Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 13/March/2022]

Do not rely on your own insight or – in most translations – Trust in the Lord, and “lean not on your own understanding”. (Proverbs 3:5)

My barber and I have the most frustrating and, sometimes, challenging conversations! (How can she give such perfect haircuts while apparently never looking at what she’s doing?!)

She’ll show me video clips on her phone, arguing that nothing we see is what it appears to be. She speaks several Eastern European languages, and devours news from online sources that I (and, I bet, most of you, my readers) have never heard of! According to her, nothing we watch on, say, BBC news is reliable. That includes coverage of what is happening in Ukraine.

Until this morning I’ve been dismissing her views as wild and uninformed. Now I’ve begun to ask myself, how have I come to trust what I see on my TV? What I see with my own eyes?!

Does the verse in Proverbs mean that I am NOT to trust what my eyes are seeing? Or to ‘rely on my own understanding’? I’m going to experiment with something: I’m going to deliberately ask the Lord to show me what is true. That is, to ask Him to help me see things as HE sees them!

When you read my next YOURS page, I’ll let you know if I’ve learned anything!

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

When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies. [Numbers 10 v9 NIVUK]

Scholars tell us that this is one of the final instructions given to Moses whilst he was on Mount Sinai. Although not one of the better-known Ten Commandments, nevertheless it does have something to say to us.

Justified defensive action:
Even God’s people can come under attack from those with evil ambitions. Abraham’s herdsmen were required to fight off marauders. Nehemiah’s wall builders carried both the tools of their trade and their weapons of defence. Many times, king David had to defend his nation from external attackers, often with a loss of life on both sides.

It is worth remembering that each one of those who fell were some mother’s son and it is likely that many of them had families of their own; in short they were each a valued member of their society and, although personally innocent, they suffered for defending it.

A blast on the trumpets:
Both a warning and a call to arms, to mobilise God’s people to come to the defence of their land and their society. The blast of the trumpet and the scream of sirens are also a call for help. Are the sirens sounding in Burma, in Afghanistan, in Yemen too far away to be distinct? Surely not so those that are sounding less than 4 hours’ flying time away.

There are some things that we can do to offer assistance but, for us, the call to arms is primarily a call to prayer.

Then you will be remembered:
God claims that his love is greater than that of a mother for her children, even a mother seeking to protect her children from an invading army or a mother giving birth in an isolated bunker attended by medics with the sounds of explosions ringing in their ears.

Do we still believe that God knows what is going on, that God has it all under control, that God is good? How can we declare that to someone who has lost their livelihood, their home, their family? But what else have we to cling to?

Lord, we bring to you our doubts and the scepticism of those around us; help us to overcome our unbelief.

Rescued from your enemies:
In around 473BC the Jews were again facing a threat from a vicious enemy. Queen Esther was asked to intervene but when she hesitated she received a stark warning: relief and deliverance would come but she would suffer for refusing to get involved. She then used her influence and resources to bring about a means whereby the Jews could defend themselves.

Does all this talk of fighting upset you; do you worry about where world is going? Maybe God allows these things so that we will draw closer to him. Here are some words from Jesus; can you spot the reassurance hidden within a depressing prophecy?

You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened [Matthew 24 v6, 22 NIVUK]

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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, 06/March/2022]

Do you remember the song, “He gives beauty from ashes”? Isaiah 61 v 3. How true this verse is when we hear about the war in Ukraine and various other atrocities around the world. The Bible says while the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest Genesis 8 verse 22.

All this seems so glib to write about when such terrible things are happening in the world, but God, Our Father is full of encouragement even in the bleakest of situations and will give us new hope. I only have to look out of our window and our garden is producing new shoots of spring flowers. Walking through the woods the same thing is happening.

To hear stories of how people are encouraging each other is amazing and gives new hope to a weary world. So at this time what can we do, as Christians, to encourage each other? Speaking hope and love in difficult circumstances and do whatever needs doing within our capability is key to a healthy community.

I remember listening to Richard Wurmbrand when I was at Bible College in Dallas Texas, he was a Romanian, Lutheran Pastor who was persecuted for his faith. While he was in prison a man was sentenced to death and on his way to be killed he gave his shoes to another prisoner so the other man could walk comfortably.

Show us Lord how to be a blessing where we are in our day and in our time.
Every blessing,

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

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound;
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us ^[1].

For all of my life to date there have been wars and rumours of wars, but they have been at a safe distance. Insurrections and violent unrest has been sufficiently far away to be simply items of news and perhaps prayer; even the troubles in Northern Ireland were, for the most part, over the water. Now I am sitting just 15 miles from a country that is fighting for its survival and knowing that we too could become a target if a single man decided that would help achieve his ambitions.

Throughout history people have lived with the threat of war, whether declared or implied, and our own times are no exception. Human attempts to bring peace usually have limited success and are often temporary. Where is the Prince of Peace when you need him?

In his discourse on times and seasons the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace ^[2].

Does this mean that war is part of God’s plan? Surely that does not fit with our preferred image of him but we have to recognise that there have been times when he has allowed strife to illustrate the consequences of mankind’s inherent sinfulness. Nevertheless, that does not imply that the victims of aggression are any worse sinners than others; we all have sinned and have fallen short of God’s requirements.

Where is the Prince of Peace when you need him? Are we not his representatives? Sometimes it is necessary for the strong to make sacrifices in order to help those who are weaker. What sacrifices are we willing to make? There may well be occasions to use force to resist aggression but we claim that prayer is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal; are you ‘weapons-trained’, are you willing to use it?

In Exodus 17 we see Joshua leading the people of God in a fight against an aggressing force. As long as Moses held up his arms in an attitude of prayer, Joshua’s army prevailed; when the prayer lapsed the advantage went to the enemy. Last Sunday a more contemporary Joshua asked us to pray to God to intervene in the situation developing in eastern Europe. Subsequent events have emphasised the urgency of that call.

A final thought. In first-century Damascus the early Christians were fearing the arrival of Saul, a man who believed that his violent actions were justified. Who would have thought that their deliverance would come through the conversion of that same man? Can God do the same now?

[1]: Habakkuk 3 v16
[2]: Eccesiates 3 v8.

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

Have you ever gazed up into the heavens on a clear night and marvelled at the extensive array of lights? How wonderful it appears, myriads of stars in faraway galaxies sending beams of light directly to you. Meteorites, satellites and aircraft all contribute to the spectacle of heavenly lights. But all may not be as it seems. A recent report suggested that there might soon be so much discarded space debris floating around that it becomes too dangerous for humans to continue to venture into space.

Can you recall setting out for a quiet walk in an area of natural beauty? You hear the babbling brook and the birds are singing but as you look down you see that other people have been here before you. The evidence suggests that the maxim about leaving only footprints has not been heeded. It all started when Adam and Eve discarded a pile of fig leaves on their way out of the garden of Eden.

Of course, we are talking rubbish, but we are in good company. The apostle Paul was also accused of talking rubbish. He was explaining his Damascus Road experience to king Agrippa, with whom he shared a cultural heritage, when his discourse was interrupted by the Roman governor who was probably struggling to understand the relevance of Paul’s account. He dismissed Paul’s words as spurious rubbish resulting from Paul’s over-developed intellect^[1].

To what extent are we, too, liable to dismiss as rubbish those things that people tell us and we don’t understand, especially if matters are complicated by cultural differences?

Paul wrote extensively about many aspects of Christian behaviour but, like the other New Testament authors, he was writing as a man of his time. Paul’s letters were composed in a different age and cultural context, and we might argue that times have moved on. To what extent are we tempted to dismiss as irrelevant those passages of scripture which seem to be pertinent only to a different time and culture?

It is a small step from discarding people’s words to discarding the people themselves. Both in our secular society and in our community of faith we have people who represent different backgrounds, different understandings, different ambitions. The extent of the diversity is such that everyone is unique; no one can make a legitimate claim for superiority. That is the way God loves us and God rejects no one.

I am reminded of a Sunday School chorus from many years ago:

Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the people of the world.

The words may be of a different era but the sentiment is eternal.

[1]: Acts 26 v24.

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.