Lent Thought, Wednesday 19th March Its an epic and often highly disturbing journey. I have had to reinterpret many of the cuddly stories of my childhood to take in the savagery and brutality of the times. Equally the men and women who feature in these stories are more real, more human and more impressive than I remember. Going through the Bible at pace one cannot miss the number of times that God creates a gilt-edged opportunity to make the world much more like Heaven. But then the familiar sins of greed, lust, grumbling, laziness, anger or (insert your sin here) eat up and spit out what remains of Shalom. This is typically followed before by a period of repentance, redemption and restoration and then the cycle starts again. But heres the thing. God never stops intervening, often helping and honouring the requests of the Jewish nation. We want a King, we want Judges, we want to escape, we want food, we want Jerusalem rebuilt ....each time He honours their request. 1 Samuel 3:10 encapsulates Gods approach perfectly even if his intervention seems harsh by our contemporary standards (vs 11-14). ‘The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times, Samuel! Samuel!. Then Samuel said Speak, for your servant is listening. Msg; 1 Sam 3:10 I love that, even in the midst of chaos and challenge, God speaks to us in a clear, direct voice. The story continues with Christ as the final act of redemption. At Lent we focus on His life, death and resurrection and rejoice that it allows us to bring glimpses of heaven into our lives today and provide the foundation for living life fully. But isnt it great to understand the faithfulness of a God across all of Human history not just the last 2000 years? And what a privilege to have a relationship with Him. Lets make sure that our response, when He calls us, is Speak, for your servant is listening.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:51:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015