Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[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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