Trust in God

What is the most common phrase in the Bible? It is ‘Do Not be Afraid!!!’ Do not be afraid! When I look at my life and see the things that made me afraid!! The list would be endless! For me it was the first day at School, when I was scarred on this new situation, or when my father and I were in South Africa and had been taken to where the Meerkats were in the wild. Fear of what you may say. Well when we were told a rattle snake lived in the same tunnels as the Meerkats you may understand my unease but all turned out fine. Also my Russian phrase book was not needed. Simples! We are all afraid at some time of our life! It might be of the bully at school, or going in the forest if you are a city dweller, it might be starting your first job, or going on holiday to country that has had its problems. It maybe leaving home for the first time or being unable to go home. It could be the fear of death itself. So Yes we do fear. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself self.’ Fear can grip us, make us frozen, can lead to inaction and a certain kind of paralysis. Fear is a negative side of being human and so often we let it rule us. This may well be the reason the words Do not be Afraid is used in the Bible. In Luke 12:32-40 Jesus is preparing his disciples for a time when they will have to go it alone. His physical presence will not be there but he will still be guiding them and assisting them. He asks them to trust God. In doing so they will receive life in all its richness and abundance as he promises the Kingdom he has been talking about. If they trust they will be given a part of his Kingdom. How awesome is that? All they have to do is trust God. That’s the hard bit! The Bible is full of stories where sometimes trusting in God is put to the test but ultimately he comes through. In the book of Ruth, Ruth and Naomi may have wondered where God was but they would play a part in God’s plan leading to David and then Jesus. Abram, in Genesis 15, certainly wondered when God was going to come through for him. He was an old man and with an old wife and God said Abram would father a great nation and that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky!!! Amazing but years passed and Abram was older and his wife Sarai was older too. Long past giving birth let alone child rearing. So Abram decided to take matters into his own hands. How often do we take matters into our own hands? When someone promises to do something but intend on doing it in their own time? I know I am often guilty of taking matter into my own hands. Someone has not written the report on time or delivered something on time. I end up doing it myself. I tell myself ‘At least I know it will be done!!’ Yet maybe I am disenfranchising that person? I remember watching an episode of The Apprentice recently where one of the contestants was hectoring another contestant into making a decision. She was talking so much I am surprised he had time to think to make that decision!! So Abram had taken matters into his owns hands and appointed Eliezer his servant too be his heir. After all he thought ‘how on earth can we have children?’ However God comes in and maintains that is exactly what will happen! Indeed it does. For Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah and she gives birth to Isaac. Age is not a barrier for God. Perhaps sometimes we put God in boxes of our own creation. So we are to go into this world and trust in God that he will give us life in all its abundance if we follow him. For we are to treat each day as if we expect to come face to face with the master. We should live life as if we are about to bump into him. Trusting in possessions too much means we trust in God less. How many people today are consumed by possessions? The latest fashion accessory, the latest iPod or IPad, or a coca cola you drink with your friends. All these things are sold to us as somehow the answer or part of answer to our lifes dilemmas. Yet they are pale imitations of God. When they run out we need our next fix but God never runs out. He gives all good things to us but we are to follow him. In doing so we should not put our faith in possessions to make us happy but as tools that are a means to an end not the end in itself. We too are to give all around us generously. For God gives to us the precious gift of grace that we are forgiven for all the bad things we do and he provides for us in our daily lives. So too we are to give money and more importantly time to serve others. The best way of serving is together as we make a statement of God’s love together it is so much more effective. Trusting in God does not mean he will just give us whatever we want but he will give us whatever is good for us and whatever will see us flourishing. He can see the big picture we cannot. I don’t know if anyone has looked at the back of a tapestry? It looks an utter mess of threads and you really cannot make head nor tail of the design but when you see from the other side it looks brilliant. We often see the back of life’s tapestry and God sees that and the front. He knows what is good for us even if we do not. He also wants people to know him and will give us what we need to share the hope that is inside us with others. So we are to trust in God and to not be afraid. We are to follow God like Abraham did in his life and the early followers of Jesus did. God always comes through even if we cannot see it as we look at the back of life’s rich tapestry for in following Jesus we will all be part of Gods awesome kingdom.

Re-Creation

The seasons are so interesting to me as go through a constant cycle of recreation. Autumn reflects life withdrawing either by animals hibernating, or by leaves going brown and falling of trees, winter is bare and barren but has its own beauty, spring sees life returning to plants and animals waking up, Summer see life in fall flow. Jesus was part of Gods plan for recreating, a pivotal stage from which God woul push forward. We too are to be part of Gods ultimate plan. Jesus was and is a remarkalble person who showed a new way to be and want us to follow him. In doing so we draw closer to God and to one another.

Do you know who Jesus was?

Sometimes when I see someone for the first time in years, often in a setting where I would expect to meet them, I often cannot remember their name. If they have had a makeover since that time it makes them even harder to recognise. You feel embarrassed because it is someone who has recognised you and you are trying to bring to mind something about them, sometimes from the distant past. Afterwards, and it is often afterwards, you remember a number of things when the pressure is off. Now I want you to imagine you are out in the street. It can be any street and Jesus comes walking up to you and greets you. Now you do not know this man and he may not fit in with your image of what Jesus looks like and you reject him. Jesus disciples may have known Jesus by sight but they had not recognised who Jesus truly was. Certainly Jesus was not the warrior king who was going to lead them into battle against their Roman oppressors. He was gentle in his manners but radical in his teaching. So no he was not a warrior king. He was man of peace. He had confronted the scribes who had become over legalistic and set down many rules for people to follow so they did things the correct way but Jesus told them they were wrong and were too controlling. We were to love one another as he loved us, and to love God with all heart, mind and being. Jesus did this in his life loving the many that the scribes made outcasts and brought them healing and wholeness again. He included them when others excluded them. Jesus was remarkable man then. Perfect it would seem and still they did not get it. In Mark 4: 35-41 Jesus calms a storm. He has power over creation. They will not truly get who Jesus is until the Ressurrection. The perfect man, who has power over creation and rises to new life after dying a painful and humilating death. Who do you think Jesus was?

What does nature tell us about God?

Can we tell what God is like by looking at nature? What will it tell us of God if we do? Let's look at it from a human perspecitvie first if I look at a chair what I can tell of its maker? I can tell the chair had a design which the maker put together. I might also ascertain from looking at the chair, that the maker was a good craftsman. However I cannot tell whether the maker was loving or cruel to his family. In other words I cannot tell from looking at the chair the personality of the maker. I would need other things and other sets of knowledge. I might need to meet the maker themselves. We meet God, through the Bible. It tells of our journey of understanding God. We meet God through Jesus. We can experience God in our daily lives. So while looking nature may point us to God it does not take into a relationship with him or give us clues to what he is like in any great detail.

Fathers

For Christians we see God in three aspects as Son reliant on his father for his energy and who he is, also as the Spirit which feeds God the fathers people with spiritual nourishment and the guidance they need, and as the Father doing all the things listed above and more.

Like any father God wants the best for his children but also knows interfering in their lives will be resented. So God the father tries to guide us not control us. We do make mistakes as a result of not apprehending what God is willing us to do or simply ignoring it as many do. This can have direct consequences of our lives, those around us and indirect consequences like global warming which has affects all sorts of people.

God sees that ultimately all will be alright but knows to how we can cause suffering in the mean time. So if we follow the way of the Father set down by the Son a better world will surely result?