as an excuse for indifference.

Be still before the Lord; wait patiently for Him and entrust yourself to Him; … those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Psalm 37 v7, 9 [AMP]

The Psalmist argues that waiting upon God’s timing brings benefits; it is not a time of inaction or laziness. This is emphasised in this verse from Proverbs: A slacker procrastinates when it is time to plough; so when it’s time for harvest, there are no crops in the field^[1]. Experience often demonstrates that resting after a task is finished is much more satisfactory than ‘building up one’s energy’ in advance.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly and securely established, it shall not be moved; He will judge and rule the people with fairness.”
Psalm 96 v10 [AMP]

The emphasis here is on the benefits of having a firm and secure foundation, one that will not collapse under pressure. It is not a recommendation to ‘do nothing’ but instead it offers us confidence about the future.

These examples demonstrate that it is not sufficient for us to simply read the Bible in a casual or unstructured way. The Bible is more – much more – than a simple history book or instruction manual. It is more like a box of gems that show a different facet each time we open it.

Are you complacent about your understanding of the Bible? Would you like to read the Bible more diligently but haven’t made time yet? Or is it just too difficult to get started?

[1] Proverbs 20 v3 [The Voice]

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/July/2022]

2022 seems to have been a year of quite a lot of change for me – the birth of a grandchild, ongoing changes at work, family members moving away or getting married & financial challenges. Perhaps it has been the same for you too.

Life is full of many challenges and one of them is how to deal with change. It is as inevitable as sunrise and sunset.

Of course change is not always a bad thing and can be something we initiate ourselves such as a change of job, moving home or even a change of our wardrobe or hairstyle! Sadly there other changes we have little or no control over such as changes in relationships, unemployment or deteriorating health. These are harder to deal with and can sometimes result in a grief reaction where we experience feelings of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression (Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 1969). These are very human and understandable reactions and I know in my past I’ve experienced them all. As a wise person once said, feelings are neither good nor bad … they just are.

There are many things to help us face change including prayer and people who show us they care. Before I was a Christian I know I relied on my own (inadequate) resources too much, and looked to friends to help me find answers to my problems. I know that the times I’ve struggled the most have been when I’ve tried doing things in my own strength, and have not appreciated that I am loved and cherished by God and that He is always with me and wants the best for me. And that he hears my prayers, even those unspoken.

It strikes me that our faith in Jesus can help us above and beyond anything else when we face change and perhaps find it difficult. We are also blessed to have the gift of God’s living word, the Bible, which is an incredible source of wisdom, counsel and comfort. There is such richness in the Scriptures and so many passages I could have chosen, but this psalm kept coming back to me this week so I hope it might encourage you if, like me, you have found yourself trying to adjust to new changes in your life, whether positive or less so.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore. Psalm 121

And may the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/June/2022]

Pilate said to Jesus, ‘What is truth?’ (John 18:38) I have a good friend who is well over 90 and, whenever our conversation turns to religion – as it often does – he sincerely repeats essentially the same question. He knows quite a lot about Jesus, and what the Bible says, but he can’t (or won’t) believe that Jesus can possibly be the only absolute truth.

After considering what Martin asked us to think about a few Sundays ago, I realised that all my life my trust in Jesus has been more talk than fact. When Chris asks me why I don’t simply trust that everyday problems are in Jesus’s hands, I have no answer. Very recently, situations arose where we needed practical help. And people turned up just in time! She trusted that He would provide. Before they both appeared, I had begun to panic!

I’ve heard all the arguments about how our understandings of the Bible are inevitably a matter of interpretation. If that’s the case perhaps those who say there is no such thing as absolutely reliable truth – even in scripture – are right. That argument has left me deeply unsettled. I’ve read many, many books about such questions – probably too many! Now I think I know where my unease comes from. The problem is all about the word ‘about’!

How can I be expected to trust anyone whom I’ve heard and read all ABOUT but don’t KNOW intimately? It was when I heard Martin urge us to read – really read – the 4 gospels I realised that I was being invited, challenged, to get to know Jesus so personally that His claim to be the truth I need to rest on will be so settled that the PEACE He also promises will increasingly replace my uncertainty and restlessness.

I know my restlessness has roots – most of them going back to childhood – but now I also know that there is no excuse for letting it characterise my life for another minute!

I will get to KNOW the Person who is truth. What about you?

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during July 2022]

As we delve into the book of Daniel we see that king Nebuchadnezzar had an image problem – in fact, several. In chapter 2 we read of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a multi-part statue which illustrated the progressive decline of successive empires. Nebuchadnezzar himself dominates the image, as its golden head, then there are representations of other empires made of silver, bronze and iron. The image crumbled when the footings of the final empire were attacked. This final empire is often associated with the Romans, who developed concrete (essentially a mix of iron and clay) and, incidentally, also democracy!

Chapter 3 gives the account of the image of gold, which Daniel’s three friends refused to worship. In his anger, the king instructed that they be cast into a fiery furnace; when they survived he threatened to vent his anger on those who had instigated the incident. It is not just in modern times that being an advisor to the head of government has certain career limitations.

Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Habakkuk 2:18 [NIVUK]

In chapter 4 the king recalled how the future was revealed to him through the image of a large tree. This luxuriant, fruitful tree provided food and shelter for a large number of people, animals and birds but then it was cut down to a stump and left at the mercy of the weather. Daniel explained the image, foretelling how Nebuchadnezzar will be deposed and humiliated but eventually restored.

We see that Nebuchadnezzar takes a central role in each of these accounts, not only in the images themselves but in the way he reacts to them. They challenge his self-image and he tends to react violently to what he sees as threats to his own sense of invincibility. We might argue that those characteristics are not unique to him.

Do you ever look at the bathroom mirror and wonder just who is looking back at you? Would you really like to be someone different? Maybe you too have an image problem.

It may not just be physical; our behaviour can have an effect on how other people see us. We like to project an image to other people, to encourage them to look at us in a particular way. Of course, we accept that God knows what lies behind the image but leaving that aside … wait! Can we, in fact, leave that aside?

We were created in the image of God, we are fearfully and wonderfully made^[1], the work of his hands, but have we maintained or marred that image? What aspects of God are at risk of being distorted when people look at us? Do we project an image of judgement and rebuke or one of love and acceptance? Can people recognise God at work in and through us? We return to Nebuchadnezzar for his last words as he describes the God that he now recognises:

Everything he does is right, and he does it the right way. He knows how to turn a proud person into a humble man or woman. Daniel 4 v37 [MSG]

Does your image need a make-over?

[1] Psalm 139 v14

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during July 2022]

Back in the days when the typical family holiday was based around a car trip the seaside, at some point fairly early into the journey there would arise a plaintive cry from the back seat – “Are we there yet? How much longer?” These questions were often part of a cycle, alongside other cries such as “I need the toilet” and “I’m going to be sick”. The long-suffering parents would eventually resort to “Sit back and shut up!” and all would be quiet for a few minutes before the cycle began again.

It is not difficult to image Hebrew children asking the same question during the Exodus as they saw their parents pitching the family tent for yet another night in the wilderness. Their fathers would diligently explain how it was that their nation was trekking through the desert:

Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. Numbers 9:17 [NKJV]

Some twenty or so years later those children would be explaining to their own children as to why they were still trudging through the sand. And so on for 40 years until they did eventually arrive at the Promised Land but, much like airline passengers today, setting foot in the destination country was not the end of their journey.

About 800 years later the Israelites were on the move again. How long would it take for a column of 10,000 captives^[1] to cover the 650 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon? Daniel and his companions were no doubt too well brought-up to pester their escorts with questions during their long journey into exile in Babylon but they must have wondered about what awaited them. Were they, as sons of the nobility, allowed to ride or did they too have to walk? Did their faith and youthful vigour allow them to sing as they travelled or did they too have questions about how long the journey was taking?

The Israelites eventually returned from exile in two tranches under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. Fewer in number and with royal support they would have felt more positive about the journey but the distance was the same. Many of them must have asked “How much longer?”

These questions came to me recently, at 35,000 feet over Germany. “Are we there yet? How much longer?” Some 80 years ago, there were other people in the same geographical location asking the same questions, albeit from a lower altitude. It is a sobering reminder that we live in a world where war and various forms of strife have dominated most of the period since then.

A long time ago some shepherds received an exciting message: “… on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”^[2]
Are we there yet? On the contrary, two thousand years later it seems that we are moving further away from the ideals of peace and goodwill.
How much longer? With respect, God only knows.

[1] 2 Kings 24 v14
[2] Luke 2 v14

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Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 26/June/2022]

I saw this in a rather different light recently. We had been away on holiday and perhaps like some of you, I was apprehensive about leaving the house unattended while we were away. I prayed to God for his protection over us while we were away and trusted our home to His care. The holiday was relaxing and there were no hitches with our flights or transfers.

On the way back, I started to worry that there would have been a disaster at home. My wife was more sensible, her main worry was that the tomato plants would have withered without someone to water them while we were away. Me, I took things to the next level. I didn’t tell her, but I was worried about a water leak, a fire, or that someone would have broken in.

We landed safely, got our luggage without problems, and got a taxi within minutes. Did I take time to thank God? No, I was now well into worrying and wondered as the taxi drove us home, whether as well as the other disasters, the car would have been vandalised and that there would be a note from the Police asking us to contact them (I blame my fears on watching too much television).

That was when Paul’s words to the Corinthians came to mind, but this time, it seemed as if it was God telling me, “you really need to trust that when you pray to me, I will be faithful to answer your prayer. We have a lot of things we need to do, you and I, but we aren’t going to get very far if at every step you doubt me, rather than trust me. You still want milk, and I am happy to give you that, but you really need now to be eating solid food. You need to go beyond doubting and walk with me in faith”.

When Jesus told us He would be with us always, He meant it. Yes, we will need reassurance from time to time, but it isn’t a great relationship if we continually question, everytime, whether He truly will be there for us.

We arrived to find the car on the drive where we left it, the house was intact, not burnt down and not a water leak in sight. Oh, and the tomato plants, they were a bit parched, but they look like they’ll be fine.

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Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.